"Ron" pushed briefly to the front of the queue
on Wed, 18 Jun 2003 09:06:35 +0100, and nailed this to the shed door:

^ Urglers,
^
^ A short while ago there was a question about boiling rhubarb leaves and
^ using the water to get rid of blackfly.
^
^ I suggested that if the oxalic acid in the leaves was thereby disolved in
^ the water, the water might indeed kill off blackfly.
^
^ I now think that the water will not kill the blackfly for the leaves of my
^ rhubarb are a home to many of the b - - - - - things!
^
^ But on the other hand, if the water used was boiling hot . . . . . . . .!!!

Until a few days ago, I was marvelling at the fact that my broad beans
were blackfly-free, when a nearby allotment's crop was absolutely
festooned. However, one or two of my plants have now acquired a modest
quota.

What I am wondering is, do blackfly have natural predators that I
could encourage? I was momentarily hopeful when I noticed a ladybird
in close proximity to the little bliughters on one of the affected
plants - however, on closer examination, it turned out to be two
labybirds, too busy making whoopee to have dinner on their mind.

Andy
--

"No, you claim the magpie is to blame for all the
worlds ills, based on your ignorance of magpies."
(4a7391c12e538ef306d33d71c9482221@TeraNews)