"Janet Baraclough.." wrote in
message ...
The message
from "Bob" contains these words:


Last year I had hundreds of ladybirds living on a patch of
Euphorbias. A
month later they had all flown away and the neighbouring plum tree
was
swarming with aphids - so a fat load of good they were.

I've used no insecticides in the garden in the 3 years I've been
here, and
the fruit trees are being eaten alive! In the past two years, all
the
leaves had been sucked dry and had fallen off well before autumn.
The
"natural balance" obviously doesn't occur at a point compatitble
with what I
want from the garden, so I'm beginning to think that spraying may
be
required to give my trees a chance!

Birds eat a LOT more aphids than ladybirds, I recommend that you
encourage more birds to attend to your fruit trees, by hanging
peanut
and seed feeders in the trees to show them where the free food is.

I spend huge amounts of money throughout the year maintaining the
birds in my garden. I have large more or less resident population
blue tits, great tits, coal tits chaffinches and sparrows.
I also have an aphid problem.
I will start spraying this afternoon.

Using this method I've seen birds clear huge seasonal
aphid-hatches on
fir and viburnum, ib the space of a day or two.

Franz