On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 18:32:11 +0100, (sarah)
wrote:

"RichardS" noaccess@invalid wrote:

"sarah" wrote in message
. ..
Nick Maclaren wrote:

[-]
I use Savona (horticultural soft soap), and it works. But you
have to soak the blackfly, so spraying by hand, close up and
under all leaves is essential. If you do that, and it failed,
try again, but perhaps with a slightly stronger solution. Also,
it works better if it is followed by some warm, dry weather, to
shrivel the beggars up.

I don't find Derris very effective.

That last is helpful, as it's all our local shop sells. Do you have a
local supplier of Savona, or do you buy online?

I managed to get a tub of generic soft soap from the local chemists - they
had to order it in though (I was surprised when I went there in the morning,
ordered it, and received a phone call in the afternoon of the same day to
say that it had arrived!)

Not particularly cheap at about £5 for a 500g tub, but it does last for
ages.

It was very, very effective against the blackfly on the broad beans, and
this year since the population was knocked back they haven't returned (so
far...).

I might try that first; the only place I'd found it was online at Chase
Organics at something like UKP14 per litre. Which seemed a trifle steep.

You could flood the garden/fill the water feature with Fairy liquid
for that.
--
Martin