On 13/6/06 12:06, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
On 12/6/06 19:23, in article ,
"Easynews" wrote:

Lots of people seem to use parasitic flies to keep greenhouse aphids under
control these days- has anyone experience of using these, and how effective
were they?

We use them here all the time and it's extremely efficacious. They arrive
in the post regularly and we either hang the little paper envelopes on
various plants in the different glasshouses or take the tops off their
little plastic bottles and let them find their own way out. We use
nematodes, also. My husband has been working in this way since back in
the 50s/early 60s. If you do a Google search you'll find several suppliers
for the amateur gardener but it is *very* important that you don't lose your
nerve and introduce chemical sprays again.

Have you had to treat against mealy bug? I haven't found the mealy bug
predator to be very effective, which is a nuisance because the red
spider predator is about the only way to get rid of red spider.

Ray says Cryptolaemus works but isn't *quite* as good as some of the other
predators he uses. However, he says also that the greenhouse needs to be
warm when it's introduced and that the best time to do that is in the
evening.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)