I've just seen loads on greenfly already attacking the new growth on my
Honeysuckle.

I want to try and be organic this year but is it too early for
benificial insects to be about ?

I.e. will the greenfly go unchecked at the moment ?

Already spotted ladybirds in my hedge but no pests yet - long may it
continue that way.

Toad + frog population looks to have increased since lasy summer as well so
the safe areas for them have paid off.

Jim


"Gardening_Convert" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've just seen loads on greenfly already attacking the new growth on my
Honeysuckle.

I want to try and be organic this year but is it too early for
benificial insects to be about ?

I.e. will the greenfly go unchecked at the moment ?

Gardening_Convert writes
I've just seen loads on greenfly already attacking the new growth on my
Honeysuckle.

I want to try and be organic this year but is it too early for
benificial insects to be about ?

I.e. will the greenfly go unchecked at the moment ?

Blue tits are fond of greenfly, and with the start of the breeding
season extra food is welcome.

If you really feel you must do something, try a soap spray.

My experience is that a heavy infestation on honeysuckle may look
unsightly but doesn't trouble the plant - it will still grow and flower.
Live with it if you can.

Remember being organic isn't a thing you can just do for a year - the
predators build up over a period of time, so for the first year you feel
a bit desperate, but over the years the pests become less and less
troublesome. But you won't get rid of them completely, nor do you want
to, because you need *something* for the predators to eat!
--
Kay

The message .com
from "Gardening_Convert" contains these words:

I've just seen loads on greenfly already attacking the new growth on my
Honeysuckle.

I want to try and be organic this year but is it too early for
benificial insects to be about ?

I.e. will the greenfly go unchecked at the moment ?


I've got ladybirds crawling around everywhere. However, ladybirds aren't
really a very effective predator.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

K wrote:
If you really feel you must do something, try a soap spray.
My experience is that a heavy infestation on honeysuckle may look
unsightly but doesn't trouble the plant - it will still grow and flower.
Live with it if you can.

I found that using soapy water spray kind of burn the buds if I apply
it too early in the season. I use my fingers to remove the bugs as much
as I can.

Remember being organic isn't a thing you can just do for a year - the
predators build up over a period of time, so for the first year you feel
a bit desperate, but over the years the pests become less and less
troublesome. But you won't get rid of them completely, nor do you want
to, because you need *something* for the predators to eat!

It takes an average of 12 years for a garden or field to recover from
chemical use. Given the age of some gardeners, not many fancy waiting
that long to see the difference and keep using chemicals, sadly. We are
just about seeing the change in our garden. Even though I don't feed
the birds, and there's cats all over the place, there's enough
predators to eat all the bugs.

What I'm dreading are the silk worms from the street trees. I'm not
sure if there's something I can do, beside having just pruned severely
our holly tree to air the garden a bit, cut down one of our 3 hawthorns
but if there's something I can do, please let me know!

Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:
I've got ladybirds crawling around everywhere. However, ladybirds aren't
really a very effective predator.

I've knicked lots last year from college - there was a huge area
covered of tarmac, and they had created paths between the car parking
lots. The place was crawling with ladybirds, out in the sunshine I
suppose. I brought them home - they are sleeping under the bark of the
eucaplyptus. I hope we'll get enough to control the psylas )

Ron Clark wrote:
Concrete.

Far too fashionable for me Ron.