Hi

My broad beans have a very bad infestation of Black Fly.
I am finding it almost impossible to get any kind of pesticides from
Garden Centres etc.

Does any one have any idea what I can do please?

Some one on the allotment site swears by boiled Rhubarb water. Claims it to
be a good poison. If so any one know the mix please?

regards
Ged

In article , The
Gorilla writes
Hi

My broad beans have a very bad infestation of Black Fly.
I am finding it almost impossible to get any kind of pesticides from
Garden Centres etc.

Does any one have any idea what I can do please?

Some one on the allotment site swears by boiled Rhubarb water. Claims it to
be a good poison. If so any one know the mix please?

regards
Ged



My old neighbour from a long time ago, always sprayed the Broad Beans
with the used washing up water. She also claimed that the Autumn sown
Broad Beans were less liable to Black Fly.

Mike

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Some one on the allotment site swears by boiled Rhubarb water. Claims it
to
be a good poison. If so any one know the mix please?

Ged,

Rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid which is poison to us so I suppose it
might kill blackfly if it's in the water in which the leaves were boiled.

Peanuts in a container near the broadbeans that only one bluetit can eat
from at any one time is also good for helping to keep blackfly down - the
birds queueing up "do the rounds" looking for something to eat.

It's also a good idea to kill off any ant's nest near the plants for ants
are the main cause for spreading and protecting blackfly.

Regards

Ron

In article , The
Gorilla writes
Hi

My broad beans have a very bad infestation of Black Fly.
I am finding it almost impossible to get any kind of pesticides from
Garden Centres etc.

Does any one have any idea what I can do please?

Reduce the problem next year by pinching out the young tips when the
plants have reached their desired heights - this will render the beans
less attractive. Planting either very early or very late is said to
help.

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

"The Gorilla" the wrote:

Hi

My broad beans have a very bad infestation of Black Fly.
I am finding it almost impossible to get any kind of pesticides from
Garden Centres etc.

Does any one have any idea what I can do please?

Some one on the allotment site swears by boiled Rhubarb water. Claims it to
be a good poison. If so any one know the mix please?

regards
Ged

Not a lot of help for now but I would also advise, from practical
experience, that autumn sown broad beans are considerably less affected
by black fly.

If you do get them, some washing-up liquid in water helps clear them and
prevents them coming back - unless you have a large area, in which case
it is going to get very tedious;-)
--
Larry Stoter

Ron wrote in message ...

It's also a good idea to kill off any ant's nest near the plants for
ants
are the main cause for spreading and protecting blackfly.

Regards

Urban myth again. Ants take advantage of the aphids, but I'm not sure
that blackfly even come into the types they use, by persuading them to
secrete Honeydew, but that is all, they do not spread them, or defend
them except that they will attack anything that comes near them, the
ants I mean, as they would in any other situation.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

In article k, Larry
Stoter writes
"The Gorilla" the wrote:

Hi

My broad beans have a very bad infestation of Black Fly.
I am finding it almost impossible to get any kind of pesticides from
Garden Centres etc.

Does any one have any idea what I can do please?

Some one on the allotment site swears by boiled Rhubarb water. Claims it to
be a good poison. If so any one know the mix please?

regards
Ged

Not a lot of help for now but I would also advise, from practical
experience, that autumn sown broad beans are considerably less affected
by black fly.

If you do get them, some washing-up liquid in water helps clear them and
prevents them coming back - unless you have a large area, in which case
it is going to get very tedious;-)

Yeah, having to do all that washing up first.....

--
Malcolm

In article , The
Gorilla writes
Hi

My broad beans have a very bad infestation of Black Fly.
I am finding it almost impossible to get any kind of pesticides from
Garden Centres etc.

Does any one have any idea what I can do please?

Try getting some rose clear from your local garden centre. I'll be amazed if
there isn't some about somewhere. The washing up water that was mentioned can
be used, though you might want to just mix some detergent with some clean water
and spray with that. The detergent is supposed to break down the protective
covering around the aphids and make them very susceptible to disease
themselves, or something like that.

Hope this helps.

Dave.

Michael Berridge wrote:

: Ron wrote in message ...

:It's also a good idea to kill off any ant's nest near the plants for
:ants are the main cause for spreading and protecting blackfly.
:
: Urban myth again. Ants take advantage of the aphids, but I'm not sure
: that blackfly even come into the types they use, by persuading them to
: secrete Honeydew, but that is all, they do not spread them, or defend
: them except that they will attack anything that comes near them, the
: ants I mean, as they would in any other situation.

- http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/...ids000828.html

``Honeydew is the reason that ants are associated with aphids. In fact
many species of ants are so addicted to this sweet drink that they will
protect the aphids from various predators and move them to new plants if
the one they are on starts to wilt. Some ants even go as far to build
small shelters over species that feed near the base of the plant and or
to keeping root-aphids inside their own nests. Lasius fuliginosus
workers carry newly hatched fundatrices from the base of oak trees where
they overwinter as eggs to new growing leaves at the top of the tree as
soon as they are hatched. The common meadow ant Lasius flavus has a
particularly close relationship with the root aphids it uses and even
collects their eggs in the autumn and early winter and stores them in
its nests, then in spring the eggs are moved to suitable chambers so
that plant roots are available for them as soon as they hatch. In effect
these ants treat the aphids as well as they treat their own brood. The
interaction between Aphids and ants has been going for a long time and
some ants are almost dependant on aphids for food while some aphids such
as Protrama spp. are obligate myrmecophiles, and do not excrete
honey-dew unless stimulated to do so by ants. Species of aphids which
have intimate associations with ants, particularly those that live in
their nests are of necessity monoecious.''

- http://www.earthlife.net/insects/aphids.html

``In return, the aphids don’t only win protection from the ants, often
they also gain a warm, safe place to spend the winter. When crops have
been harvested and temperatures drop, some ant species take in aphid
eggs and larvae and host them in leafy nests. In Australia and Africa,
certain ant species even build their aphids shelter during the warm
seasons to protect them from torrential rainfalls.''

- http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/...ids000828.html

``Colonies of aphids are sometimes protected by certain ants. In return
for this protection the ants are allowed to collect the sweet
honeydew. In most cases, the ants protect aphids that have already
established themselves on the plant and these aphids or their eggs and
keep them through the winter in their nests. In spring, the ants
transport these aphids to food plants where they protect them from
enemies and at different times the ants take them to new feeding
sites.''

- http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il...cts/aphid.html
--
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