Group,

Some while ago there was much posted about blackfly and what was termed an
old wives' tale concerning ants. There were even people who professed to
have studied blackfly and ants enough to be able to refute the old wives'
tale.

But enough of ants, what about wasps?

Much has been posted lately about wasps and some have said they should be
exterminated.

But hold on, yesterday evening whilst watering my runner beans I witnessed
something which might make some think twice in wasps' extermination. A wasp
was "doing the rounds" of my runner beans so I stopped watering and watched.
The jasper (Cornish name for a wasp) buzzed from leaf to leaf to plant to
flower to . . . obviously looking for something. Eventually it found a
blackfly siezed it and flew off. No wonder my beans have so few blackfly.
I could not understand why they didn't but now I know!

Oh! Sir Jasper: do not kill him!

Regards

Ron

Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article , "hillier"
writes:
| My runner and french beans are infested with blackfly. Soapy water and
| derris liquid have not had a lot of success and although there are lots
| of ladybirds this year, they can't cope either. Do I leave them alone,
| pull all the plants up or can anyone sugest a different treatment,
| please.

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?

regards
sarah

--
NB. Note change of *usenet* email address:
'amitiel.demon.do.uk' will soon cease to function.
My other email address will remain valid.
Think of it as evolution in action :-)

In article ,
sarah wrote:

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?

Effectively online (e.g. by telephone). Green Gardener (though they
are not allowed to list it in their catalogue, for bureaucratic and
monopolistic reasons) or Tuckers (Devon). Either will post a litre,
which lasts for ages.

I don't know if it is any good at eliminating nits from children's
hair, but it probably is, though it isn't licensed for that. Anyway,
it is just soap solution, so is pretty harmless to humans.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
sarah wrote:

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?

Effectively online (e.g. by telephone). Green Gardener (though they
are not allowed to list it in their catalogue, for bureaucratic and
monopolistic reasons) or Tuckers (Devon). Either will post a litre,
which lasts for ages.

Thanks for that -- I'll try it.


I don't know if it is any good at eliminating nits from children's
hair, but it probably is, though it isn't licensed for that. Anyway,
it is just soap solution, so is pretty harmless to humans.

My old copy of _Organic Gardening_ suggests the use of a nicotine
solution (from soaked cigarette filters) to dilute the soap if you want
something really vicious.

regards
sarah



--
NB. Note change of *usenet* email address:
'amitiel.demon.do.uk' will soon cease to function.
My other email address will remain valid.
Think of it as evolution in action :-)

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

In article ,
sarah wrote:

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?

Effectively online (e.g. by telephone). Green Gardener (though they
are not allowed to list it in their catalogue, for bureaucratic and
monopolistic reasons) or Tuckers (Devon). Either will post a litre,
which lasts for ages.

Thanks for that -- I'll try it.

I have in the past used a mix that is made of boiled up rhubarb leaves which
have been strained through a pair of tights. I then add a couple of drops
of washing up liquid to aid the wetting capacity. I believe there are legal
issues with this as it constitutes manufacturing pesticide on domestic
premises!!!!

In article ,
(sarah) writes:
|
| My old copy of _Organic Gardening_ suggests the use of a nicotine
| solution (from soaked cigarette filters) to dilute the soap if you want
| something really vicious.

It is illegal, but more to protect the monopolists than for safety.
However, this IS one of the effective, organic, biodegradable
pesticides that is SERIOUSLY dangerous to humans. Be careful.
Be very careful.

Soaking used cigarette filters in water is probably inefficient
enough not to be a major danger, but extracting it efficiently is
easy, and nicotine is poisonous enough that it should be handled
only by those used to handling dangerous chemicals. This does not
include me.

Rhubarb leaf extract is nothing like as poisonous, but still needs
handling with care.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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

In article , "hillier"
writes:
| My runner and french beans are infested with blackfly. Soapy water
and
| derris liquid have not had a lot of success and although there are
lots
| of ladybirds this year, they can't cope either. Do I leave them
alone,
| pull all the plants up or can anyone sugest a different treatment,
| please.

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...).

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
(sarah) writes:
|
| My old copy of _Organic Gardening_ suggests the use of a nicotine
| solution (from soaked cigarette filters) to dilute the soap if you want
| something really vicious.

It is illegal, but more to protect the monopolists than for safety.
However, this IS one of the effective, organic, biodegradable
pesticides that is SERIOUSLY dangerous to humans. Be careful.
Be very careful.

Soaking used cigarette filters in water is probably inefficient
enough not to be a major danger, but extracting it efficiently is
easy, and nicotine is poisonous enough that it should be handled
only by those used to handling dangerous chemicals. This does not
include me.

I believe in the last line of my .sig :-)
In The Good Old Days we used to shred cigarettes to make nicotine
solution to narcotise leeches and other aquatic inverts; I wonder what
they use now?


Rhubarb leaf extract is nothing like as poisonous, but still needs
handling with care.

My rhubarb is still using its leaves -- I want lots of it to make jam
later in the year!

all the best
sarah



--
NB. Note change of *usenet* email address:
'amitiel.demon.do.uk' will soon cease to function.
My other email address will remain valid.
Think of it as evolution in action :-)

"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.

thanks
sarah


--
NB. Note change of *usenet* email address:
'amitiel.demon.do.uk' will soon cease to function.
My other email address will remain valid.
Think of it as evolution in action :-)

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