Aphids

Hi folks,
I have aphids on the underside of my redcurrent leaves. They are causing the leaves to curl and distort. Yesterday I tried squirting then with 'bug gun'. Do you think this will do the trick. Difficult to get under all the leaves!
John

 

In my experience a bad infestation is hard to get rid of. If the spraying doesnt work you may have to pick off the leaves affected, usually the tip of each branch.Keep spraying with water with washing up liquid added, and try blasting with a strong spray from the hose pipe.
Hope it works!

 

Thanks for that Liz. Think I'll pick off the leaves tonight when home from work.

 

John, you need to use a systemic insecticide that can be used on fruit. It must be systemic. David.

 

I'm with Liz on this, pick off the worst of the leaves and then spray with a soapy solution.

On the upside, as I have discovered, blue tits love aphids. My roses a few weeks ago had buds covered with greenfly. I had decided this year not to do the usual early season spray against everything from aphids to blackspot. The greenfly are no more, and I got bluetits regularly checking my roses - well they got hungry mouths to feed. :D

 

Hi,

Last year i had a terrible infestation of aphids on my honeysuckle so I tried the soapy spray liquid and whilst it did kill them the leaves also died. This year the new growth is vigorous and clean. Also, last year I grew Nasturtium and found horrible black flies loved it. There were clusters of what looked like caviar all over the nasturtium which the flies buzzed around and it spread to the honeysuckle with both plants looking awful.
These are potted plants, any ideas what happened?

TO

 

My sons Lupins....slight infestation.The ladybirds couldn't cope.
Ran my fingers up the stalks....YUK,then sprayed with a ladybird friendly spray.

 

Apparently if you steep nettles in water for 3 weeks the juice is really good for getting rid of aphids, especially blackfly.

 

Talk about aphid city - there are loads of them there Roders! I'm managing to control mine with soapy water spray at the moment. Just can't bear to squat them with fingers ...makes me cringe just thinking about it

 

Hi, lottielou, appaently if you steep garlic for weeks it gets rid of them ... but you'll run away as well because it's so disgusting!

Like you, Mel, I have the soapy water spray bottle handy ... hose down then spray but the bug***s are still there ... and I did pick by hand! :eek:

I want to know why birds here don't like to eat them! Haven't seen any ladybirds yet but then I see so few of them here because they are probably getting eaten by ???????

 

Hi roders,

That looks like the infestation I had on my Nasturtium last summer which was in a long trough raised off the ground. Even more revolting was that it attracted black flies and eventually ruined the plants.

I tried hijacking ladybirds from the nettle patches but they flew off in disgust unhappy with their working terms and conditions.

TO

 

Hi, Gardening Which? answered a similar question recently by first recommending the squash 'em method, followed by sprays with bifenthrin, fatty acids or pyrethrum, but they only kill the ones they touch, so any under the leaves you miss will carry on sucking, they suggest instead a systemic action insecticide which the plant absorbs and thus kills them when they feed on it. The one they mentioned was Provado Ultimate bug killer, based on thiachloprid. I found some in Homebase, it's working for me.
Cheers MIKE