Blackfly

Hi all,
My next door neighbour has blackfly all over the top of a few new clematis plants, does anybody know a way of getting rid of them without using chemicals please?
Last year as an educational tool( for my twin 4 year old grandchildren), I bought ladybird larva so they could watch them develop, this year we have seen lots of larva around the garden and would like to use something that would not harm them.
Cheers
Trevor

 

With the black beasts I just wipe them off. They don't crawl back on although you might get new ones! Just keep them in check that way.

Where did you get your ladybird larvae? I want some!

 

Surely one of the good points of ladybird larvae is they eat blackfly? You really shouldnt need any chemicals at all!

 

Last year I bought Ladybird breeding kit which had 30 larvae and food in it, the grandchildren enjoyed seeing them developed and releasing them, but I think its a bit late for that now, but you can still buy adult Ladybirds.

This year I must have seen double the amount of larvae in the garden, and as they are changing we have lots of Ladybirds, not only in my garden but both the neighbours each side of me. I have about 25 rose bushes, and this year I have only seen a few greenfly on them, and they are disappearing fast.

I also bought a Ladybird house, but to be honest I don't think it was used, all the larvae was at the other end of the garden. I wish I had bought the Lacewings as well; they might have enjoyed my black fly. :D

There are quite a few sites online, and I found the prices about the same, the only difference was the P & P, try this one to start you off.

http://www.greengardener.co.uk/aphidout.htm

Cheers

Trevor

PS. The wife wanted to put chains on them to stop them flying away....

 

You're lucky if you've got lots of ladybird larvae in your garden this year! Until last week we hadn't seen any at all this year and I'd only spotted two adult ladybirds. Thankfully at long last the larvae have appeared. Last year my garden was overrun with ladybirds and their larvae and my plants were free of aphids until the late summer -they'd eaten everything there and gone elsewhere so it was safe for the aphids to return :rolleyes: This year the miserably cold spring seemed to kill them off or at least delay them. Ah well, hopefully they will breed like wild fire and the copious quantities of greenfly on my roses etc will feed them long into the autumn.

Cathysue