Greenfly invasion
Last post 06-07-2009 9:04 AM by Kesira. 37 replies.
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15/06/2009 12:16 PM
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- Kesira
- Elkesley, Nottinghamshire
- 15 Jun 2009
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33
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My garden is alive with greenfly at the moment and I have no idea why. You can actually see swarms of them in the air, they are covering the 'expected' plants and I successfully spray to avoid harm to the plants, but they are all over everything else too, by everything I mean everything, even my poor patio table! Is there something I can do to deter them? I've never had a problem like this before.
Gardening Tip
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it was a valuable plant.
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15/06/2009 12:28 PM
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- Pesty
- 24 Nov 2005
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94
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Hi Kesira I too have notice the greenfly aphid migration this year - there may be several species involved (over 500 species of aphid occur in the UK). Many species of aphid overwinter as eggs on a woody host, form spring colonies on the woody plant, and then in late spring/early summer migrate to a summer host. For example black bean aphid overwinters as eggs on euonymus and moves to beans etc during the summer (this species is not a problem on the euonymus, but it is on the beans). Others such as the cherry blackfly cause severe distortion to the spring host (leaves tightly curled) but at this time of year migrate to bedstraws (wild plants) and so don't cause a problem.So the good news is that they may not infest the plants in your garden - the bad news is that you cannot do anything about the migration.
'Trying is the first step to failure' H.J.Simpson
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15/06/2009 12:44 PM
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- Kesira
- Elkesley, Nottinghamshire
- 15 Jun 2009
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33
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Thanks loads for the fast reply. That is actually very good news. I was getting quite worried that my poor plants were going to be destroyed. I'll just keep spraying the plants affected (mainly a lovely climbing rose) and wait for them to go! A little annoying though when you are sitting out in the garden and having to constantly swat at them flying around you.
Gardening Tip
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it was a valuable plant.
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15/06/2009 01:10 PM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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They migrate? Where from? We also have a greenfly invasion, they seem to be everywhere and on everything. In the last few days, I have constantly found them on my clothes, skin and in my hair - just think what the plants are like. What I haven't seen so far this year are many ladybirds. Shouldn't they be on the case by now?
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15/06/2009 01:22 PM
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My lettuce and many other plants are absolutely infested - don't know if it's worse than other years as this is my first major year of growing. I've splashed out and bought some mail order ladybirds which are now rampaging around stuffing their faces!
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15/06/2009 03:14 PM
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- Kesira
- Elkesley, Nottinghamshire
- 15 Jun 2009
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33
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Well it's nice to see that it isn't only myself that is suffering from an abnormal amount of them this year. The comment about them in your hair... I sympathise, I feel like a shower just walking out of my backdoor, they are all over me. Do you knwo though, until it was mentioned here I hadn't given a thought to ladybirds but now that it has been mentioned I haven't seen one. Now that is unusual. Mail order ladybirds though, sorry but LOL! I had no idea such a thing existed! and yet, laughing as much as I am while I am typing this, I'm also wondering where I can get some from! Please share this wonddrous knowledge.
Gardening Tip
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it was a valuable plant.
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15/06/2009 05:00 PM
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Trust me my workmates have been laughing a lot about the mail order ladybirds! I've been getting slug nematodes from the Green Gardener site and I noticed they had ladybirds for sale. It's not the cheap option but I figured that they would hopefully build up over the years.
You can get adult ladybirds or ladybird larvae. The ladybird larvae I got were very small so I think may not have lasted through the rain which happened on the night I released them - there were a few men down the next morning however I have seen some of them this weekend and they are growing fast. The adult ladybirds have been noticeable so hopefully they will stay. You can also get lacewing larvae which are a little cheaper.
Hope that helps - it has been fascinating so worth the money to me!
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17/06/2009 12:49 PM
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- _Rab_
- North Shropshire
- 17 Jun 2009
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1
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Yep we too are experiencing swarms in North Shropshire - however, I've also noticed a distinct lack of ladybirds and ladybird lava. I'd be interested to know if any one else is ladybird free.
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17/06/2009 01:20 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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There's no more greenfly than usual here and plenty of ladybirds and their larvae eating them. Before anyone asks - the answer is no - I'm keeping my ladybirds and larvae in my chemical free garden
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17/06/2009 02:08 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,743
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I only saw a few ladybugs this year, but I've got dozens of hoverflies and the other day I had a beautiful lacewing fly, I even took a picture to prove it was real, Like sue1002, I am keeping hold of the friendly insects but I might have a goo at building ladybug and lace wing chambers and then buy in some babies to fill them with.
digger 
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21/06/2009 04:42 PM
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- Patsy
- South Cambridgeshire
- 21 Jun 2009
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Hello - I'm new and what brought me to the forum is the greenfly issue. We've millions here and it started with the silver birch trees. I had peanut holders on the branches and when I stretched in to refill the holders I got covered in greenfly - they were all over the new leaves on each branch and there were hundreds of new leaves! Also they weren't the usual sort of greenfly, they were weird. I've said 'were' but they are still there today and when I hosed the tree down they came off in clouds. Everything is covered in honeydew.
I don't use any sprays and I have dozens of rose bushes - I just go round scraping off as many greenfly as I can and it usually works. But this year it's horrendous - as I'm doing it the ones with wings are all flying off to join the rest hanging in the air and then they land on me! I've seen just one ladybird larva and one ladybird and not a single hoverfly. Also, curiously, I haven't seen a lot of ants.
I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that we've had hardly any rain for ages. We seem to miss the storms that everyone else has had.
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22/06/2009 04:50 PM
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- saffire
- Northants
- 18 May 2009
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1
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We've had a unbelievable amount of greenfly this year - don't remember these amounts for over 30 years - the summer of '76 was the last time I remember this many and I was only 6 then. Flowers and veg in the garden don't seem adversly affected at the moment - just going round and rubbing them off, but the air is thick with them, they love my daughters yellow playgroup sweatshirt - she's just come in covered - in her hair and everywhere! Yuck! Have no ladybirds in the garden either to take them, plenty of birds and fledglings though so hopefully they might make a dent in the population....
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22/06/2009 09:10 PM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,976
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Well, here's some good news. Looking at the plants today I noticed many aphids had been got at by parasitic wasps  Look out for little bronzy coloured balls on leaves; that's the work of the wasps. It's like in Aliens - they lay their eggs in the aphid and the new wasp hatches out of its body. If you look at one through a microscope, you can see the hole. It's a bit gross, but interesting to see.
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23/06/2009 08:41 AM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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We've got quite a few parasitic wasps here this year. The first time I saw them in the garden was two or three years ago and each year we get more of them.
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23/06/2009 02:44 PM
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- Kesira
- Elkesley, Nottinghamshire
- 15 Jun 2009
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33
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well, still swarms of greenfly and no sign of the ladybirds. I went out for a walk around the village and specifically spent time looking for ladybirds and i've yet to find even one! This really is very strange. It is so bad here that you can't exit the house without a greenfly landing on you. Each time I come back in I find myself itching only to end up rubbing off crawling greenfly. Has anyone seen any sort of 'official' comments upon the high volume of them this year? or the lack of ladybirds? We have had plenty of rain here so doubtful the connection is a dry spell. I'd be very interested to know if anyone finds an 'official' comment anywhere.
Gardening Tip
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it was a valuable plant.
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