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Posted by Lokelani (U8896212) on Wednesday, 21st July 2010
They seem to be mostly on the basil, so I've taken that out. They are also on the other crops slightly though (tomato, chilli, peppers).
I've rubbed off as many as I can, but it's a fairly impossible task.
Are they the kind of thing that fizzle out or get eaten by good things instead or do I need to be spraying & if so what with for edibles?
Mr Flowerdew once said to use one of those hand held vacuum cleaners. Shake the plants to get them in the air and hoover them up. I`ve not tried it myself but it` a thought
g,day get anything made of yellow plastic ie mixing bowls ice cream containers cover all over with vegatable oil and hang were flys are,when you get heaps stuck clean of put on more oil,also spray plants with white oil,1 cup veg oil half cup washing up detergent mix in blender then add 2 tbl/spoons mixture in a litre of water.
Don`t even dream of going down the yellow plastic road-they kill everything who wants to glue up bees and hover flies?
Mr Flowerdew was an advocate of urinating on his compostheap was that to help our hinder the flies? I had whitefly on my thai basil, I spray it with the ultimate bug killer.
Put marigolds in your green house and the white fly will leave, they hate the smell of these flowers.
Global Worming , is the ultimate bug killer what I think it is?
Yes I wouldn't want to kill bees that I need to go in my greenhouse to pollinate, or ladybirds, lacewings & the beneficial ones, just these pesky whitefly.
I'm guessing the ultimate bug killer is the one by Provado, which is a good last resort, but I was hoping to try more natural first as they're edibles. I'm not averse to resorting to the heavy guns if need be though.
Hoovering is one I've never heard, but all the leaves they're on have a certain stickyness (don't they exude something called honeydew or have I imagined that?), so I'm not sure how well that would work, not sure I could face a hoover full of flies either.
The oil & washing up liquid one sounds worth a try, the dilution is weak so I doubt if it's going to make my veg taste soapy! .
Gaffelbiter I use to eat a raw cured herring named after you, to your question the answer is yes!
I haven't grown any marigolds this year unfortunately. I do have a bed full of calendula, aren't they the same family, I wonder if they'd do the same job as I could dig some small ones up & pot them in the greenhouse if likely to work?
Does anyone know if calendula would work the same as marigiolds?
calendula is worth a try, you have nothing to lose, I've got marigolds in my GH bed and pertunia's, the latter only because I had loads and thought the flowers would attract the good guys to polinate stuff.
Shame about the basil, isn't basil supposed to improve the taste of toms if planted together
I've never heard that about basil. Yes it was a shame to have to remove it, but it was only in the greenhouse as it always gets so infested on the kitchen windowsill.
Do people not find that having marigolds or whatever companion planting in the greenhouse actually attracts in pests that otherwise may not go in there?
I'm only wary because so many border flowers are smothered in black fly this year & that is one thing that isn't in the greenhouse as yet!
I've only had minor problems with pests in the GH, no slugs, only one batch of butterfly eggs which were quickly dispatched, there maybe a rogue caterpillar roaming as there have been some holes in a few leaves, I've had a lot of bee's banging their heads on the glass trying to get out and some spiders. A few moths at night which were quickly caught and let out. Black spots on tom plants in pots which I thought maybe blight but even that seems to be receeding after taking off the leaves.
It may just be down to luck but the flowering marigolids and pertunia's don't appear to be doing any harm infact everything is polinating. I've also got two huge pots of mint at the door to the GH, nothing particularly scientific there I just thought the strong smell may keep pests from noticing the smell of the tom leaves inside the GH.
Not sure which book I read about the basil improving the taste of toms but it was about companion planting.
Hello Lokelani. I can vouch for the effectiveness of marigolds in keeping away whitefly (and other pests). I started underplanting tomatoes, peppers etc in the GH with marigolds several years ago and have not had a problem since. I grow marigolds in the GH for this specific purpose rather than bringing them in from a border or a bed.
Ah well that seems as if the marigolds help, rather than just attracting more pests in.
I'll give it a go.
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