Topic: Greenfly, Blackfly, Whitefly, yes -

[tim]

- but Brownfly??

Give us a break!!

And who do the eggs belong to?

[northener]

Urgh. What plant is it? They look like Mites.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Those look like butterfly or moth eggs. I can't be certain though; insect anyway.

[tim]

Aubergine.

[redimp]

Greenfly can be a variety of colours and brown is quite a common one.

[tim]

Stupid arrangement!!

[beejay]

We could be boring & just call them apids I suppose, then you dont have to decide what colour they are!

[beejay]

Oops, aphids might have been better!

[ellkebe]

In my previous garden all the aphids were green and in this one - two years later and only ten minutes down the road - they're all brown.  But they're still the same b****y nuisance  :D

[Charlotte Sometimes]

Yes, Tim, we've got some of them too.  They were on the sunflowers in our ramshackle greenhouse (wooden, rotting, impossible to clean), aka "The Greenhouse of Doom".  I only use that for sunflowers, we have a leanto on the house which is for the veggies/posh bedding plants.

I agree with the previous poster - d**n nuisance!

[tim]

Just a thought - if these chaps don't have wings, how do they appear in the g'house??

And another - for those considering predators, DO MAKE SURE that you screen your vents - or they will escape!!

[aquilegia]

I've given up distinguishing between the colours and just call them b*****s!

How do they appear? You only need one and then you suddenly get millions of the little...

eggs - some kind of catepillar. Had some on my Aquilegias. So they (the eggs) had to go.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Some do have wings. They'll go several generations of wingless aphids, and then produce winged ones. They mostly reproduce by parthenogenesis (virgin birth); I'm not sure how common males are.

[redimp]

Some do have wings. They'll go several generations of wingless aphids, and then produce winged ones. They mostly reproduce by parthenogenesis (virgin birth); I'm not sure how common males are.

All of a sudden, greenfly are interesting.  There have been loads of winged greenfly around recently.  Do the winged ones fly in and then lay eggs leading to wingless ones who then multiply (I won't say breed) for a couple of generations and then some winged ones appear who go off and do the same thing somewhere else?

Phew - ran out of breath.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Basically, yes. I haven't studied aphids in any detail, but they also swop hosts, wintering on one species and summering on another.

[beejay]

If I recall correctly, when the food supply is good wingless females are produced, when food supply becoming short winged males & females are produced to fly on elsewhere & do their damage. Basically they take advantage of their situation to change their breeding habits appropriately.

[kenkew]

Could the eggs be ladybird?

[Robert_Brenchley]

They seem a bit large when you consider the size of the adult.

[jagger]

Just passing on a good tip regarding identification of adverse beasties on plants: 

Go to Google, click on "Images" above the text box, then enter say, "Lily Beetle", hit "Enter" and presto - lots of great pictures of said critter. This is also an excellent way of making sure you don't squish the eggs of beneficial beetles such as ladybirds.

Regards

Jagger