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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: cambourne7 on September 26, 2018, 17:34:35
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Hi All,
Well noticed today that my brussell sprouts are covered in small green insects (on plant like dust) there not eating the plant but looks unslighly and definatly were not there saturday.
I was contemplating what to do when i noticed some ladybird lava and then some more. Must be 20-30 of them on this or surounding plants. I have noticed that these must have already been "cleaned" as there is some white residue on them.
Lovley to see mother nature in action BUT wondering what the small insects might be i was thinking white or green fly but everythings covered in netting (not fine)
Cam
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A photo might be of assistance, or a good pencil sketch ?
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Hi Ya, interesting. I wonder if you can move the larvae from plant to plant if your carefull. If your netting is not fine then the fly will infest. I got some debris netting the was amazed to watch the white fly squeeze though it. I now use some anti insect net I got from an on line gardening site. Even then I found fly under it and all i can assume is I inadvertently moved it transplanting the young plant. Good luck
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It sounds like whitefly to me. I haven't found a netting solution which stops them, in fact I find that if anything the nets trap the flies in and they make a dreadful mess of brassicas.
There are solutions ... you can spray the plants with a dilute soft soap solution, but it's a lot of work. Alternatively you can live with them and wash anything you pick very carefully indeed ... that's what I do.
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Over the years I have been very grateful to a good population of ladybirds helping to control ahpids, blackfly and greenfly. Not a complete solution but very helpful. But my personal experience is that they seem rather uninterested in whitefly. I find whitefly a cussed nuisance. Tough little critters. They seem resistant to insecticides. I've tried ( reluctantly ) to little effect, so have reverted to only spraying with things like soap solutions. It helps a bit but not much.
Any one have any foolproof advice?
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Now phones mostly working will get some photos :)
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Very few ladybirds here now. We got the harliquins for a while but they have died out now. I found a rechargeable battery operated vacuum cleaner will remove white fly from cabbages. I say a video of a commercial operated with a huge vacuum and though it looked like a good idea, so tried the one I have to clean the car.
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I noticed the same on my sprouts this morning. Alas no ladybirds as it is getting quite cold now.
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Sounds like there is a possibility of some entries for the photo competition here
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Digeroo, I love the idea of hoovering up whitefly. I’m going to invest in a battery operated hoover. Might have to do it when no-one can see/ hear me!
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i have submitted one haha but turns out these might be harlequin ladybug larve so less keen on saving them
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Most of the larve appears to be already dead when i went out today and the aphids were still tick in places, i have attacked them with a soft brush and cut away the worse offenders then sprayed with a suitable veg killer ladybugs rather than the harliquins appear to be in a different part of the garden so hoping that they will survive the winter my daughters made a bug hotel for them in cubs which we have popped near where we seen most of them.