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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: antipodes on October 01, 2007, 09:48:19

Title: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: antipodes on October 01, 2007, 09:48:19
help! one of my sprout plants has like a grey powder all over it, and on closer inspection I am wondering if it is not some kind of insect egg?????
sound familiar to anyone????
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: sarah on October 01, 2007, 10:15:27
sounds a bit like white fly?
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: Fork on October 01, 2007, 10:20:22
I agree,defo sounds like white fly
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: Tora on October 01, 2007, 10:37:06
I agree, it's whitefly. I have lots of them on my kales....  :-\
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: keef on October 01, 2007, 10:54:46
The frost normally see's them off..
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: nomis1959 on October 01, 2007, 11:27:46
If its grey and you can squash it between thumb & finger on the affected area and it feels waxy it is probably  mealy aphid.
Very destructive once it gets a hold ,easily dealt with by a thorough application of soapy water. if the infestation is kept in check the plants will recover. The problem goes away as the weather gets colder.
Whitefly seem to be ever present on Brassicas in general but especially on taller plants like sprouts and PS broccoli.
This year doesn't seem to bad for whitefly. a good shake when the wind is strong seems to get shot of clouds of them, they don't like a fine mist of soap solution either ,this also helps to clean off some of their sticky residue!!
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: antipodes on October 01, 2007, 11:33:12
oh yucky yucky yucky!!!! I had better get down there with some soap then. I can't believe it, they have appeared in the space of a couple of days!!!! And the sprouts are just forming so I would hate to lose them. Thanks a lot everyone.
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: Fork on October 01, 2007, 11:34:47
Quote from: keef on October 01, 2007, 10:54:46
The frost normally see's them off..

There always seems to be plenty about here despite a good frost....ours must be mutants  :o
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: Lauren S on October 01, 2007, 12:06:25
Just another thing to watch out for. With all these pests about (most I have never heard of till joining A4A) it's a wonder we manage to grow anything.

Lauren  :(
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: nomis1959 on October 01, 2007, 13:45:44
Re the whitefly and frost ,I agree.although they not so busy when its colder,
I have never known them to die off.
The numbers present seems to vary from year to year presumably affected by weather.
At the moment in my locality they are the least prevalent that I can ever remember at this time of year   
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: keef on October 01, 2007, 16:35:54
Mine do normally dissappear around now ?? My lottie is on top of a hill, quite an exposed location - perhaps its just a little too rough for them.. I've never bothered doing anything to get rid of them, and not had any problems.
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: SnooziSuzi on October 01, 2007, 23:10:52
I've got a horrendous amount of them on my sprouts  >:(

I harvested a few of the sprouts last week, hoping to have a nice sunday dinner, but found that they'd even got into the first 3 or 4 layers of sprout leaves!  >:( >:(

It's a soapy soloution for me (or rather them) tomorrow when I get down to the lottie.  Can anyone recommend a soap brand to use, as I've heard it shouldn't be any of the modern washing up types...

Ta
XX
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: antipodes on October 02, 2007, 15:40:13
Ok got a picture, if you are ready for something gory.
(http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q319/antipodes_photo/greysprouts.jpg)
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: SnooziSuzi on October 02, 2007, 17:40:57
 :o

Looks just like my sprouts  :'(
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: manicscousers on October 02, 2007, 17:43:58
and ours,  :)
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: Barnowl on October 03, 2007, 10:11:05
and our PSBs
Title: Re: aaaargh grey stuff on me sprouts!!
Post by: caroline7758 on October 03, 2007, 17:26:22
and my calabrese and psb :(