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I haven't seen or been bothered by greenfly for years and years , but this morning I noticed my precious Lemon scented pelargonium on my windowsill is covered with them !   What do I do ?  It is such a tender leaved plant...any recommendation of a good safe product please ?

Most supermarkets and garden centres sell packs of little sticks impregnated with insecticide for pusing into the compost.  Fine for indoor plants at this time of year as teher won't be ladybirds and hoverfly around to be harmed by them.

I had a similar infestation on the tender hibiscus I've just brought in.  Tried blasting them off with the hosepipe but they came back so I've cut off all the affected buds and shoots and binned them and added some wee yellow sticky things that should attract any aphids that I've missed.

Have a look and see what's available.

Aah ! Thanks Obelixx ...that sounds just the sort of thing..the little stick things ..yes ..safe for ladybirds....thankyou !

Not if they get stuck on them but ours are all hibernating already and the only thing I've caught since I put the stickies out on Thursday evening is a naughty fly.

Quote from: woodypecks on October 29, 2018, 08:35:36
I haven't seen or been bothered by greenfly for years and years , but this morning I noticed my precious Lemon scented pelargonium on my windowsill is covered with them !   What do I do ?  It is such a tender leaved plant...any recommendation of a good safe product please ?

My granny used to submerge pot plants with 'flies' in a bucket full of water for 24 hours .She said they couldn't hold their breath that long.

No sure what the 'sticks' were but bug sticks got banned as far as i can make out . 'Pyrethrum ' is a natural insecticide dont need much kills on contact..

Indiscriminate tho.

The sticks are part of a range which includes fertilisers for orchids, foliage plants, flowering indoor plants and so on.   I can still find all the fertilisers but not the insecticide.  However, it looks like my pruning back of all th eends of stems with flower buds on has worked.   No aphids since then and if they do come back, they'll get showered off.