yahyah wrote:If Rebecca's reading, hope Toffee is back to fine fettle and you are all feeling better after the stress.
&, on gardening...
I've got a lovely chili plant on my window sill.
Have had five chilis off it, and five ready to pick, and a whole load of new flowers on it so the chance for more to come.
But it's got greenfly. Have tried brushing them off [try not to kill anything], then had to resort to spraying it with diluted washing up liquid. Still has greenfly.
What else to do that's organic ?
Am already worried the chilis will taste of detergent even if I wash them well.
Second your thoughts about Rebecca's little cat! Hope Toffee is ok after the ordeal :crossed-fingers:
Greenfly...
I don't think the Dalai Lama would find any great fault with you if you run your fingers over the plants, daily, for squishing purposes. He said, recently, that he does pretty well on most of the 'do not kill' injunction but still can't get past a murderous inclination when it comes to mosquitos and pigeons!
You could try adding a generous shake of cayenne pepper to the washing-up liquid – and use a strong washing-up liquid like Fairy or something else concentrated because it's the suds you need. Doing both of these, daily, should get things under control. Dunno about the taste of detergent getting into the chillis, they have a firm skin so should be properly washable.
Other things to try: grab a bar of soap (the bathroom stuff – as I don't think you can ever get rid of the smell of carbolic...) Turn on a tap to wet your hands and the soap bar. Rub and squish the soap bar to create as many thick suds as you can and splosh/push the suds off your hands and the soap into a jug/bowl. Once you have a generous amount, add a splash of water but not too much, then us a paint-brush (or a pastry-brush you will never use again!) to paint the suds onto the leaves, stem, branches, and flowers of the plant. Keeping the suds as thick as poss (not very dilute) will make it easier to see which bits of the plant you've already done and the sudsiness will suffocate the aphids more quickly. Painting it on also avoids getting suds on the fruit.
And/or, you could have a look online and buy some ladybird/hoverfly/lacewing larvae. Though you might not want the resulting insects living indoors with you. You can also buy adult ones but they might well fly off – and that's why using predators for pest control is usually recommended for greenhouses. I'd recommend
http://www.greengardener.co.uk as a source but, having just checked, they've finished ladybirds and ladybird larvae for this year and will start again in time for spring.
I'm thinking of getting some for next year, as I've only seen two ladybirds and a handful of hoverflies this year so have done a lot of squishing and sudsing.
(Note: 'sudsiness' and 'sudsing' are proper words. I can't imagine why on earth spillchuck disagrees with me...
)
[quote="yahyah"]If Rebecca's reading, hope Toffee is back to fine fettle and you are all feeling better after the stress.
&, on gardening...
I've got a lovely chili plant on my window sill.
Have had five chilis off it, and five ready to pick, and a whole load of new flowers on it so the chance for more to come.
But it's got greenfly. Have tried brushing them off [try not to kill anything], then had to resort to spraying it with diluted washing up liquid. Still has greenfly.
What else to do that's organic ?
Am already worried the chilis will taste of detergent even if I wash them well.[/quote]
Second your thoughts about Rebecca's little cat! Hope Toffee is ok after the ordeal :crossed-fingers:
Greenfly...
I don't think the Dalai Lama would find any great fault with you if you run your fingers over the plants, daily, for squishing purposes. He said, recently, that he does pretty well on most of the 'do not kill' injunction but still can't get past a murderous inclination when it comes to mosquitos and pigeons!
You could try adding a generous shake of cayenne pepper to the washing-up liquid – and use a strong washing-up liquid like Fairy or something else concentrated because it's the suds you need. Doing both of these, daily, should get things under control. Dunno about the taste of detergent getting into the chillis, they have a firm skin so should be properly washable.
Other things to try: grab a bar of soap (the bathroom stuff – as I don't think you can ever get rid of the smell of carbolic...) Turn on a tap to wet your hands and the soap bar. Rub and squish the soap bar to create as many thick suds as you can and splosh/push the suds off your hands and the soap into a jug/bowl. Once you have a generous amount, add a splash of water but not too much, then us a paint-brush (or a pastry-brush you will never use again!) to paint the suds onto the leaves, stem, branches, and flowers of the plant. Keeping the suds as thick as poss (not very dilute) will make it easier to see which bits of the plant you've already done and the sudsiness will suffocate the aphids more quickly. Painting it on also avoids getting suds on the fruit.
And/or, you could have a look online and buy some ladybird/hoverfly/lacewing larvae. Though you might not want the resulting insects living indoors with you. You can also buy adult ones but they might well fly off – and that's why using predators for pest control is usually recommended for greenhouses. I'd recommend [url]http://www.greengardener.co.uk[/url] as a source but, having just checked, they've finished ladybirds and ladybird larvae for this year and will start again in time for spring.
I'm thinking of getting some for next year, as I've only seen two ladybirds and a handful of hoverflies this year so have done a lot of squishing and sudsing.
(Note: 'sudsiness' and 'sudsing' are proper words. I can't imagine why on earth spillchuck disagrees with me... :wink: )