Yes… I know… you’re horrified too…
and on my new roses!
I went to inspect them yesterday and smell their ‘old English variety’ scents and…
…an army of aphids were swarming all over the new buds.
I have been looking into possible remedies and the most popular seems to be:
2 x spoons of cooking oil
1 x dash of washing up liquid
1 x sprayer bottle filled up the rest of the way with water
Hopefully the cooking oil will coat the little blighters so that they slip right off and the washing up liquid will add some lemony freshness!
I am of course, joking. I know there is technical science stuff behind it all….!
The word desiccation rings a bell.
My granny always used to swear by the washing up liquid approach!
I’m sure your granny is right! I couldn’t bear to turn to nasty chemicals! x
Oooo! Errr! Little beasties! I always use fairy liquid. Seems to work fine. Hope you get rid of them.
Regards Florence x
Hi! Yes, they are a complete pain. Although, they are fewer in number than yesterday – so the fairy solution is working a treat! x
Ahpids are a plaque to the rose garden indeed. Good advice. I use it myself for aphids and Japanese beetles…
Hello! Thank you for your lovely comment. Hopefully by the end of next week they should almost be gone. Fingers crossed!!
Hmm.. I knew to use dish soap, but I had never considered adding the oil. Oil is often used as a sticking agent when applying herbicides to plants. I bet that works well here too. Good info.
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Gosh its’s working well… although I can’t take all the credit… this site was particularly helpful: http://www.life123.com/home-garden/gardening-tips/garden-pests/garden-pests-controlling-aphids.shtml
Yes green flies are definitely not part of the new cosy gardening vibe (alongside evil big hairy spiders that leap out unexpectedly whilst we are happily pottering around in the garden, lol). I had a lot of these little blighters on an apple tree I was growing but thankfully the apple tree has fought back all by itself and the green flies have all gone? The fairy liquid is a good tip tho so I will have to try that. I had to compost two ivy plants last week which got eaten by horrid spider mites
Oh no! Sorry to hear about your ivy disaster.
I have just this minute taken cuttings from my neighbour’s beautiful ivy plant. I’m hoping they will root in a glass of water on the windowsill. I’ll have to look out for spider mites now! x
I didn’t know what spider mites were. Look out for tiny little dots on the leaves and tiny webs on the plant. The best prevention is daily misting of the leaves as the mites like it to be dry. Just keep an eye on them, mine got overtaken by them and all the leaves turned brown but fingers crossed your cutting will be ok
Thanks for the advice – I will keep an eye on them! x
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