[ebsnare]

Hello!

This is my first post so bear with me...I'm a new gardener and have just planted out some pak choi into large containers (been in there over the weekend). I checked on them this morning and there were some tiny grey-black bugs in the central/new leaves. There were a couple of larger bugs on the outer leaves.

I pinched out the central/new leaf to get rid of the smaller bugs and squished the larger ones!

My questions are: what are these bugs? What can I do to prevent more of them (the plants are very young)? Do a few of them matter or is it more when there's a big infestation?

PS The containers are outside my house so not much other wildlife eg ladybirds around

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Nobbie]

Could be flea beetle, a common pest of young brassica. They don't like damp conditions, so keep them well watered. Not sure if there's a chemical control available anymore.

[Salmo]

Probably grey aphids, also called mealy bugs. They are on all the brassicas now. A sharp swish with a hose or dilute washing up liquid may shift them but they may need spray. Fingers are fine but even a few left behind will soon re-invade. Left to their own devices and the right weather they will multiply and smoother the growing centres. Often plants grow away from them but sometimes they kill plants.

[honeymelon]

The flea beetle in my allotment seems like the damp condition though, they started from my watercress(very wet there) last year then all my brassicas, I gave up all my Pak choi .
 This early spring they appeared on my watercress again . I dug out all of them and applied wood ash all over the ground before growing pak choi , It seemed working (or I am lucky this year), I have had a very good harvesting of Pak choi and haven't found more than 10 flea beetles.

[ebsnare]

Thank you everyone, this is really helpful! I will keep an eye out for any more but for the moment they seem to be ok. Although I found a couple of what I think are aphids...!