Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: starry on June 16, 2012, 14:41
-
I have identified these as the grotesque things swimming about in my water butt (that I chucked all my couch grass in to drown it) but do I just leave them to hatch in to hover flies i.e not tip it all out (it smells putrid) :(
-
You might find something helpful here. (http://ipm.ncsu.edu/ag369/notes/rattailed_maggots.html)
Since they're not really a pest, nor can you crush them, you need to decide if indeed they are the cause of the stink or the rotting weeds and what to do.
-
Morning,
I come across hundreds of these each year on the farm, never been a problem. I just let them get on with it, they must do something good and have a purpose and they don't sting or bite which also goes in their favour.
I would let them be.
Nicky
-
morning I think I will probably leave them to turn in to hover flies as I know they are good for getting rid of aphids and as you say they do no harm, and then once they are gone I will empty out the smelly water and walk quickly away :lol: it's the weeds that have caused the smell rather like nettle water :blink:
-
The smelly liquid you describe is nitrogen rich and worth adding a bit to your watering can (1:10).
I also get these bugs in all my nettle tea, perennial weed drownings, water butt, etc. I use the former, diluted, as plant feed. You are right though, it really stinks and you need a strong stomach to use it, but it is almost as good as your nettle tea at feeding the plants.
Add to your watering can at the end of the day to the rough dilution ratio above and your plants will love you!
Keep an eye over the next few weeks. When the majority of the bugs seem to have moved on, use the liquid and get rid of the rotted leaves in the compost bin as normal.
-
The smelly liquid you describe is nitrogen rich and worth adding a bit to your watering can (1:10).
I also get these bugs in all my nettle tea, perennial weed drownings, water butt, etc. I use the former, diluted, as plant feed. You are right though, it really stinks and you need a strong stomach to use it, but it is almost as good as your nettle tea at feeding the plants.
Add to your watering can at the end of the day to the rough dilution ratio above and your plants will love you!
Keep an eye over the next few weeks. When the majority of the bugs seem to have moved on, use the liquid and get rid of the rotted leaves in the compost bin as normal.
Thanks for that I thought I had read some where that the water from drowning my weeds could be used as a feed but after numerous searches I couldn't find the info so thought I might be dreaming it, I like hover flies they remind me of willo the wisp but how they hatch from something so ugly I don't know !! ???
-
Have you ever seen the interim stage of a lady beetle? Super ugly thing.
As for the weedy plant food, it is hard to find info on it but Bob Flowerdew has it in one of his books where he dedicated a whole barrel to making this concotion and how much to dilute it. Good to know that things like dandelion roots are good for something besides wine :D
-
yes that's true Trillium, and I have never tried dandelion wine the thought of drinking something that my mum told me would make me wet the bed if I picked it fills me with horror (only to find out later that they are a diuretic!!)