[finty22]

hiya,

gutted ... got my lottie 5 weeks ago... and made sooo much progress until ... i found my broad beans have been got at by what i think is pea and bean weevil!!!!

anyway ... been looking at alternatives to spraying with befenhrin and found an obscure reference to making up a nicotine mixture from fag ends and using that on there .... has anyone tried this or got an organic alternative to spraying???

mel

[Yorkie]

Sorry finty, using the nicotine method isn't legal any longer (and think what it might do to you, as well as your plants - fag ends contain lots of chemicals as well as nicotine, and whilst the old gardeners may have used such methods not all of them lived long lives  )

I've not had this weevil but I think most people here would say it doesn't really affect the plants health too much (try a search, there's been a number of posts over the last month or so)

[finty22]

glad i asked the question now ... information from t'internet is to be taken with a pinch of salt!!

thanks

[Oliver]

hiya,

gutted ... got my lottie 5 weeks ago... and made sooo much progress until ... i found my broad beans have been got at by what i think is pea and bean weevil!!!!

Do you mean the little creature that nibbles the edges of the leaves and makes them sort of frilly? If so, they do no harm at all, so just leave them. More to the point - hope you don't get the dreaded black fly. That is a different ball game and you will have to come up with a way of dealing with that. :blink:
Oliver

[finty22]

yes ... i have frilly beans!!

[Aunt Sally]

I just ignore the weevels.  I spray the blackfly with horticultural soft soap.

[Parsnip]

finty22.. The same thing has happened to mine ( it's my first year too) my neighbouring plot holder with 40 + experience didn't know what it was. They'd nibbled at his aswell..suffice to say, my beans are going great ...as are his..

[Ice]

Also, if they are a good size, just pinch out the tops.

[Aunt Sally]

Also, if they are a good size, just pinch out the tops.

... to get rid of the blackfly 

[Ice]

Also, if they are a good size, just pinch out the tops.

... to get rid of the blackfly 

Yes, to get rid of the blackfly.  As for the bean weevils, I find one spray with bugclear at an early stage works well.  I certainly wouldn't spray when the beans are forming.