[Sharonx]

Hi,
Went to the plot last night just to pick a few things & I took a peek at the carrots that I have in a large container, which is covered with green netting. The green tops are all flopped over and they are covered in aphids. The compost has all white specks of something on it, i'm presuming eggs of some sort, and there seems to be alot of Ant, Spider & Woodlice activity in there as well.
Now, would it be best to spray the carrots & hope they pick up, or would it be better to harvest the whole lot, cut away the green stalks to get rid of the aphids then freeze them. Don't think they are very big at the moment though  

[Sharonx]

No replies 

[PennyS]

Sorry don't know what to suggest. 

I konw that for aphids spraying with diluted washing up liquid is supposed to be good?  That's what I've done on eg beans in the past.

I've just been to the lotty to do some picking.  Pulled up two caulis and they are absolutely aphid-ed out.  Loads of grey bits on them.  Eggs/larvae?  I've got them soaking.

I've got loads of these things lodged in the leaf joins and under the leafs so I'm not even sure how spraying would help with these caulis.  Next year I'm growing under Environmesh instead of butterfly net, but I'm not sure that even that will stop these blighters. 

On the bright side I can't see any caterpillars 

[Sharonx]

Thanks Penny,
As all the green folige seems to be dying off I think I will just get them all up as see if i can salvage any of them.

I have had blackfly on the runners and cleared them off with soapy water but the carrots are looking a bit too sorry for them selves.

Having a dismal time of it at the moment, it's been a tough year of growing for me that's for sure 

[Arbutus]

Hi Sharonx,
Firstly Ant, Spider & Woodlice activity is a good thing rather than a bad thing....Woodlice eat rotting plant material and help to recycle & condition the soil, and spiders are of course predators of lots of nasty insects.

In terms of the aphid issue, a spray of washing-up-liquid in water does work well by smothering the aphids (suffocating them effectively) although it won't deter the next batch from landing & feeding. Also it's very important to use a vegetable based soap (like Ecover for instance) or you can do all kinds of damage to both the plants and the soil. Anti-bacterial soaps, in particular, will destroy the whole balance of your soil.

You can also try any one of a variety of "home brew" plant based sprays. There's some info about some of these in this article at Ecocharlie:

http://www.ecocharlie.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/03/08/plant-pests-%E2%80%93-ten-top-organic-solutions/

The garlic & chilli sprays definitely work very well - I've used them successfully on aphids, sawfly & caterpillars, and I like the idea of using the defences of one plant to help protect another. As well as killing off existing aphids I think these have a somewhat longer lasting deterrent effect too, plus there's no danger of damaging the soil flora or the plants themselves.