[Bluedave]

Hello all,

I have a hanging basket full of pansy's covered in these tiny little creatures.

Can any body tell me what they are and more importantly how to get rid of them? If  I need to bin the flowers then thats fine but I don't want these spreading to the rest of my baskets (as I spent most of yesterday planting up the summer ones!)

cheers all

[fatcat1955]

Look like wooly aphids to me, squash them in your fingers or spray them.

[lancashiregardeninggal]

Have the plants over-wintered?  The reason I ask is because the only time I have seen such bad infestation is when plants have come through winter (infested) giving the blighters a head start

[Bluedave]

they have been out since late february and may have overwintered at the nursery we got them from?

thanks fatcat - what do I spray them, with?

[mumofstig]

you could try a little wash-up liquid in water, bu I must admit they are so bad that I'd opt for a systemic spray to make sure you get them all before they spread.

I try not to use chemicals, especially on veg, but will as a last resort...so I buy
Provado Ultimate bug killer (the spray not the aerosol) which you can use on veg
if you need to.

[fatcat1955]

I get them on my lupins like that. i run my finger and thumb up the stem and squash them. Provado will clear them up too if your squeamish. lol

[Kleftiwallah]

Take a stroll along a country lane and collect ladybirds.  They will gorge themselves on the aphids, lay eggs and the imature ladybirds are even more voratious eaters of aphids.   Cheers,  :happy:  Tony.

[Bluedave]

Got the provado! Not that i'm squeamish but there are just so many of them to squash.

Wife reminded me that this was a cheap basket (£1.50 for fully planted basket) we bought as it had overwintered and wasn't in the best of states!