Avoiding black fly on broad beans?

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Avoiding black fly on broad beans?
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hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Sat May 06, 06 10:03 pm Post subject:
If you really wanted to do it you could just make them little camouflaged fleeces......

hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Sat May 06, 06 10:05 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

the derbyshire wallabies and the battersea wallabies need some northern rellies .
huge mice .
not eaten one yet .
i like em . met one at the top of a climb, woke up with lots .
huge mice

You're either a veterinarian of you have a most unusual lifestyle....

gil
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Sat May 06, 06 10:06 pm Post subject:
I have eaten and greatly enjoyed kangaroo I would have liked, but could not get, a pair of rooskin boots (very hard-wearing hide) when I was in Oz. I've gone way off-topic. Kangaroos will not keep blackfly off broad beans.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45521
Location: yes

Posted: Sun May 07, 06 3:00 pm Post subject:
i really think they would

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45521
Location: yes

Posted: Sun May 07, 06 3:12 pm Post subject:
which give greater dressed weight flesh per acre of bean field roos or aphids ? i still think vigilence ,soap and drowning work . 3 out of 4 crops it is the wrong time for blackfly anyway . like now .

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Sun May 07, 06 7:54 pm Post subject:

hedgehogpie wrote:

According to my book on companion planting, you could also try Tansy. It apparently deters aphids and ants .....

Something that deters ants???

Hellfire, I will have to try that one

Thanks

rhyddid

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 228

Posted: Sun May 07, 06 8:29 pm Post subject:

hedgehogpie wrote:

According to my book on companion planting, you could also try Tansy. It apparently deters aphids and ants - so two birds with one stone!

I stopped growing Tansy around two years ago, however I have lots of established wormwood... I could use that. Wormwood is extremely pungent and some sources claim it may deter ants. I've also just learned that ants dislike mint. I have a good collection of mint plants here (around twenty of them).

Thank you very much for the suggestion about companion planting. I should remember to think more 'holistically' in future.

hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Sun May 07, 06 10:32 pm Post subject:

Been checking out Tansy for you:

It's supposed to be a good preventative against fleas on cats and dogs (rub their coat with it - I think I'd only try that around the neck area in case of licking), and bunches of leaves are hung to deter flies. Chopped Tansy flowers and leaves can also be strewn in appropriate places to deter ants and mice. Dried, it is used in insect repelling sachet mixes.

As to planting, it's described politely as 'invasive' as it produces runners (so easy to propogate!). If you wanted to grow it as a companion plant I'd leave it in a pot to restrict this habit and just sink the pot into the ground. Or you could grow it in a separate container and take off the leaves and flowers as needed to spread around the broad beans or places where you don't want ants.

Don't ingest Tansy (not that I imagine you would!). It can also provoke the onset of a period and should not be used medicinally during pregnancy. An overdose of Tansy oil can be fatal - so this is one for trained herbalists only!

Wormwood doesn't have a mention of ant repelling properties, but is recommended against moths and is also used in sachet mixes as and insect repellent. Oddly, it is supposed to suffer from blackfly in the summer - something I've never seen on the plant in our garden, but maybe we've been lucky! Medicinally, another one to use with caution.

I'd be interested to know how the wormwood experiment goes. If we're thinking about the potential of aromatics, I've also got a curry plant that I might try out against ants as we've got a nest developing near our shed I'd like to discourage. Could work, as long as they don't like curry!

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 9:19 am Post subject:
OK being realy stupid, what do black fly look like. I have little black things on some of my beans, is that them? sorry.

Rowanlady

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 195
Location: NE Hampshire

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 9:26 am Post subject:

'Little black things on beans' sounds like blackfly - nasty squishy things

Don't know about tansy in the green repelling blackfly - my tansy usually hosts it every year

I do dry it and use it with southernwood in my wardrobes - stored out-of-season clothes all have a little muslin bag full under the cotton cover

To keep it contained I use a length of lawn edging to make a confining bed - works well for tansy and lemon balm - though mint is too clever it manages to escape

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 11:05 am Post subject:
Blackfly look like black greenfly. They tend to hang around the topmost leaves (the bushy fine topknot). One way to annoy (and remove) them is to remove this topmost part - the plant doesn't need it any more once it's grown tall enough and started flowering. Then burn it / drown them in water. Pick off any blackfly that have moved further down the plant.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 12:01 pm Post subject:

We have beans!

(not has beens)

Our broad beans are flourishing. We finally seem to have succeeded with them.

I started them off under small polytunnels in March. The ants were abundent but no blackfly in the tunnels. Last month I removed the tunnels and you guessed it - swarms of blackfly on them the very next day. Pulled the tops off (they were about two feet high now) and gave them a good dowsing with washing-up water once a week. Had to also get some little plastic ant traps to keep the populations down (which I hate as it envolves spending money) but at last we have no ants, no blackfly and plenty of beans in the beds just about ready for picking.

The blackfly seem to have moved on to the spinach now in retaliation but I don't mind as we have lots of the stuff. I will continue to dowse them all the same

pricey wrote:

OK being realy stupid, what do black fly look like.

I have little black things on some of my beans, is that them?

sorry.

Don't forget that broad beans have lovely black and white flowers and all the ones I have grown have had small black dots along the stem which is not blackfly - it's part of the plant. You might not need to start worrying just yet

As Gil has stated blackfly are just like most other aphids, but black.

S

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 12:40 pm Post subject:
I think they are you know lots of ants I just noticed.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 12:52 pm Post subject:
YEP, that's blackfly Save that washing up water

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 06 6:31 pm Post subject:
I have used a spray gun, do I have to rince this off or not?

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