Grow Your Own Magazine

Sorry to bombard the forum with my questions but...

The bloody creatures have infested my two avocado plants. It's even more surprising as they are indoors.

What could you suggest apart from picking them by hand? Shall I try feeding them to ladybirds?

Lice ? Could they be greenfly or whitefly?

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

What are plant lice?

It sounds horrible!

Sounds like greenfly - and yes they do breed indoors (greenfly is actually a bit of a misnomer as they come in green, black, grey and pink or red. If you don't want to use pesticides the only answer is to squish the little b*****s. You could try introducing a couple of ladybirds, but there's no guarantee they will actually eat the pests. In fact my granddaughter spent nearly a whole afternoon moving ladybirds to my rosebush (which has a few greenfly) only to find that they preferred to be where they originally were (no greenfly visible) - still kept her busy for quite a while.

Those ladybirds are stupid!

I spend ages trying to put them on the greenfly and they just won't have it.

What is wrong with them?

Alexx, bring the plants outside and spray them with soapy water. Make sure to do the underside of the leaves as well. Plants indoors can become infested with greenfly when its too hot.

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And when you're back stops aching,
And you're hands begin to harden.
You will find yourself a partner,
In the glory of the garden.

Rudyard Kipling.

Hello Alex, what kind of creatures do you have on your plants. You can pick them all off by hand, spray them with a very dilute solution of soapy water, or if it fits with you, you can get insect sprays for indoor plants. Take the plants outside and give them a spray with it.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Sorry, I'm not good with terminology
It has to be greenfly. They are green at the end of the day, tiny wee creatures covering the stalk and the top leaves. Will try the soap.
Many thanks

Thanks for raising this question. I had noticed that my ladybirds are mating on plants that don't have any aphids, and when I relocated them to aphid colonies, they jumped ship! I have just found this on the web, see the link for more info.
"So, can ladybirds really make any difference to aphid population? Well yes, to some extent. The females lay their eggs very early in the aphid infestation, and crucially, don’t lay any more. This is because ladybird larvae are cannibalistic and will eat any (other ladybird) eggs that are laid later.

Female ladybirds have developed a clever way of knowing when to stop laying eggs. The UEA scientists discovered that ladybird larvae leave chemical “footprints” behind as they crawl over the plant. Females can detect these tracks, and know that any more eggs would probably be eaten, so stop laying."
http://www.nrp.org.uk/enews/edpladybird.htm

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi