Grow Your Own Magazine

I think I might have lost my broad beans this year. I planted them from seed straight into the raised bed in early March and marvelled as the young shoots made an appearance and then seemed to shoot skywards almost daily. Then the first black fly appeared and although I pinched the tops out it really took over before I succombed to spraying with soapy water.

Now the leaves are turning a bit brown and dry and the flowers are black and crispy. There are a few small pods but they look distinctly forlorn. I'm holding out for a recovery but I do wish I'd taken action against the black fly earlier.

Tough luck Charlie. We've got lots of black fly on our broadies, but they had grown quite big before they appeared. But now they're not just on the 'tips' but on the beans too - its the bl00dy ants...have soaped them but we got loads of ants in our garden...

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

I went totally against organic principles this year - my beans were so small and the blackfly were so big and so many!! I sprayed lightly with Provado bugkiller and lo and behold the blackfly were gone and the beans are growing and setting pods.

I'm squishing every day. The blackfly and their anty chums aren't going away but me and the beans are staying ahead of the game - keeping the numbers down so the plants can grow, flower and pod. The blackfly have already more or less abandoned the bigger plants and now I'm just waiting for the ladybird cavalry to turn up and save the day for the littler ones. Any minute, I keep saying (to the beans), any minute and the spotty heroes will be ready to join forces with me, thee, and the side of right. Every time I see an unidentified insect I get excited that it might lay some eggs that will hatch into aphid-eating grubs. Any minute now.

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Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

spray em! get your own back on em!

Way to go!!!!

__________________
Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

My autumn-sown Aquedulce are over now, and succumbed to blackfly just last week: I was squishing every day. The flies were on the pods, not the tips (which I'd pinched out). Ants all over them, drinking their honeydew.

I have now started to find and collect baby ladybirds, and am moving them onto the blackfly colonies (greenfly too, on my roses). No point moving adult ladybirds, they just fly off, but the larvae are stuck where you put them!

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

Same here, 2sheds. We autumn-sowed and got plenty of meals out of them. Was getting bored of pushing the huge plants out of the way every time I needed to get past. Pinched the tips off at the beginning of May and was quite relieved to find blackfly on them 2 weeks ago, as it meant i could cut them down and get on with another crop! Definitely Autumn planting for me from now on!