What is attracting house flies ?

[bearded bloke]

They are all over the leaves my flowering currant bush. The bush has been oozing some white mold like substance from it's stems for some tie. I wonder if there is something in that.

Ahhhh, that will probably be it, I think you have wooly aphids, they excrete a white substance, give the affected stems a scrum with an old toothbrush dipped in methylated spirits, this will remove the excretion & kill the bugs, hopefully then the flies will go away

[veggiechicken]

Fly screens on sale soon in A1di Page 2 of
W3015UL_190715_Digital

[Bigmallly]

....we even have a compost bin right next to the door! They come in all sorts of colours

Ours are mainly black but they would be lovely in bright colours.................

[Marb67]

Ahhhh, that will probably be it, I think you have wooly aphids, they excrete a white substance, give the affected stems a scrum with an old toothbrush dipped in methylated spirits, this will remove the excretion & kill the bugs, hopefully then the flies will go away

No they are not. No aphids in site. This is what is happening and flies of all types are attracted.

[bearded bloke]

Not wooly aphid, but deffo not going to do the plant any good, if it was mine I would take a cutting to my local nursery & asking for advice on what was causing it, I suspect they would say either spray it with fungicide, or cut it back to good wood & burn the trimmings.

Edit: thinking on it could well be one of the many scale insects, more research needed >>>>>>

[Marb67]

It wouldn't surprise me because I seem to get everything on the planet that can go wrong, sometimes mysterious things also. It's the story of my life. Gardening, technical, bought items, you name it and something goes wrong with it.

[Bill HH]

Many years ago when we were producing eggs and supplying our local village amongst others there was a plague of flies. One gentleman who came to us for his eggs every week wrote to the local paper blaming the poultry farm. My father was livid and called in the min of ag to investigate. Their scientist visited and their decision was that it was nothing to do with the poultry farm but rather the large amounts of uncut grass surrounding the village which is apparently where so called house flies breed.The gentleman concerned sent a friend to get his eggs from then on.

We get a lot of flies outside our kitchen where we have a sun awning, when I remove it the flies go! maybe it's the shade they like, seems unlikely.

[Marb67]

Well just on closer inspection and this strange elastic-stringy webby substance goes right down to the bottom of the main stem.

[veggiechicken]

It wouldn't surprise me because I seem to get everything on the planet that can go wrong, sometimes mysterious things also. It's the story of my life. Gardening, technical, bought items, you name it and something goes wrong with it.

Just to let you know you are not alone A couple of days ago I wandered round the garden. Nearly all my courgette plants had been eaten by something - and I've resown them three times. Not a singe courgette so far when last year I had loads.
The broad beans were covered in blackfly and the soft fruit was either rotting in the rain or part-scoffed by blackbirds. The kale seedlings were a mass of holes.
There were molehills in the middle of the beds and a rabbit has started a burrow in the rhubarb patch.
It was depressing and I felt quite despondent, but also determined to win. So I've sown yet more courgette seeds, put a net over the one surviving plant and collected the molehill soil for potting up. One way or another, I'm determined to eat a homegrown courgette this year.

I know this doesn't help you, Marb, but not everything in everyone's garden is perfect.
I'd cut out the infected branches from the Flowering currant and bin them. Flies are attracted to anything rotten or smelly. Let the flies find somewhere else to feed and let you enjoy your garden.

[bearded bloke]

Marb, are there many ants around this shrub ?

[Martin H]

thinking on it could well be one of the many scale insects, more research needed >>>>>>

I agree. It looks like Woolly Vine Scale, see pic near the bottom of this page.

Did you get your blackcurrents from a Scottish supplier?

[bearded bloke]

Nice find Martin That's the kiddie, more info here Marb .......

Pest & Disease Factsheet - Scale insects | Horticulture Week

[bearded bloke]

Control methods seem to be :

Nematodes ....... Use scale nematodes to control scale insects in greenhouses and conservatories.

Herbicide/pesticide .... Provdo Ultimate Bug Killer or BugClear Ultra

Or the old faithful ..... methylated spirit scrub

[Marb67]

If I cut out the infected area there will be nothing left as it goes to the trunk of the main stem. That's how bad it is infected. As long as it doesn't spead to my black and white currant bushes I don't mind.

BTW- I can say I do have courgettes :-)

[veggiechicken]

Courgettes!!!!
I'm jealous