Karen Kenny on watering and controlling greenfly
Karen Kenny, an allotment expert with the , answers your questions about watering and how to get rid of greenfly organically. If you have any tips to share about watering techniques or greenfly, you can add your comments at the bottom of this entry.
Sylvia Chubbs asks: What is best time to water? In the evening (which attracts the slugs and snails) or in the morning (when the leaves can get scorched)?
Answer: Early morning is by far the best because in the evening the ground is still hot as are the plants and the shock of cold water is not great. (Remember walking into a cold sea on a hot day!) Also the damp soil will give the slugs and snails an easy passage to their supper. It is best to really soak the soil and then to mulch thickly with anything organic, compost, straw, leaves, shredded paper. Then you will not need to water again for a long while as the plants will be encouraged to search for water down in the soil. This will give you more time to enjoy the garden.
Deb asks: How do I get rid of greenfly organically?
Answer: Invite the predators in with a supply of water, underplant vulnerable plants with nectar-rich flowers such as the poached eggplant (Limnanthes douglasii). These will invite the lacewings and hoverflies whose larvae eat about 300 each before growing up and this can happen almost overnight, one day they are there the next all aphids disappeared! Natural predators seek out every one as there are not enough for every larva to grow into an adult. Most important, keep an eagle eye out for the first ones and squash them as they reproduce at an alarming rate. A good jet of water will wash them off. Use a soft-soap organic spray. Make sure you spray under every leaf and in every nook and cranny and repeat at least twice. If you leave just a couple they will re-infest the whole plant in no time!
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