Black Fly

Minder

Could someone recommend a suitable treatment for blackfly - we are inundated with it at the moment.

Many thanks.

The Sweeper

Hey - try this first:

½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 tablespoon natural soap (in flakes)

Mix thoroughly and spray on leaves as an all-purpose insecticide. Good for aphids and whitefly and probably not too tasty to anything else.

The other thing is I remember in the UK, my pot plants became infested with blackfly because they were living, drinnking and breeding in the topsoil of the pot plants. Try covering the exposed topsoil of your potted plants with a layer of pebbles or sand - a good thick layer, a couple of centimetres.

Minder

These are on the damson trees in the garden. For a couple of weeks we had literally hundreds of ladybirds laying tiny collections of orange eggs in every available nook and cranny of the damson trees. Several days later the black fly population exploded. I looked last night and the trees are covered in ladybird larvae - voracious little monsters, they have decimated the black fly. So I am reluctant to spray anything on the trees in case I kill the ladybirds.

I also noticed yesterday that I have an infestation of citrus spider mites on my kaffir lime. They suck the sap from the leaves, making them mottled and blotchy. Will the leaves recover from this damage? I have tried a general insecticide suitable for fruit trees while I am waiting for delivery of a specific type for citrus spider mite.

The Sweeper

I don't think the leaves will recover, but new growth will come through if you treat the problem and when it's gone, give the tree some TLC - if it's in a pot and it's been in it for a while, look at repotting in some citrus potting mix, or feeding some citrus food.