Sprout plant bugs....

[shiney]

OK got a few bugs on my sprout plants...what are these and what's the nicest way of telling them to go? Are they greenfly but a distant cousin? They are grey and there's lots of them!

I have spiders and caterpillars too, but I have got rid of most of the yellow eggs on the back of the plants. Just picked them off.



Help and advise please!

[Shirley]

I've had these before and they look horrid don't they - at least greenfly are pretty (ish)

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles05 ... _aphid.asp

[Millymollymandy]

You've got good eyesight, Shirlz! All I can see is a greyish blob!

[shiney]

Me too, but it's the best I could do!

I was just hoping that someone would have had these bugs before and recognised them.

[Selby]

They could be whitefly.

Coat a piece of cardboard with heavy grease.
Hold it grease side down.
Move it slowly over the brassica.
The whitefly will leap up and stick to the grease.

[Chickpea]

Do they do any harm? I have whitefly in my sprouts but I'm much more concerned about pigeons pecking them.

[Luath]

Looks like mealy bug.

[shiney]

I went out to check the bug situation yesterday. I have been taking butterfly eggs off the leaves daily as well.

Anyway, I thought as I looked at them, that there didn't seem to be that many. I thought that nature had taken its course and some other animal had eaten them.

Later on I told my other half and he said 'Oh I thinned down ecover washing up liquid and sprayed it on them, this morning before work'! Time will only tell if the bugs stay away and the sprouts survive.

[Wombat]

If they are aphids (which they sort of look like) any material that forms a film over them to exclude oxygen will give them a hard time. Or you could breed up your ladybugs

Nev