Aphids...

[jane28]

Hello! I have jus joined on here and am going to be posting my introduction soon...

I thought i would ask some of you seasoned gardeners your advice...

I recently started my herb box on my window sill and put in some basil and chives (not from seed)... i put in compost for them and all seemed well... My lodger brought a parsley plant in from the supermarket and about 2 weeks later i noticed there were white see through tiny bugs on the soil... they were mostly on the soil and only a few on the herbs...
I checked the compost and that was fine... no bugs in there... the only thing i can think it was was the parsley but can shop bought parsley carry aphids ( assuming they were aphids)..

And what can i do to stop it happening again?

Thanks!

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Jane and welcome!

The only white pest that I can think it might be is white fly but the fly and the young are usually found under the leaves. Is there anything on the under side of the leaves?

[jane28]

There were only a fwe on the leaves (underneath) but 99% were on the compost...

It was really odd... They havent gone onto any other plant pots i have in my kitchen...
We have chucked the herbs out and to be on the safe side growing from seed instead...

Could it have been the compost?

[Lesley Jay]

My guess would be that whatever these white bugs were, that the eggs must have been in the parsley pot when the plant came from the supermarket.

I have just discovered that there is a parsley aphid that likes to live around the base of parsley stems - could this be the culprit?

[jane28]

That must be it then!

I told my housemate that is was the parsley as the other plants were ok before that got introduced and they were around the base of the parsley more than anywhere else...

THanks! Next time i am going to put Parsley in a seperate container just in case...