Think I Might Have Black Fly On Broad Beans??

[whitespirit66]

Most of my broad bean plants have clusters of little dark things the size of pin-heads beneath the uppermost leaves.

Are these likely to be black fly? Will they damage the plants or beans (the beans are coming on nicely)?
I seem to remember my mother using some Lifebouy soap in hot water to deal with black or green fly - can I still get Lifebouy, or what else should I use?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have nurtured my beans (ooooh matron!) for months now - I don't want to loose them now.

[marmite]

Hello Whitespirit66. Your mum was right. I use washing up a liquid small drop in water then use spray gun. Lifebouy soap that takes me back to my younger days. There was also blocks of carbolic in school that smelt bad. Thank for the trip down memory lane. Regards from Marmite.

[SoapCense]

We are one of the few companies that still sell carbolic soap and we get quite a few customers who still buy it for greenfly or blackfly.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi SoapCense, can you post a link to your company please?

[Chris7]

Originally Posted by whitespirit66

Most of my broad bean plants have clusters of little dark things the size of pin-heads beneath the uppermost leaves.

Are these likely to be black fly? Will they damage the plants or beans (the beans are coming on nicely)?
I seem to remember my mother using some Lifebouy soap in hot water to deal with black or green fly - can I still get Lifebouy, or what else should I use?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have nurtured my beans (ooooh matron!) for months now - I don't want to loose them now.

I also have this problem. Could someone please confirm if they damage the plant in any way?

[Mrs Dobby]

They will reduce the plants vigour by sucking the sa out of the plant, generally they wont kill the plant, but what they will do is restrict its growth and reduce your crop yield, Best things to do are to squish them with your fingers, and to spray with a mild soap solution, we use eco washing up liquid diluted in a sprayer bottle, and this seems to work!

Another thing we've found is that where we had some self sown celery growing beneath the broad beans we didnt suffer any blackfly infestation at all, not sure if this means its the celery that they dont like, but it seemed to work!

HTH

[Chris7]

thanks, i cant squash them as there so tiny and there must be thousands on there lol.

I sprayed soapy water on them all, will see what happens.

[Chris7]

there all still there. Hundreds of them.

I sprayed again today, do i have to make this a regular thing ?

Thanks.

[Mrs Dobby]

Give them a really good squirt with the washing up liquid mix, and keep doing it, they will eventually go, personally after a day or two I will try n squish em aswell as reapply the liquid!

HTH

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by Chris7

there all still there. Hundreds of them.

Hi Chris, broad bean plants are like homing devices for black fly - they love them. Pinch off the tops of the plants, which is what attracts them, now that bean pods are set. This should remove a load of black fly. If there are leaves that are totally covered in black fly then you could remove some of these aswell. Next year once the first bean pods are set just pinch out the tops of the broad bean plants which should stop the black fly infesting your plants.

[djt]

How strong should the soap solution be? I tried spraying mine, but obviously made it too strong as it turned the leaves black! The beans were good though. Next year I'll pinch out the tops.
Deb

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by djt

How strong should the soap solution be? I tried spraying mine, but obviously made it too strong as it turned the leaves black! The beans were good though. Next year I'll pinch out the tops.
Deb

Oh no Deb, that sounds like you used the anti-bacterial stuff that I always tell members not to use! Mrs D. uses the eco brand. You need a really weak dilution of normal washing up liquid to water, about a teaspoon (or maybe less) of washing up liquid to a few litres of water. The easiest thing is to just pinch the tops out - it's amazing that a little bit of green at the top of broad bean plants can attract so many blackfly.

[craftsmaster]

Simply wash the plant with an insecticidal soap or spray it with a repellant. Before you bring it indoors, make sure you inspect it thoroughly for the presence of these insects.

[DavidH]

Well I would say don't bother trying to grow broad beans at all at this time of year if you have a problem with blackfly.

You can have broad beans in late May or early June if you plant a hardy variety like Aquadulce in October and over-winter them.

Then you can harvest the whole crop by mid-summer and follow on in the same space with pot-raised brassicas for the winter (and the nitrogen fixed in the soil by the beans will help them too)

If you want fresh beans in late summer then you can grow runners, french beans, dwarf beans, etc - and these shouldn't suffer so much from blackfly.

[SoapCense]

Originally Posted by Lesley Jay

Hi SoapCense, can you post a link to your company please?

Hi. just type SoapCense into any web browser and that will find us.
Many thanks.
Paul.