Banishing greenfly

June 27, 2007 5:47 AM

I want to eat my chillies before the greenfly do. How do I keep them away?

I don't want to kill them (I've got some stuff that does that when I notice them) I want to stop them attacking in the first place.

The kitchen and living room windowsills in our house are covered in chilli plants and various unimaginative herbs (basil, chives, corriander, etc). It's only the chilli plants that get eaten, and they seem to go from clear to smothered in 24hours.

I'm sick of spraying them with bugroff - how do I keep them away in the first place?

posted by twine42 to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Someone showed me once that if you mix a (really) tiny squirt of washing up liquid into some water and then use a sprayer to put it on your plants then the bugs don't come in the first place. It works surprisingly well. Maybe use the eco friendly stuff for minimum chemical issues since these are gonna be eaten?
posted by merocet at 5:59 AM on June 27, 2007

In the UK you can buy ladybird (ladybug) nests complete with ladybirds. I don't suppose you want ladybirds in your kitchen, but it would be better than pesticides.
posted by roofus at 6:19 AM on June 27, 2007

Response by poster: It's a farmer's cottage in Cambs so I've got no problem with wildlife that's not killing my plants but a ladybird nest may be a bad idea with our UV electrocutors. :)
posted by twine42 at 6:25 AM on June 27, 2007

I've had some success with the soap/water mix, as suggested by merocet, but if you want something "stronger" you might try using tobacco pipe "tea" instead of just water. There is also Neem oil (rather effective and non-toxic, although the strong garlic smell might not be so pleasant inside.
posted by bluefrog at 9:00 AM on June 27, 2007

I've also heard of spraying coffee on plants to keep insects away - apparently the caffiene is offensive to them.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 11:13 AM on June 27, 2007

I should add that greenflys are commonly referred-to as "aphids" in the USA (the southeast, anyway). Might want to add that to the tags.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2007