Aphids !!!

[Whydoineedausername]

Twice over winter/early spring I sprayed my fruit trees with a commercial winter wash, to try to prevent wretched aphids on my apples, plums and pears. It was correctly applied. I also gave each tree a blood fish and bonemeal feed.

They're back! Especially on the Bramley which was so affected last year that we had no apples, except tiny marbles. The plums were so rotten we had to throw them out.
Sick of rotten fruit after careful pruning and spraying!

What am I doing wrong?

Little brown bugs on the grapevine too, plus vegetable seedlings which are eaten as soon as they hit the vegetable patch or greenhouse. My garden is a haven for bugs. Feel like just giving up.

 

[frdnicholas]

Would buying bulk lady bugs help? It sounds like there would be plenty for them to eat>

 

[Whydoineedausername]

Would buying bulk lady bugs help? It sounds like there would be plenty for them to eat>

Got ladybirds on the trees already but maybe they don't like the taste of my aphids! Wretched things are there every year. Just looked at my cherry tree in another part of the garden - leaves all gnarled, no small cherries in sight. Underneath of the leaves dark with aphids.

 

[GFTL]

I find that if you don't catch them early and keep their numbers down it's a lost cause. Soapy water seems to work for me but I'm not growing fruit trees.

 

[DECEMBER]

Azamax has been very effective on my aphids for over a year now. I'm on a 2nd bottle of concentrate. It's systemic and gets rid of bugs by causing them to starve somehow. And it's "suitable for organic gardening". Other kills-on-contact type sprays aren't very reliable because there's always hiding spots where some bugs won't get sprayed.
With nothing, the aphids quickly infest and destroy everything in my indoor garden. I spray Azamax 1-2 times every 2-4 weeks and it stops them dead soon after they start to reappear.