Flies...

Daisymaisy

I find that when I put out slug pellets that the dead carcasses of the armies of snails I seem to have attract the flies. I have to go round and collect them and bin them.

Davesnave

emiff6 wrote: »

Speckled wood butterfly larvae love couch grass.

Yes, but they also feed happily on Yorkshire Fog, Cocks Foot and False Brome, so they don't really need my couch grass any more than I need Chinese takeaways, which aren't available within 10 miles of here.

Lotus-eater

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes, but they also feed happily on Yorkshire Fog, Cocks Foot and False Brome, so they don't really need my couch grass any more than I need Chinese takeaways, which aren't available within 10 miles of here.

Did you have to look that up? (Not the chinese takeaway, I'm sure you know that all too well.) I'm impressed if you knew that off the top of your head!


I reckon I could survive without aphids tbh, I know they feed birds and ladybirds, but we could just have a few less of them?

lostinrates

FWIW we are considering using parasitic wasps in the future as fly control. Like nematodes they are a ''natural'' control and like nematodes they require regular re application and aren't ''cheap''. Our reason for lots of flies is being on a farm and near dairy cows. where there are dairy cows there are flies.

Lotus-eater

I thought parasitic wasps only worked within a structure?

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I thought parasitic wasps only worked within a structure?

well, they are being marketed at people like me as ''spread on your muck heap'' at what ever intervals. The open space might mean higher rate of reapplication than within a closed structure? I dunno!

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

well, they are being marketed at people like me as ''spread on your muck heap'' at what ever intervals. The open space might mean higher rate of reapplication than within a closed structure? I dunno!

Oh right, have you got a link to that, haven't seen that one before?

Found em.
http://shop.nutwellsaddlery.co.uk/Products/181-parasitic-wasps.aspx
Sounds very interesting, I'd like to know if they work well.

Davesnave

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Did you have to look that up? (Not the chinese takeaway, I'm sure you know that all too well.) I'm impressed if you knew that off the top of your head!


I reckon I could survive without aphids tbh, I know they feed birds and ladybirds, but we could just have a few less of them?

Of course I had to look it up!:o I know what they look like, but had no idea what they ate as larvae.

We had thousands of dung flies with the pig muck that was delivered last year, but I've seen no sign of them this year, despite only using about half the heap. They tended not to go far from the muck, so I wasn't particularly bothered and, as you can probably guess, I didn't arrange for two tons of poo to be placed close to the house!