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Flies on my Camellia

Gardening Reference » Gardening in 2006
by bebe on March 22, 2006 09:10 PM
Hi, this is my first post!
I've just popped out into the garden on what feels lke the first warm morning of the year, and noticed that my camellia shrub/tree is covered in flies.

Has anyone else experienced this, and is there anything I can do to encourage them to leave? I like to garden as organically as possible if that makes any difference?

I could really do with a hand! [Wink]
by Buglady on March 23, 2006 03:44 AM
are the flies hurting the plant in anyway? or are they just hanging out and sunning themselves?
any photos?
know what kind of flies they are?

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The Buglady
Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, www.bugladyconsulting.com
Educating the world... one bug at a time
by bebe on March 23, 2006 04:08 AM
I think they're just houseflys, possibly a couple of bluebottles. There are a lot of brown flecks on the leaves, but it's just starting to flower and it's covered in buds, so I guess it's healthy enough.
Do the flies eat aphids? The tree was really suffering with aphids last year, so if they will eat the aphids they can stay with pleasure!
by Buglady on March 23, 2006 04:12 AM
long legged flies will eat aphids and some of the other fly species.. also being UK I don't know your insect complexes like here in the state. I highly doubt they are a problem.

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The Buglady
Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, www.bugladyconsulting.com
Educating the world... one bug at a time
by Longy on March 23, 2006 07:17 PM
I've noticed i get a lot of flies on plants which are affected by scale insect. They are attracted to the sweet sticky stuff the scale exude. Aphids have a similar effect. In these cases, the flies are a symptom of the scale/aphid problem. Do you have a sticky substance or a black sooty substance on the camellia?

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The secret is the soil.
by Buglady on March 24, 2006 12:07 AM
well some flies will lap up the honeydew, but you do not need to treat for the flies, you need to treat for the soft scale, whitefly, or aphids. A hort oil would work. But also predatory flies just sit on plants and perch looking for food.

FYI hard scale does not drip honey dew but mealybugs do because mealybugs are a type of scale.

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The Buglady
Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, www.bugladyconsulting.com
Educating the world... one bug at a time

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