what's happened to my nasturtiums??

[CarolinaMoose]

They've become infested with little black aphid-type things, lots of the leaves have turned yellow and the whole plant has just kind of collapsed .

They now look v sorry for themselves .

Can anyone tell me what's gone wrong?

Nasturtiums attract tiny black fly. I jet them off with a water spray. Check regularly under the leaves - if you can keep them clear then they wont spread so easily.

Yellow leaves is possibly over watering. Nastrutiums like dry, full sun conditions or partial shade.

Thanks. D'you think they'll recover if I spray them? There are some green leaves left atm.

The blackfly have also spread to a nearby sunflower, which seems to be bearing up a bit better.

Is there any organic thing I can do to prevent blackfly apart from spraying when they appear? Anything I should plant nearby to attract predators for instance?

Tomatoes.

Nasturtiums are often used to attract the pests away from other plants, but you can do it in reverse and plant tomatoes as the attractant.

If the leaves are really yellow, pinch them out. The plant will have to use too much energy fixing the damage. Best it uses that energy on new, better growth.

Have to do school run now but I will check my books when I get back, see if there is anything else suggested.

Thanks StG

Sorry for delay, broadband playing up today

Nearly everything refers to using nasturtiums as a trap plant to deliberately attract the black aphids - annoying if you want to eat the nasturtiums!

The only bit I found was this:

"You need to catch infestations early ? so keep inspecting the underside of the leaves. Spray the plant with derris, fatty acids or any organic insecticides unless you never eat nasturtiums or don?t mind about using chemicals in which case you can try bifenthrin or imidacloprid."

I have found keeping the plants raised from the ground helps - so make sure you have the upright variety unless you have planted in baskets.
Remember they self seed really easily so you might well get another batch through soon or next year if you don't disturb the ground.

Forgot - another useful plant to put nearby is radishes. They will grow really quickly as well and would be less obvious than tomatoes.

oooh, thanks.

What is derris btw? And what can I use for fatty acids?