Honeysuckle aphid nightmare

[taxi4ballet]

Has anyone else got a honeysuckle with this problem? We have a beautiful nearly 30-year-old honeysuckle (Lonicera Belgica) growing over an arch and for the last three years or so it gets an infestation of small grey aphids attacking the new growth and buds. Millions of them. Literally. The buds then either don't open at all, or they do but are shrivelled and distorted. I can't spray it with insecticide because A - much of it is quite high up and you either can't reach it or the insecticide cascades over you underneath as well, and B - we get a lot of blue tits and great tits in the garden and I don't want to poison them because they do eat some of the aphids.

The aphids appear out of nowhere and within a few days all the new growth is entirely smothered in the damn things. It's strange though, because we have a lot of other plants in the garden and we don't find these particular grey aphids on anything else at all.

I am at my wit's end - help please!

Garlic spray? I know it's still a spray, but at least it's not chemically.

www.food.com/recipe/gardeners-friend-garlic-spray-68652

That's a good idea, although with the height of it I will probably come in smelling of garlic as well if I try to spray it!

Does anybody else have gazillions of small grey aphids on their honeysuckle? I've been gardening a long time and have never seen anything like them before. Maybe we have a new species in the garden...

Is this them ?

If so , they are mealy cabbage aphids . They over winter on your plant and come out when it's warmer. That's why they seem to appear out of nowhere.

There are organic pesticides you can use that won't affect the birds . More information here

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=656

Washing up liquid mixed with water and sprayed over works .

Stacey they do look very similar although they are a paler grey than that. Do mealy cabbage aphids like honeysuckle then? I've never gown brassicas in the garden either.

It's so frustrating, as it is quite big and this year's flower display is ruined already. At least they don't seem interested in the honeysuckle on the other side of the garden at all (it's the same variety and was grown from a cutting off it).

A chair? To reach the higher bits I mean. Then squish them with a tissue. That's what I've been doing with my roses. Very satisfying.

It's about ten feet high and eight feet wide - I'd need scaffolding! I've done the squashing thing on roses too, but I couldn't do it with the honeysuckle as they are wormed right into the middle of the bud clusters, and as I said before, there are literally millions of the little blighters...

Have you tried using a refillable spray you pressurise by pumping which you can strap on your back and climbing a ladder?

No, because I don't have either, and can't really justify the cost!

A hose?

Is the horse to sit on to spray the plants or to eat the honeysuckle ?

Maybe you could stand on the horse, like a circus performer , wielding your spray gun ?

Well, I'm rather glad I didn't spray it now.

Hanging deep inside the honeysuckle is a bird feeder - and in the bird feeder... is a robin's nest.

If the honeysuckle is 30 years old it could probably do with a jolly good prune. As Stacey.. says the aphids might be overwintering on the plant so getting rid of a lot of the old wood might break the cycle. Haven't checked but the RHS website probably has advice on pruning.

A HOSE. Not a bleeding horse.

And...awwwww, baby robins!

That's a shame, I liked the sound of a gardening horse

It works with your Mumsnet name

We have robins nesting in our garage, parents fly in and out via ajar small top window.