Attack of the Little Black Flies!

So, under my nose, it seems like a hoard of little black flies have decided my snow peas at home are a nice place to live!  I had left the plants alone for a couple of days during the week, knowing that they were receiving enough rain to keep them going, and came back to them yesterday morning to see that there were heaps of little black flies on the snow pea shoots!

After a bit of google investigating, it seems that these little guys are a type of aphid with wings that love to suck the nutrients out of new buds on all types of plants.  They do, however, love new shoots on soft vegetable plants and will get at them at any opportunity.  After a bit of observation, it looks like they're actually all over the hedge plants that we have in the backyard, so they have naturally migrated across to the vegetable plants located nearby.

The Little Black Flies (Aphids)

Hungry for a way to organically manage the issue, I went on the hunt for a home made spray that might do the trick.  The best way to deal with them is to actually squeeze them off yourself everyday, but the infestation was such that I thought it needed more drastic action.  I actually heard about a product called 'Eco-oil' that had been discussed in a few gardening threads on the internet.  Some people had used it before and recommended not using it on anything you intend to eat, but I thought I would head down to Bunnings to see if they had any, or anything similar that would be organic and suitable for use on vegetables.  To my delight, they sell EcoOil, and low and behold the one that they sell can very safely be used on your veggies.  Its a natural plant oil based concentrate that smells a lot like a cross between eucalyptus and tea tree oil.  You just need to dilute it and spray on your plants. 

 Organic Eco-Oil

They recommend you reapply 3-5 days after the first application, then again another 3-5 days after that.  I sprayed last night, and went out to check on the plants tonight and the vast majority of the little insects have left the plant - very nice!  I just squished the remaining couple, and will repeat the spray in a couple of days time.  I think  there is a warning that you shouldn't undertake more than 2 regimes over a 6-8 week period, but from what I have seen today hopefully I will be able to keep them under control myself by doing a bit of squishing now and then, and giving the surrounding bushes a bit of a spray as well :)