Vitax Py Bug Killer Concentrate Pest Control,250ml

Was told by a fellow gardener about these to use for Box tree caterpillars, have used a another brand for many years, but hoping this is better.

Killed the bugs on my acer very quickly. Delighted with the results

Just used it first time. Seems good

As instructed I used 5ml per litre of water. It's a full cap of concentrate for 5 litres and is clearly marked. The bottle has the pouring cup and measuring lines incorporated into its design so you don't need to decant or get any of the concentrate on your hands. Just squeeze the bottle until the amount you need enters the measuring/pouring compartment and then pour it into your sprayer.I used a 5 litre hand pumped pressure sprayer to spray/mist the poison all over the leaves of my plants. Some of the cauliflowers had become skeletons and others were covered in cabbage white caterpillars. I thought I had done enough to stop them attacking my plants by using fine mesh netting.Last week I used a fruit and veg nematode preparation but it doesn't seem to have worked and the week before I emptied a supermarket bug killer spray onto them without any effect. So I ordered this Vitax stuff instead and I'm glad I did (many thanks to the reviewers who helped me with their reviews).I'm impressed not least because It will work out a lot cheaper this way. This bottle will probably last two or three years.Anyway this-morning I took my pressure sprayer to the allotment and gave all my brassicas a good dousing. I also sprayed the beans for good measure.The caterpillars were very visible and happily munching when I started to spray but 25 minutes later they were falling off the plants, turning upside down on the leaves and making S shapes before becoming motionless. So I'm hoping they're all dead or dying and not just feeling a bit poorly.I will definitely add a comment to this review in a day or two to confirm success or report failure.My additional comment to this 2018 review. It's now August 2024 and this stuff still works very well. I'm now using a small bottle sprayer because it works so well, I don't need to carry 5 litres around.

Have used this all summer on our allotment with mixed results. It didn't do much to control flea beetle but got rid of black fly a treat. On other pests it worked on some and not so well on others. All told it's well worth buying, just try it and see if it works on your particular problem.

I used this to control cabbage white caterpillars which were trying to turn my sprouting broccoli plant leaves into lace. I prefer not to spray plants, especially something which will be eaten, and which is growing out in the open where a spray could kill bees and other beneficial insects. For that reason I grow brassicas under netting to keep the cabbage whites off, but this year the plants grew quickly and were pushing against the netting before the cabbage white butterflies had stopped breeding, so by mid August there were caterpillars feasting on every broccoli plant. I'm happy to squash eggs and caterpillars by hand, but it's a messy job and inevitable some are missed and continue to wreak devastation.I found that one application of this spray knocked the problem on the head, killing off the remaining eggs and caterpillars, and lasted long enough that there was no further recurrence of cabbage whites this year.Note that:a) The product described on Amazon is called Vitax PY Concentrate Garden Insect killer, but I received the product shown in the photo, ie. "PY Bug Killer", which contains Cypermethrin rather than the Pyrethrum. There's a difference - Pyrethrum is usually a plant extract (from a form of chrysanthemum) but Cypermethrin is a synthesised form, which is unlikely to be accepted as organic by the Soil Association.b) This is a contact pesticide rather than systemic (such as Malathion, which is no longer available to the public in the UK) so it has to be applied to all affected leaf surfaces. That's easy enough with a larger pump sprayer, but if you only have a small hand sprayer it's difficult to spray upside down as the end of the sprayer's feed-in pipe comes out of the liquid, so it dries up.

Used on mustard greens which were being attacked by a tiny beetle and since application, there has been no further attacks. Highly recommend.

Used this and it appeared to give satisfactory results to stop caterpillars eating my cabbages.Hopefully it will do the same next year. (2024)