Hi Mandy,the best way i have found is to give them a sharp spray with the hose pipe or spray them with a solution of washing up liquid and water.other than that i can't help. by the way welcome to GOY i'm sure you will enjoy it.

Hi Mandy,

You obviously want to steer well clear of anything toxic on an edible crop like your beans, but there are a variety of vegetable or plant based sprays that you can either buy or make yourself.

There's a good article on Ecocharlie with a variety of suggestions - see:

http://www.ecocharlie.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/03/08/plant-pests-%E2%80%93-ten-top-organic-solutions

The best options might well be a vegetable-based washing up liquid solution - something like Ecover is ideal, but do not use a regular detergent based washing up liquid as these are extremely bad for soil micro-organisms and do not break down easily in the environment.

Alternatively many of the plant-based home made sprays work very well. I like the idea of using the natural defences of one plant (like Chilli, Garlic or Rhubarb) to protect another too.

We've found that using the garlic spray has deterred the bugs on the brassicas. Our broad beans seem not to have too much of a problem! But Ilex's advice is good!