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pests Have you done your pest check today???

I wa just saying to myself yesterday, " hmm no aphids this year must be the AACT spraying". Today I found 2 plants completely infested with them. Blasted them with insecticidal soap, and ordered 1000 ladybugs online.

Anyone know if the soap residue will harm the ladybugs when they arrive? I was thinking of spraying with either water or AACT to wash it off first
 
AACT Cay?

Dishsoap works, there are a number of mixes. Including chili, cooking oil, garlic, onion. Someone around here had success with dishsoap, garlic and onion. Problem with garlic is it will also kill beneficial insects, but when you have an aphid problem you need to act.

As far as soap goes harming ladybugs, I doubt it but don't hold me to it, the way it works is something like this, because aphids are soft bodied creatures the soap coats them and suffocates them. if the soap has already dried you're not spraying it on the ladybugs. But you will need to keep applying soap because more eggs hatch and aphids take over again.

Or you could just buy some round up ready chili seeds ;) I hear pests don't like them.
 
ChiliHeadInTheMaking said:
AACT Cay?
Or you could just buy some round up ready chili seeds ;) I hear pests don't like them.
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HAHA...

I will say the AACT way is a bit of work. You cant just do it once or twice a season and expect it to work. I think I said that before after reading is some where but now I will correct my self.

I think of it as a system, and a system that may not work for every one. I feel that if you want absolute results, you need to apply AACT once a week Minimum.

Sure you can let it go until the buggers come back and that's not an issue either, unless it is to you like it is to me.

I know by now the word Biofilm is sorta a strange thing that people are still very skeptical about, but you can actually feel it on a leaf that has had consistent healthy doses of Tea. It feels waxy almost, and the leaf feels thicker and tougher, almost like cabbage.

I know everyone's garden is different, but I feel like I should share what is working best for me.

The plants love it, the bugs hate it, it cost very little the way I do it, it just works for me and I hope I can turn more people on to it.

CIMG0265.jpg
 
I got aphids little black ones and they never seem to go away I've managed to get them to just a few here and there but it's going to be warming up soon :/
 
My plants inside are still battling a summer-long war with the aphids. I keep em under control when I eradicate on a daily basis, but take a few days off and they just take over. The ladybugs in the spring almost totally removed them. Outdoors my plants have a few aphids and seem to be doing way better than my inside plants, but I also have a bunch off tiny monkey spiders living in my plants and will even deter the ants.
 
Yup,I just did a pest check,the pest is still around I just checked...Boss is still in his office...

I see guys saying they'll use dilute malathion.
Don't use any poison dilute.
It doesn't kill all the bugs but does make some immune.
Either use it or don't use it,or next generation of survivirs offspring will not be effected by that poison,no matter what the strength you use.
It'll lead to having to use the nukes just to make the bugs die.
Better to use malathion full strength once and be done with it for the season rather than having to deal with immune survivors all season.
I may have finally gotten rid of mites after 3 or 4 seasons.
Now it's leaf miners.
I released the nematodes on their little butts last week.
An added + is they killed a bunch of grasshoppers too.At least I've been seeing a few dead ones since I put out the nematodes.
Haven't seen pods on the ground as much either.Grasshoppers love chewing the stems of pods for some reason along with the green outside bark of plants.They were leaving the leaves alone.Just stripping the outer layer of bark off my plants.
The nematode mix I used kills over 200 kinds of bad guys.
Bwaahaahaa.
Egore release the nematodes....

http://www.tiptopbio.com/tech_bulletins.html
 
I think aact is the former cal mag.....there is no ONE cure for all.

Just used malathion, killed 90% of the aphids
 
armac said:
I think aact is the former cal mag.....there is no ONE cure for all.

Just used malathion, killed 90% of the beneficial soil microbes
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Fixed...

But you are right, it isn't a cure all. I seem to be pulling off horn worms from most of my plants AACT or not.
Also AACT for me is a bit of work and I could see how a busy person may not have the time to do What I do.
 
Cayennemist said:
Fixed...

But you are right, it isn't a cure all. I seem to be pulling off horn worms from most of my plants AACT or not.
Also AACT for me is a bit of work and I could see how a busy person may not have the time to do What I do.
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That's my situation. I need to find the time to learn how to do it, shop to do it, and do it ... and then deal w/ the inevitable problems from doing it (assuming pests/mosquitos) ...
 
I'm killing a hundred aphids a day in one of my raised beds. Squash bugs are out of control. Picking horn worms and eggs off from time to time (made it through the first wave but we have one more wave to go next month).

Everything is alive and producing, so I'm not terribly concerned at this point. The aphids are the biggest nuisance, especially since the majority of my peppers are crammed together in one 6'x15' bed (and hard to reach/examine all of them), but I find squishing them with my fingers a rewarding and enjoyable experience. I finally used a little boric acid and sugar to tackle the ants that have been farming them so I seem to have less and less of them to squish everyday. I guess that's a good thing.
 
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