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pests Safest pesticide for aphids?

DelawareDave

DelawareDave

What would you-all recommend as the safest pesticide for aphids (i know "recommend" and "pesticide" don't usually go together on this board :)? I have about 40 pepper plants and 36 tomatoes so picking them off by hand is not going to happen. Also i already know Sevin doesn't kill them.
 
Well, I can give you THIS advice. I had the same issue a couple of weeks ago. Another member on here, WickedMojo, recommended the brand "Bayer." I went to Lowe's, and bought a bottle labeled "Vegetable and Garden Insect Spray." It cost $11, but was SOOOOO worth it.
Don't get me wrong, I would PREFER not to use ANY kind of chemical on my plants. BUT, keeping my plants healthy, and ALIVE, is VERY important to me. So, I sprayed them down with this stuff. IMMEDIATELY I could see dead aphids all over the soil underneath the plants. And knock on wood, I havent seen but MAYBE one or two aphids since then.
This stuff is friggin' AWESOME!
So, take that as it is. It worked WAY beyond my expectations. So, if you REALLY want to get rid of aphids, this stuff will help ya out. IF you go looking for it, they make several different varieties of the stuff. The bottle I got just hooks right up to the end of a hose. And ALL of the Bayer products are blue, fyi.

Good luck!

p.s. To my knowledge, I dont think aphids attack tomatoes. Boiling tomato leaves, and spraying the aphids with the juice from that, is a natural remedy for aphids.
 
Pyrethrins are made from chrysanthamums and/or other plants, and it works fairly well although I highly suggest ladybugs or other natural predators.

Aphids certainly do attack tomatoes but they don't usually do much damage compared to chiles
 
+2, bring in am army of ladybugs!

ladybug.jpg
 
POTAWIE said:
Aphids certainly do attack tomatoes but they don't usually do much damage compared to chiles
Click to expand...

Yeah, I never worry about aphids on tomatoes. Right now mine are dealing with aphids and flea beetles and they've hardly missed a beat. Once they get about two feet tall nothing aside from disease can really bother them.

Peppers seem to have a much stronger reaction to an aphid presence. And yes, ladybugs are the most effective measure, if only because once you have a ladybug presence in the garden, you almost don't have to worry about aphids anymore. You'll still have them on plants, but not at damaging levels. The important thing is to keep them in check, which natural predators are great for.
 
Seems to be a lot of problems with aphids this season for many of us. I would estimate 70% production loss or more for me this year due to aphids. Last year ladybugs eliminated ALL my aphids. This year I have ladybugs of every life cycle stage in large numbers and the aphids are winning, no contest.
I have resisted using chemical control to the point of unacceptable (to me) losses. Insecticidal soap, neem, DE, ladybugs, etc. just have not worked this season. I will try these methods again in the future.
To quote my dad, "Sometimes Mother Nature needs a little help."
In my experience aphids attack tomatoes in an especially evil way. They get on the bloom stems and suck the sap until the flower/fruit dies and falls off.
 
Aphids have several generations a year and are generally more of a problem May through June and again in the fall. Large numbers can usually be found in curled leaves. Control is often not necessary because of predator and parasite activity. Common predators are green lacewing larvae, ladybird beetle (larva and adult), hover fly larvae and predatory bugs. Several small wasps parasitize aphids. Parasitized aphids turn brown and remain on the leaves. If necessary, aphids may be reduced by washing them off infested plants with a stream of water. If damage is obvious and predator or parasite activity is low, aphids may be controlled with an application of insecticidal soap. --University of Maryland--
 
I read an article that pesticides kill all the bugs, good ones also, so it was best to do nothing. The good bugs will come after the bad bugs eventually. I had a Habanero that was loaded with aphids. I decided to let it be the sacrificial plant in my garden. It struggled for a couple of weeks, then one day I went out to check on my plants and all the aphids were gone! So for now on, I'll just let nature do its thing. It is now my prized Habanero!
 
anyone ever try Organocide? Does it harm lady bugs? also I've realized that i have a severe Ant infestation and they are farming the little green bastards..... so any help with getting rid of the ants to would be great :)
 
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