pests Another aphid question---before I destroy all of my plants :(

harjo02

harjo02

I brought 12 plants indoors in late September and they did well for the first 4 weeks.  I did not repot them and the soil in the pots is all from the outdoors.
 
Then aphids struck and my plants are struggling.  I've been hammering them with the dishsoap/water, Ortho insect killer, and some powder for the soil.  I'm making a dent but still seeing the little bastidges.  
 
I have 2 trays of seeds started and 20 seedlings growing in solos.  I'm concerned that unless I nuke the aphids, I'll just be raising sick and nasty plants so I need to do something a little more drastic so here are my thoughts:
 
I have them all in a little 'grow room' in the basement--which is nothing more than a plastic tent with mylar walls.
 
Repot everything and 'clean' the plants:
  • Pull out the mature plants, spray off the roots, dunk the plant upside down in water with dish soap, then rinse in clean water.
  • Repot in potting soil/perlite mix
 
Will that work?  SHOULD that eliminate them?  Do I need to bug bomb my little area of the basement?  Should I do anything to the damaged leaves on the plants to help them recover faster?
 
Thanks for any advice.  
 
Any other suggestions?
 
Dr bronners Castile soap. Never look back.

5 tablespoons to a gallon. Or 1 tablespoon to a regular sized spray bottle.

Kills them on contact. Kills the ants. Kills the eggs. Regular dish soap doesnt have the fatty acids needed to really kill them.

I learned this from Wicked Mike. Look around here and you will find out who he is.

Google dr Bonner's and aphids.

Telling you. Try it before going nuclear and trashing everything.
 
I'll get it on order. Is there anything about my process that would harm the plants? I want those badtidges gone NOW.
 
I haven't tried the castile soap, but I am sure it works.  There are some other options as well...  Ladybugs are probably my favorite solution...
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...but transporting them through the mail during the winter can be difficult.
 
I was dealing with massive insect problems with my over-winters this year.... not just aphids, but thrips, spider mites, and a couple of other weird things.  Last Tuesday it was warm enough that I could take them outside and give them a thorough treatment...  I moved them out one by one, giving each the same treatment.  First I scraped off the top layer of soil and debris and replaced it with some fresh soil.  Then I carried the plant over to a running hose, tilted the plant over on its side slightly, and proceeded to blast the bugs off the plant with the high pressure water (using pretty extreme force that the plant can withstand, but the bugs can't.  I tried to be extremely thorough.... taking care to wash the side of the container as well.  By the time I was done with this process i did not see one creature on any of my plants.  Then I moved them to another location where they were top dressed with about a 3/4 inch layer of diatomaceous earth, which is powdered fossilized diatoms (it helps to kill soft bodied insects because it is basically the equivalent of millions of shards of broken glass that they have to crawl across... it bleeds them out.)  Then I put an additional layer of expanded clay pellets as a mulch on thee soil surface.  Next I absolutely doused the pants in a full strength neem oil solution.  Neem oil is great... it is organic, nontoxic(to humans and most animals), and it works as a fungicide, insecticide, and it makes the plant unpalatable to insects and other critters alike.   I mix the concentrate at a ratio of 2 tablespoons to one gallon of very warm (almost hot water) with a drop of plain dawn dishwashing soap as a surfactant.  Its important to apply neem oil when it is warm for it to function properly as a suffocating agent.  Also remember to agitate the solution often to keep it homogeneous (or the oil will separate and coalesce on the surface.)  I used an entire gallon on 16 plants and then moved them to a dark area (if you spray neem oil on your plant you must not allow them to be in intense light or they will suffocate along with the insects, as thee same oil disrupts their ability to transpire/respirate through their stomata.  Oil also conducts and transfers heat extremely efficiently, which can over-heat your plant easily.  I learned this the hard way in 2014, although it was cedar oil I was using then and not neem oil (they do almost the same thing).  The final step was to spray down the area they had been in with a household cleaning solution to make sure everything was dead. This is the 4th day since the spraying and I have seen only a few insects here and there, and they have been manageable.  I plan to spray every Tuesday until they are all gone for good.

I just looked at the weather for Columbus Ohio and it looks like next friday its getting up to 58... anything in the 50s should be ok for you to move your plants out and do a spray off cleansing if you want...
 
Thanks for the detailed response. For the plants that are already damaged, is there anything i can do to help them recover?
 
Just clean up the very badly damaged leaves... maybe even prune whole tops if they are eaten up badly and let it grow out brand new healthy leaves and shoots.  I highly recommend worm casting tea... it promotes health in general. 
 
Yeah that bio tea helps to stave off insects.

Tip: plants with a lot of nitrogen promote heavy green growth which these insects love to munch.

Make sure you're not getting too much nitrogen if you're seeing a lot of bugs.
 
I battled aphids on 2 plants I brought indoors for months with commercial insecticidal soap until finally I figured I was going to get serious and either solve it or kill the plants. I used 1 to 2 table spoons of original dawn (the one with the duck on it) per gallon of water. Sprayed the whole plants heavily and dumped a bunch of soapy water into the media. I hammered the plants about 3 times a day for about 4 days. Didn't phase the plants and haven't seen an aphid since. I was completely saturating the potting media. Didn't hurt the plant at all
 
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