Most of you probably been there done that but I'm battling a major indoor aphid infestation on my seedlings this year and fighting a losing battle I might add.
Being young plants I've been applying just Dr Bronner's Sal Suds soap diluted to about 1 T per quart. It's helping a little but the bugs keep multiplying. I'm afraid to blast them with water but I read about another water only approach and wanted to share with you guys.
It's simply dunking the plants upside down in water and gently swishing them around under water instead of spraying. Actually they are a little tougher than I described having 4-6 sets of leaves. But I still feel like I'm holding my kids by their ankles and dunking them into the pool : O
Anyway. To prevent loss of growing medium, I cut a piece of plastic the same size and shape as the inside of the pot from a recycled container, cut a slit and an small circular opening in the center to get around the stem. Once in place. I hold the plastic in place, dunk the plant upside down and swish it around, in and out of the water. I found I was able to do this fairly aggressively to knock off the stubborn clingers.
I didn't get them all off, but hundreds are now drowned and my plants much cleaner. Now I'm going to use a stronger mix using 2T Sal suds and 2T of Neem Oli per gallon and spray 1-3x weekly.
Finally the daytime temp is going into the 50-60's so I'll be able to move them into my greenhouse (unheated : ( which should help.
Next season I will not skip the step of seriously treatiing my winter overs with insecticide- root ball and all to kill off aphid eggs.
Diagram of Plastic dirt guard
Being young plants I've been applying just Dr Bronner's Sal Suds soap diluted to about 1 T per quart. It's helping a little but the bugs keep multiplying. I'm afraid to blast them with water but I read about another water only approach and wanted to share with you guys.
It's simply dunking the plants upside down in water and gently swishing them around under water instead of spraying. Actually they are a little tougher than I described having 4-6 sets of leaves. But I still feel like I'm holding my kids by their ankles and dunking them into the pool : O
Anyway. To prevent loss of growing medium, I cut a piece of plastic the same size and shape as the inside of the pot from a recycled container, cut a slit and an small circular opening in the center to get around the stem. Once in place. I hold the plastic in place, dunk the plant upside down and swish it around, in and out of the water. I found I was able to do this fairly aggressively to knock off the stubborn clingers.
I didn't get them all off, but hundreds are now drowned and my plants much cleaner. Now I'm going to use a stronger mix using 2T Sal suds and 2T of Neem Oli per gallon and spray 1-3x weekly.
Finally the daytime temp is going into the 50-60's so I'll be able to move them into my greenhouse (unheated : ( which should help.
Next season I will not skip the step of seriously treatiing my winter overs with insecticide- root ball and all to kill off aphid eggs.
Diagram of Plastic dirt guard
They seem to be really effcient hunters as well. Awsome looking at them while they crawl around and search for aphids to suck dry!