g'day chad,
for me often what i see is over the top a bit dealing with aphids, here they are nearly always bought along by ants, they have symbiotic relationship, never almost has it been any other way, even if no ant activity is near the plant i reckon they still set the aphid farm up.
aphids too easy realy ants a bit harder, get rid of ants aphids and mealy bug will disappear, mealy bugs can be treated with home made white oil if they have infested the roots dump the plant but not into the compost.
aphids spray them off with a strong spray not jet of water, use a soapy spray if you want to. once an aphid is on the ground the ants can't help them. rose growers have a good barometer, if they observe the ants will take the aphids down the roots where they store them, then bring them back when rains storm is gone.
don't know if aphids really do that much damage realy they create sooty mould which even if on the fruit citrus here does not alter the flavour. looks terrible hey?
see remedies page our site
len
Aphids do a ot of damage to chilli plants, they suck the sap out of the leaves until they yellow and drop off. Leave an aphid infestation on a chilli plant, all you'll have left is a stem.
Seen heaps of aphids on other plants (hibiscus, rose), and they don't kill those plants, but they do kill chilli plants. So a bigger deal than other types of plants.
You're right about ants and aphids, shame that WA has so many ants wherever there's a decent garden, so aphids will always exist over here.
My battle with aphids started today. Got some aphids in spring out the front (chillies and roses) so moved my potted chilli plants to the back. Perth weather is being stupid with rain and thunderstorms, so at 10pm moved my chillies from the back to outside the back door for a bit of shelter. 5 of the plants full of aphids (don't know if it was because of night time the aphids came out, or that area of the garden just got their ant colony up and running - ants everywhere here)
Trigger sprays at dawn, this is war!
Also really want to try the chinese yard long red noodle bean too, apparently that secretes a dew that ants love too, maybe they'll stop farming aphids if they get nectar from that plant instead?
I can't kill 'em all, so maybe just start a new fad for them. Just like I plant marigolds and nasturtiums. So some bugs are kept away, while others like snails, slugs and caterpillers like eating them instead of my chillies and tomatoes, because it's easier than trying to kill every caterpiller, snail and slug