-
Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.
pests Aphids
- Thread starter abulldog
- Start date
It all depends if you want to go natural or not. I have used a Neem oil spray that works well. Some use Safer Soap. I have also been know to use heavy duty Pesticides like Ortho. Just be sure to catch them early cause they can be devastating.
I keep saying this! Just a few squirts of DAWN dish soap mixed with water in a spray bottle. I use a 20 oz spray bottle. Put the water in first then the dish soap, mildly shake it to mix it up. Spray in the evening so the SUN doesn't dry it out. It suffocates them!!! It's never burned my plants. You can also use DAWN to get the oil off sea birds if an oil tanker happens to rupture in your area. That's what the wife uses where she volunteers.
Indoors I rotate between soap sprays(fatty acids), oils like neem, and pyrethrum sprays(although now restrocted here now) If that doesn't work then I buy lots of ladybugs. I have also used sweetened diatomaceous earth in my soil but am still unsure of its effectiveness
Once the plants are outside I find that spraying them off a with medium pressure garden hose several times really helps until natural predators take over.
Once the plants are outside I find that spraying them off a with medium pressure garden hose several times really helps until natural predators take over.
pyrethrin
Just get some lady bugs. I tried the soap, neem, diatomaceous earth, and they all helped and prevented the spread, but didn't get rid of them. I guess because even if you miss a single one they will come back. If you have 50+ plants like I do you will be spraying daily and even then still won't be sure to get them all or just drop $7.00 on 1500 lady bugs and be done with it. I was spraying for a month plus and seem to have gotten rid of them in a few days with the lady bugs. It's been over a week and I can still go out and find hundreds of them living on the pepper plants not including the larvae that I found. The bug that just keeps on killing!
Here is what helped me. The girl at the garden store said the best way to use them is to store them in the refrigerator for at least an hour first. This will make them sleep and slow them down a bit when you release them so they won't be so anxious to fly away. Next release them into the garden during dusk when the sun is about to set. She said this is the time that the naturally make and find a home for the night. They are NOT active during the cold times of the night and if there is food available will stay for several days and reproduce. The last tip was to wet the leaves first as they tend to prefer moist damp areas over dry areas and will appreciate the sip of water available. I took her advice and thought they where dead as they didn't move after leaving them in the fridge for a few hours. I sprinkled them slowly over several batches of smaller plants on the back patio and then again over several other plants in the ground. They didn't seem to be too active at first, but eventually ran around the leave for an hour before grouping together on the leaves or in the dirt for the night. It's been about 5 days and I don't have 1500 of them on the plants as I noticed about 100 or so dead around the soil, but I can still find at least 5-6 on each plant and the larger plants seem to have up to 20 of them on it each. She also said as long as you can keep a few of them on each plant for a week they will probably lay eggs and the larvae will also continue to feed on any found aphids. Looks like my trigger finger although now very muscular will no longer be needed as I don't see a reason to spray anymore. If I see any in large numbers another $7.00 for 1500 should easily do the job. Ohh one other guy said they like sugar water so I plan on spraying the plants with a mild sugar water mix to see if I can encourage the ones still living on the plants to stay around for a few more weeks.