pests Aphids!

[Sorny]

My plants from last have been invaded by aphids and flies. They showed up shortly after planting my next crop. I have been trying to blast them with soap water but so far do not seem to be affecting them. I want to avoid getting chemicals if possible. Does anybody have any tricks on getting rid of these damn things?

 

[scratchzilla]

I had some a while back, got myself a bottle of Safer Insecticidal Soap. It's OMRI listed, and works surprisingly well. Blast them with it three times over a 2 week period, it should kill them.

 

[SocalChilehead]

Azomax works great

 

[highalt]

The aphids and fungus gnats just laughed at the Safer Insecticidal Soap. The problem is that they hide under leaves, or in the soil, and the insecticidal soaps only kill on contact.

I bought the Azamax that Socal. recommended. It's only been 10 days, but I have seen much better results. Probably 90% gone on the first round, just applied round two yesterday.

Here's a link for more information. It is OMRI listed, and botanically based.
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/azamax.html

 

[PaulG]

Try Neem oil. Not entirely benign, but takes care of sucking insects without nuclear war. You can get diluted stuff at garden stores, or order pure oil on line. I would use it sparingly, and follow the directions
carefully to minimize harm to beneficials. I use it to control boring larvae on pepper pods, at the first sign of chewing.

http://www.organeem.com/ - take with grain of salt. This is not entirely benign, and is a big cash crop in india, so lots of marketing hype.

http://www.rollitup....il-without.html - likewise.

In my mind it's okay on pods, cuz you can wash it off. I'd be leery of spraying on leafy veggies or tobacco or anything like that.

General info on organic pest control: http://www.howtogoor...ease-management

Here's an interesting look at Neem by Paghat the Ratgirl:

http://www.paghat.com/neemworship.html

 

[Capsicum]

White sugar water!!!!!!! Water the plant before treating it. The bugs become stiff and die off, farmers have used this trick for a long, long time.

 

[Siliman]

...My plants from last have been invaded by aphids and flies. They showed up shortly after planting my next crop....

If you are saying your plants you over-wintered from last year are infested, the bugs could easily move to your baby plants, you better isolate the old plants right now, like chuck them into the snow. They might have come from the new soil that came in, but you need to Get them under control. It's a long way to Spring!

Many good suggestions here, and you can search for hundreds of more solutions on this forum. (Type in keyword "aphids" in the search feature, see what you get.) But first thing: isolate.

 

[Capsicum]

Agree

 

[PaulG]

But first thing: isolate.

+2 For sure! And, you can strip them off with your fingers. Knock the plant around a little - aphids can't hang on that well.
Mechanical controls work well enough for my rose bushes here in N. Oregon - be vigilant and persistent. Squish 'em.

White sugar water!!!!!!! Water the plant before treating it. The bugs become stiff and die off, farmers have used this trick for a long, long time.

Outrageous cool! I'd like to learn more about this.
How about effect on the plant - vascular system, etc?

 

[Beehunter]

If you dont want strong chems try Lady bugs. They are the best aphid hunters.

 

[Pablo_h]

I inspect every day and squish them. now with the hot weather and strong winds, there's less and less of them. Otherwise, maybe try pyrethrum as a last resort, cheap compared to neem.
I don't like using anything, as it may kill beneficial bugs I haven't seen, but that's because my plants are outdoors. If yours are indoors or in a greenhouse, go for pyrethrum.

 

[compmodder26]

This topic has a product that people are swearing by. Perhaps it's worth a try for you:

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/26172-got-aphids-other-pests-or-fungal-diseases/

 

[POTAWIE]

I have a whole arsenal of organic sprays I rotate between but ladybugs and other pretators are the only way I ever win the battle

 

[theghostpepperstore]

I have been battling these damn things ever since I got the greenhouse up in Oct. Neem seems to work well when sprayed 1-2 a week as "maintenance". I mistakenly thought I had won the war, after a week without spraying, full on infestation. Then I bought a pint of ladybugs and most of them crawled into the crevices to hibernate, they could not be convinced it wasn't winter time. Finally I got a warm day, took all of my plants outside and hosed them down with water to knock most of the aphids and severly damaged leaves off. Next day rebooted my Neem maintenance program. 2 weeks later and I am still finding the odd aphid here or there but no infestations. I plan to get all the plants out and spray them again in a couple of weeks just for good measure.

 

[POTAWIE]

Ladybugs never work for me in the winter either
I now usually purchase mine in the spring

 

[theghostpepperstore]

I had a theory that by keeping the temperatures up, and using an HPS lamp to extend daylight till about 7 PM, that the ladybugs would think that it was Spring. Damn things must track the phases of the moon or something.

 

[mesatrin]

I used lady bugs last year with great success against aphids. I just had to keep the area warm. They hunted down and killed them all and even started to have little lady bugs. At which point I basically traded the infestation of my plants for an infestation of lady bugs in the house. They were mostly isolated to the grow room but they found their way through out the rest of the house.

This year I avoided the whole thing by just not overwintering and doing cuttings instead. Be eliminating the soil it seems that I eliminated the aphids.