pests attack of the Aphids

Northpole69

Northpole69

Hi, I am new to growing chili peppers but i seem to have a green thumb for it.  the plants on my back porch have aphids on the underside of their leaves i found out today unfortunately and i hosed them down with neem oil top and bottom.  is there more i can do to help the plants?  a couple of the leaves also had small white colored bugs on them too.  i couldnt get the underneaths of every single leaf because of crowding on the back porch and i didnt want to bring them inside because i have indoor plants under lights doing awesome right now.  but aphids are still on the plants after spraying them down 2 hours ago, will they die in time?
 
http://s428.photobucket.com/user/Kurt_Easton/media/Mobile%20Uploads/14633442211671186630766_zpsd9fpqv4a.jpg.html?o=0
 
If you sprayed with that 70% Neem oil stuff they sell at most stores that is "clarified neem oil", it probably won't work from what I have heard.  "Clarified" means they removed the Azadiaractin from it that is the good stuff that gets rids of pests.  I have googled around some and seen many videos on what people say, here are a few...
 
Dishwashing Soap in water..... about 1-2 tbsp per gallon of water.  Don't use antibacterial stuff, and don't spray when it is in full sun.
 
Dishwashing Soap, 100% cold pressed Neem oil in water.  Don't spray plant while in sun.
 
Dishwashing Soap, Isopropyl Alcohol, Water..   Don't spray in sun.
 
Azamax...... ordered online.  Seems to be a higher concentration of Azadiaractin from Neem oil, put into a mixture.
 
Canola Oil and Water. 1 cup of oil per 1 gallon of water.  Don't spray in sun
 
Canola Oil and Dawn in water.  The dawn helps break the oil up into the water better.  Don't spray in sun. 
 
Even seen some that make a loop of scotch tape turned backwards so sticky side is out, and put it on their finger and dab around the plant to remove them all.
 
Buy an assload of ladybugs online and toss a handful onto your plants! Maybe screen the area in so they dont fly away immediately. When I was in alabama a swarm of ladybugs attacked my grandfather in laws garden and he told me they were good for the plant instead of bad because they ate bugs. Could be a myth though never looked into scientifical reasons behind it.
 
^I've been swarmed by ladybugs, and bitten by lady bugs :) 
 
You will need to screen them. Or make a watered-down soda solution to spray them with. This will render them flightless for a few days. It's the baby lady bugs that do most of the aphid hunting, so you just need ladybugs to stick around long enough to lay eggs.
 
I would try the dish soap method followed by ladybugs and or green lacewings (nurseries sometimes carry both).
 
I released Aphid wasps Years ago,haven't seen an Aphid since then .
 
A couple Mummies,but no Aphids.
 
To me,Aphids spread diseases/Fungus and other nasties Or just weaken a plant.
I think , main thing is the juice they put out is the main problem,then once 1 plant gets sick from Whatever,you are screwerd.
Especially indoors-it spreads Fast as they spread out,the aphids.
Soaps etc. never worked well for me.
Only killed a majority not enough to get rid of the Aphids.
I use Terro brand Ant Bait too at the same time.
I use soda bottle tops to put the bait in wherever I see ants farming Aphids.
Haven't seen an Ant in my garden in years Either.
 
Lots in other places,just not in my pots.
No Aphids to farm,no reason to mess with my plants anymore...
 
I don't use poisons at all.
 
Nematodes-natural stuff in general.
 
Neem never worked very well,soap sprays were the same.
 
Good guys are Set it and Forget it type thing.
 
When food runs out they go elsewhere,But always a few come back to check things out I think.
 
Green Lacewings are the best for general nasty bug control.
I don't know why Ladybugs are so popular.
Not into eating as many nasty guys as Lacewing Larva-in my opinion.
Lacewings don't do well indoors.
Neither do Ladybugs in my experience,so far.
 
Adults need Pollen to lay eggs.
I find them dead in my windows,trying to go outside.
 
Same with Syrphid Flies or other stuff.
They are natural here.
Lots of buds bring them around-adults.
We called them Sweat Bees.
 
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/NE/syrphid_flies.html
 
Now Mites,other than Red Spider mites are REAL nasty.
Red Spiders are easy to kill,other forms Suck big time!
Broad mites and other types of spider mites sucked.
Only way I Might have gotten rid of Broad mites was when my garden died during Cancer treatment-Garden died.
They LOVED my C.Pubescens.
I had several Large Heavy producers.
 
See U.C. Davis info on pest control.
See Canola oil as being better than Poisons,Soaps etc.
From experience,You Have to Constantly shake the mixture up as you spray it or the last stuff that My 2 gal. sprayer put out was mostly oil.
I got Lazy and since I was Almost through spraying,I didn't shake my sprayer as much.
Wrong thing to do-Last plants I sprayed were Oil or soap killed.
My Fault...
Killed off a few plants.
 
Sun and oil don't work.
 
But it did seem to get rid of Broad mites pretty well.
 
Also Sulfur seems to work too.
But is hard to use.
Sun , Water and Sulfur make Sulferic Acid.
I had to spray at Sundown and hope it dried before sunrise in winter.
Also,it seems different plants don't like it(Safer brand-WELL shaken fungucide) was what I used.
I grow in pots year round,take my suggestions as just that.
 
Hope this helps you out.
 
Smoke
 
PS.
Some Varieties are less strong to stuff than others.Plant to plant,My Grow VS. Your grow could very well be a Lot different.
As I said,hope it helps you out or just gives you something to mess with for Your grow.
Keep us posted as far as what works or doesn't for your grow.
I gotta say,I loved watching Aphid Wasps coming out of the bottle to my Heavily infested plants years ago.
Revenge is sweet. LOL
It was like a Cartoon when a character nocks down a bee hive.
Bees make a Bee line to the characters behind...
Watching the wasps do their thing was good entertainment. :)
I have to admit,I never thought the videos were 100% true.
They are!
They don't get into being bugs flying around your house.
They must find a way out.
Unlike other good guys,I've Never seen dead ones in window sills or flying very far from my plants.
Very small critters.
 
Read about it on the THP. Was getting some bugs on my pepper plants. Didn't really pay attention too what they were. Just wanted the Mofos gone.

Mixed a tbs with a dash of pepper powder in a quart size spray bottle
20160515_183940.jpg

Well, they gone!
 
Azamax wrecks aphids. After weeks of fighting a losing battle using neem oil & safer soap my plants looked like this
 
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After 1 spray of azamax in less than a week I couldn't find a single aphid on any of the plants. I've never had anything else work that well against aphids. 
 
Whenever I see any fire ants near my plants I take a closer look at them and have found that if there are ants you are going to find Aphids. The ants will "farm" the aphids so that they can harvest the critters for the sweet excretions they produce when they are feeding on your plants. Since I grow almost entirely in 7 gallon or larger pots I have a spay bottle handy filled with a Permethrin solution. A quick spray and the ants as well as the aphids are goners and my ladybugs can take care of any I had missed.
 
I fought an aphid infestation on my pepper plants all winter. I tried different sprays and some worked for a couple weeks at most. I couldn't get them to stop. They made their way into my seedlings in March. I fought hard to get rid of them but my seedlings were almost to the point of dying. I finally bought a huge pack of laybugs. Within two weeks I had absolutely zero aphids on my plants. I haven't seen a single aphid return so far. My plants have really come back from death and are looking fantastic. Definitely look into the ladybugs if you can.
 
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