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pests How to Kill Aphids Like an Extreme O.G.

LunchBox

LunchBox

After battling aphids for over a month...after 3 organic insecticides...after thousands of ladybugs...I was forced to do the unthinkable. The NUCLEAR option.

Yesterday, I applied pressurized dihydrogen monoxide to the tops, and undersides of the leaves. Rivers of dead bodies flowed beneath me.

No more aphids. Why didn't anyone tell me it was that simple?


*for those of you playing at home...the chemical in question is H2O.

Originally, I was just going to hook up the spray nozzle and lay down suppressive fire due to a crazy force of bees and wasps...to drive them away as I picked this week's haul. I noticed at the first plant...aphids pouring off the leaves...so I started spraying up, over, under, all around as I went from plant to plant. No more sticky leaves...and I've only found a few surviving micro-colonies on a stray leaf or two...and spot treated those with Safer BT.

We'll see how it goes a week from now...but I can get in my aphid killin', watering the garden, and harvesting at the same time...pretty sweet!

Here's a before pic with lots-o-aphids...will get after pics this week...

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Ladybugs couldn't keep up. I was going to get the Bayer chemical that very day...until I saw how well this worked.

Next year...I'll drop a few thousand of them in early in the spring.
 
Knocking them off with water will not get rid of a bad infestation.....nor will laduybugs. I had to use malathion to clear up my aphid problem.
 
Water will kill plenty and horticultural soap does well as well. Ladybugs can work but they don't stay around and people buy them when it's too late.
You have to keep on them and not wait for an infestation.
Chemicals should be a last resort.
 
agree with Armac...the dead aphids you saw were not killed by the water, you just washed away live and dead ones that you had already killed too...they will be back...I betcha...

water doesn't kill aphids...if it does, why doesn't the rain kill them?
 
dead aphid bodies
 
AlabamaJack said:
agree with Armac...the dead aphids you saw were not killed by the water, you just washed away live and dead ones that you had already killed too...they will be back...I betcha...

water doesn't kill aphids...if it does, why doesn't the rain kill them?
Click to expand...

It has to be a sharp stream. Aphids aspirate through their bodies and a sharp stream of water does indeed kill them as I have done that on rosebuds before.
 
we can agree to disagree....
 
Right...I know I'll have to keep at it...but now that they are mostly gone, I can get back ahead of them. rain and sprinkler never washed a single one off..but a little pressure worked magic!

As far as waiting too long...I was talking to AJ the very day my infestation started. I went from a few ants going up the stems, started treating that day with soap...and had a full on infestation within a few days. They were hiding well...

Alright guys...holster yer pistols <spit-ANG>

I don't care...they're dead!!! I'll keep spraying water, and treating with Safer. I still have a decent ladybug population, so they are working hard for us too.
 
I tried ladybugs, neem oil, garlic concoction, water, nothing worked. After conferring with Aj I went to chemical warfare. The chemical he suggested was not available instore locally.


Bad aphids are tough. Aj has a chart to show the increase in numbers.
 
I have used azamax and spinosad pretty effectively this year against aphids. Both are OMRI listed. Had them really bad in the greenhouse they never took hold outside.

BT doesn't work for aphids from what I understand.
 
Armac...that sounds like the same list I went from, lol. If I have to hose down the garden twice a week...I'm cool with that. I can't get near my plants right now without a hose anyway due to the insane amount of flying/stinging bugs. Oddly enough, they are rooting through the leaves...the leaves aren't wet, and they aren't near the flowers. Maybe all those wasps are trying to help me out!

CG...if you take the ladies out of the fridge and go straight to the garden about 15-25 minutes after sunset, dump them around the base of the plants...they wake up fast, and crawl up the stems looking for a meal. I had zero issues with mine flying away. In fact, I have a lot of lady nymphs on my plants right now...tey stayed...I'm glad!

If I do have to really nuke them...I will. If it ends up being a matter of me expending a little more time and energy in the garden...I'm happy to do that as well.
 
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