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pests My aphid holocaust...newb fixing mistakes

Kikaida

Kikaida

So, second season at my house and this year's scourge has turned out to be aphids (last year was thrips).
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How did they get the leg up on me? It wasn't until I noticed healthy leaves dropping and noticing them on the leaves..."on" the leaves.
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So I started my campaign of wiping them out *but* I have a resident population of Mantises that prevents me from spraying.
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3,000 ladybugs latter, it became obvious that they were no match for 500,000 aphids...and 2 days later I maybe have 10 left in the garden.
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So a manual smoosh and water blast campaign began...leaf by leaf on the 3 most affected plants.
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Took them to the sick-bay, removed a couple ladybugs and check for mantises...all clear and a hefty dousing of Azamax after the manual smoosh and spritz.
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So far the plants look great and should recover fine. Wondering why other plants were not affected it dawned on me...These bastards started on the underside of the leaves and only when that became overcrowded did I begin to notice them "on" the top side of the leaves.
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Putting my theory to the test, the "unaffected" plants had their undersides examined and sure enough, minor infestations present. More manual smooshing and spritzing. Going to get another batch of ladybugs and hope another dozen or so take up residence. I don't mind having several thousands buzzing around my neighborhood...may not help directly but indirectly they may be a boon by ravaging other infested areas around me.
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Lesson? Check under your leaves! Manual control is viable depending on scope and your free time to tend to your garden, don't spray where mantises hang out and even though the bulk of ladybugs fly away...You'll keep a few and you're saturating your neighborhood with these amazing predators. And don't expect them to correct an out-of-control problem like I had
 
So those lesser affected plants were absolutely infested yesterday...This even after a manual smoosh fest. Just shocking to see how insanely fast things can get out of control. Fortunately it doesn't appear that they were on the plants long enough to cause stress or damage. So they too went to the sickbay and got a power wash and Azamax/soap soaked last night. Also noticed some nasty fat black ones on my hibiscus buds. The previous treated plants are still clear of the bugs and looking much better. Seems Azamax works but is so freakin expensive...Probably going back to good ol' neem when this tiny bottle runs out.
 
I don't know how long you gave your ladybugs... But my problem with them is always the opposite of yours. Usually, they clean up, and then move on, and aren't there for awhile, when I fertilize, and the next wave of aphids arrives. I don't add ladybugs to the garden - I'm lucky to have them naturally abundant. But I'm telling you, once they ramp up, aphids have no chance. One day you think you are infested, the next day, there isn't an aphid to be found. It's dramatic!

If I only I could keep lacewings in the garden. If I go out at night, there are thousands of them flying about, but the goddamn lizards eat all of the nymphs. :mad:
 
This last batch of ladybugs bailed out way faster than the first ones. I counted maybe 25 or so the next afternoon. What I am doing is only treating the plants badly infested and moving the stray ladybugs to the other, non-treated plants. The idea is for them to keep the odd straggler or newly arrived explorer in check. There are a few aphids on the non-treated plants to keep them interested but when the undersides of a single leaf has 500 aphids and 40% of the plant is like that, I feel obligated to get nuclear on them. I am seeing a lot of lacewing eggs so hopefully they'll help out too. So for now, just striving for a ladybug/aphid balance ratio. Really gotta rethink next season...
 
I have had some mixed success with foliar spraying seaweed extract diluted per bottle instructions.  I noticed it when my plants started to look a little yellow, and there were a pretty good number of aphids.  Next day, there wasn't a single aphid on the plant. (and of course, it had greened up - that was the known effect)
 
Smashing a bunch of them on the stems in a few places seems to attract predators.  But if you get a temporary invasion that is so heavy that they start loading up on the buds and terminal growth, that's a good time to prune/top those areas.  Put what you cut into the fire...
 
i use liquid lemon scented joy dish soap. about 1 cup in a hose end sprayer. spray every thing in sight. early morning or at late afternoon. aphids be gone the next day.
 
Good stuff guys! I did add some dish soap to my Azamax last night so hopefully that will at minimum burn their eyes  :party:.
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Interesting about the tomato leaves, I've often wondered about them and their unique smell. Unfortunately my tomatoes are getting trashed this weekend, they are so scraggly and non-producing that they are a waste of space and water. Gonna use their spot to spread out the peppers a bit.
 
Im a newbie here but I started getting a bad aphid problem and I read to get rid of them,spray them off with a hose. I did that a couple of months ago and I haven't seen any back, but I have well water still hooked up outside of my house and it is higher in sulfur...just a thought
 
As an update, the original infested plants are still clear. They've slowly infested 4 other plants...But I've been watching daily before they got out of control. So they got a good water blasting and spray. I'm such a 'tard, I mixed full strength Azamax for a gallon...into a 1/2 gallon. Needless to say those plants are still bug free and no worse for wear. No real pod production yet either and since I didn't soak the soil (just a light surface spray) hope this wont affect taste. Out of 6,000 lady bugs, I have around 10 that have decided to take up residence. Couple of my Habinero's have the beginnings of an infestation but I'm seeing how the lady bugs do as they seem to like these two plants. I smoosh leaves that look like they're about to be overwhelmed and hope the ladybugs do the rest. I also mixed up a garlic spray and doused the soil and outer pots. Also threw a few chunks of garlic on the soil. Seems like the battle is just about won. I don't know how the tree-hugger types expect commercial growers not to use some sort of pesticide natural or organic, just impossible. Here I'm spending hours being as conscientious as I can with ~12 plants...Imagine if you have 12,000 plants! Would have gone to a general blast with some good non-organcs by now...But those mantises look at me with those cute mantis eyes that I just can't bring myself to do it. :P
 
Another update...in one weeks time of being rid of these pests, my plants have exploded with new growth sites. Simply stunning.
 
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