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Oh no! not good?

I've never used neem. Give the dish soap a shot and see if it works for you, just be sure to rinse them off about an hour or so afterwards. Alternatively you can just give them a spraying with the hose and nozzle. You only need the pressure to be high enough to knock the aphids off the plant. Make sure to get under the leaves as well. I've had to use this method as I've had to bring my plants indoors. Doesn't really kill them and I have to coninuously go back and spray them off.

So far the only thing I've found to be an effective control of aphids is pesticides and ladybugs. I don't want to use pesticides indoors and all the ladybugs have long since died. I'm currently relegated to spraying them with the kitchen sink sprayer and pinching them with my fingers. It's a daily pain in the ass.
 
Blister said:
I've never used neem. Give the dish soap a shot and see if it works for you, just be sure to rinse them off about an hour or so afterwards.
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:think: Alright, I'll give the soap a shot and see how I go. If that fails, I'll try the neem oil. It seems neem is a plant oil and if I get it pure, it's non-toxic.

Blister said:
So far the only thing I've found to be an effective control of aphids is pesticides and ladybugs. I don't want to use pesticides indoors and all the ladybugs have long since died. I'm currently relegated to spraying them with the kitchen sink sprayer and pinching them with my fingers. It's a daily pain in the ass.
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Ladybugs sound good... I've heard though that if you don't have enough aphids, they'll leave. And I'm not bringing in more aphids to keep the ladybugs around - it would rather defeat the purpose :crazy: (don't worry, just rambling to myself hahahaha)

*Daily* pain in the ass? :shocked: Sounds like I better nip the buggers in the butt before they become a bigger problem! All I have been doing at the moment is pinching them too. I found another two not long ago... that makes six now... six little buggers who are squished now cause they stepped were they weren't welcome. HEED THE WARNING ALL YOU OTHER LITTLE APHID BASTARDS!! :twisted:
 
Just saw like a hundred of these crawling over one of my pots and soil (but not on the plant itself?):

IMG_0418.jpg


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They are *very* tiny (don't know how I even noticed them). They're aphids too, right? I seriously need to get this soapy solution going. I'm guessing I should spray the pot too? And what about the soil? Will spraying the soil be harmful to my plant?
 
Yeah they look like aphids to me.

Also if you see any ants around, destroy them also because they farm the aphids on your plants.
 
FadeToBlack said:
Yeah they look like aphids to me.

Also if you see any ants around, destroy them also because they farm the aphids on your plants.
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I saw an ant on my plant earlier - knew I had a good reason for flicking him off hehe

What do you mean by "farm" the aphids? Like carry them on there or something?

Right now I'm so burning that I think I might use soapy water *and* neem oil!
 
Actually, after a little research, looks like it is possible they could be spider mites!

Wondering now if the soapy solution and neem will work on spider mites.

And of course, I'm off to work now... always when I'm in the middle of something important!
 
Hard to tell from the picture, but it is possible that they are the red-spidermite. Either way, you've got a problem. The soapy solution is supposed to work for them as well.

Yes dealing with aphids is a DAILY pain in the ass because I have to check my plants every morning. They multiply like crazy and a weeks worth of neglect will quickly turn into a nightmare.

Wingless adult female aphids can produce 50 to 100 offspring. A newly born aphid becomes a reproducing adult within about a week and then can produce up to 5 offspring per day for up to 30 days
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Aphid Life Cycle
 
I have heard that a fish emulsion type foliage fertilizer confuses or repels aphids and other bugs since they don't appreciate the finer fragrance of concentrated raw fish :lol:

Misting used to bring aphids, but since using the fish ferts once in a while I haven't seen many. Coincidence? Not sure, but at least by trying it you feed the plants, so you're not wasting money.
 
not sure how well it works SS, but since fish ferts have a rather pungent smell and my plants are all indoors, I'll just have to take your word for it :lol: You ain't getting me to spray that stuff on my plants right now!
 
SanSoo said:
I have heard that a fish emulsion type foliage fertilizer confuses or repels aphids and other bugs since they don't appreciate the finer fragrance of concentrated raw fish :lol:

Misting used to bring aphids, but since using the fish ferts once in a while I haven't seen many. Coincidence? Not sure, but at least by trying it you feed the plants, so you're not wasting money.
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I was using fish emulsion on my other plants and they were pest-free... however, the troubles started when I bought my Black Pearl home from the nursery. Now the others seem to be copping it too... regardless of the fish emulsion. There had to be shit in the soil of the black pearl (the plant itself looks barely touched!) - but there's immense mite and fly (mostly mite and one or two stupid fly things) activity in the soil. I actually found the aphids on my other plants but it all started when I bought the black pearl home.

Right now I'm thinking disposing of all three and starting again (from seeds I have just sown). But on the other hand, if I keep these three, I can use them as test plants for soapy solution, neem, etc. If I kill the plants, no biggie, I'll dispose of the soil and bleach my pots. If I don't kill them, hopefully between trying different methods of pest control, I'll find an effective solution if it happens again in the future....
 
UPDATE:

Used the soapy water yesterday and absolutely smashed the aphids... not one sighting since. As for the spider mites though, it looks like I only knocked out about half of them... little shits still crawling around the soil, but just not as many. And the crazy thing is, they still seem to be avoiding the plant - they're just cruising around in the soil and the sides of the pot. I've checked the plant head to toe 50 times over in the last two or three days - nothing. I also got this little fly thing buzzing around - only ever one at a time. I kill one and another appears a bit later. Only ever one at a time... crazy.

Well, I'm off to do some research... I won't let the little shits win........ :twisted:
 
Good to hear. Keep up on checking them though because there is a very good chance that they'll be back at some point.

Fungus gnats are very common around potted plants, but there is an outside chance that it's a winged aphid. Looks just like the rest, except it has wings.
 
Little flying things: definitely fungus gnats! I was thinking "damn these little buggers look like mosquitoes!"

And oh crap... I hope I haven't been killing the good guys!

Do you reckon this is what the little bugs are?

Hypoaspis
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Hypoaspis mites eat fungus gnat larvae!!

It would explain why they're not touching the plants wouldn't it?

Hypoaspis predatory mites feed on soil-dwelling organisms such as fungus gnat larvae, and other pests such as thrips pupae.
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FadeToBlack said:
Looks like a mosquito to me?
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Yeah, that's what I thought too.

http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=fungus+gnat&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=1

http://www.pbase.com/lejun/image/36167248

http://www.pbase.com/lejun/image/36124695

Now, I'm not so sure.

I've noticed there are a few now, and they buzz around the base of the plant and soil.

I got myself a little bottle of pure neem oil and will mix and spray and try that. Apparently neem stuffs with the brains of plant eating insects and makes them not eat, reproduce, etc. It sounds like a bit of a marketing gimmick but I'm going to give it a shot anyway. Although I'm just worried that I'll kill the good guys too! (How's this.... One instance I'm worried that it won't work on the bad guys but on the next I'm worried that it will work on the good guys! LOL)

If the little buggers are mosquitoes, would they be hovering around the base and soil of the plants?

Damn, this is becoming a massive headache!
 
Well, neem strike this morning at 0400 hours *appears* to be a success (for now). It's now 1100 hours and not one sign of an aphid, gnat or anything else. Don't want to speak too soon or jump the gun though...

EDIT:

And the amazing thing is... all three plants look brighter and healthier than they have in the past week. Not sure how that works...
 
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