pests Pest Identification and Treatment

Sev

Sev

Hi All,
 
Found around a dozen of these guys on my plants. I'm assuming I want to wage war on them, but it would be good to know what they are, and how to wage it.
 
They're on my smaller plants, and I've squashed most of them but given how small they are I can't guarantee I've got them all. Damage seems to be leaf holes, and curling of tips of leaves though that may be unrelated. Found on two plants so far but paranoid about an outbreak of something.

Identifying shot;
 
UYnHe98.jpg

 
Cheers,
 
Sev
 
Aphids. And you'll definitely want together war on them. If the plants are outside ladybugs and their larvae work great. Insecticidal soap works good too.
If you use pesticides, pretty much anything will work on them, but it'll take multiple applications to fully get rid of them.

Edit to add-they won't be causing the holes in your leaves. Slugs and snails are the usual culprits for that for me.
 
yea an imidicloprid drench at transplant is not uncommon for high pest pressure places.
 
it might be hard to dilute a 10 gallon sachet down to a single gallon though. you would need a gram scale or something.
 
 
Thanks All - love the team effort.

I'm paving on the weekend so I'll get some confidor when I go to Bunnings. 
 
I'll do a night scan for slugs/caterpillars on the plants as well.
 
In hindsight, this makes sense, I've noted a couple of ants on my plants the last couple of days as well....
 
Cheers,
 
Sev
 
queequeg152 said:
yea an imidicloprid drench at transplant is not uncommon for high pest pressure places.
 
it might be hard to dilute a 10 gallon sachet down to a single gallon though. you would need a gram scale or something.
 
Click to expand...
 
The sachets we get down here are sized to be mixed with 5L of water which keeps it pretty simple :)
 
nzchili said:
The sachets we get down here are sized to be mixed with 5L of water which keeps it pretty simple :)
Click to expand...
5 liters?

that sounds like the roundup sachets we get down here... 1 sachet yields a solution of roundup and like 3% diquat. its pretty rad.
 
queequeg152 said:
5 liters?

that sounds like the roundup sachets we get down here... 1 sachet yields a solution of roundup and like 3% diquat. its pretty rad.
Click to expand...
 
yep one sachet makes 5 litres :)
So you just empty one of those into your sprayer, fill to the 5 liter mark and your away.
 
They come in a small box with about 5 sachets per box, with each sachet making 5L of spray :) Very handy. 
 
Reminds me..i need to do my first spray of the season  :)
 
So anyway...just been squashing the little aphids every day and no real outbreak seems to have happened.
 
Haven't used Confidor yet, and kind of glad I haven't as I didnt realise that it was behind the colony collapse...makes me kind of question using it from an ethical standpoint. Been doing some research and read that coffee grounds work (I throw mine out so might give that a shot). Also that chilli spray can be a deterrent.

Anyone have any experience with that? Does the coffee just get watered into the soil and then get absorbed and deter the bugs? Does it work on anything else (leaf hoppers etc)?

Cheers,

Sev
 
Sev said:
So anyway...just been squashing the little aphids every day and no real outbreak seems to have happened.
 
Haven't used Confidor yet, and kind of glad I haven't as I didnt realise that it was behind the colony collapse...makes me kind of question using it from an ethical standpoint. Been doing some research and read that coffee grounds work (I throw mine out so might give that a shot). Also that chilli spray can be a deterrent.
Anyone have any experience with that? Does the coffee just get watered into the soil and then get absorbed and deter the bugs? Does it work on anything else (leaf hoppers etc)?

Cheers,
Sev
Click to expand...
 
Its not been proven that it even contributes to, let alone causes "CCD". 
But yeah, do your research and decide for yourself. Your neighbours and everyone else will probably be using it so your not going to save the world by not using it yourself.
 
Did you know, that one of the biggest pluses for the English farmers and "brexit" (from their point of view, as I have read it, im no english farmer) is that they will now be able to use these insecticides which are banned in the EU. 
 
anyway, enough about imid. If you get sick of the battle, its a very easy option and will wipe those aphids out.
 
edit, and yes chilli spray will work as a deterrent / organic pesticide. (results will vary obviously) Pretty much anything that makes it not a pleasant place for them to live will help...garlic, pepper, sulphur, lime sulphur, dish soap, cooking oil, etc will all help.
 
 
 
neonics are not banned, they are suspended in use pending some moratorium period of a few years.
 
its funny that you mention the UK... recently a collection of farmers sucessfully petitioned the UK government to allow for an emergency application of imidicloprid or clothanithin or one of the big neonics... i think cabbage loppers or some caterpillar pest got out of control.
 
the EU is extreemly knee jerk with respect to pesticides and herbicides. they adopt (with gusto) the "better off safe" ideology.
 
when they suspended the neonics... the major pretense was for a period of "study", whereby they could analyze the effects of neonics and their metabolites/ oxidation products no longer being added to the soil matrix.
 
initially they said they would just need a few years... however not they are saying they need like 10 years of suspension to truely study the problem(lol), because of the environmental fate of the stuff in most types of soils.
 
in the USA, the EPA needs alot more proof to ban or suspend shit. you cant just cite like 2 studies without any field studies demonstrating bees are actually exposed to the concentrations demonstrated to cause bee retardation...
 
 
 
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