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pests Some pest

M

michaellustfield

I've been having troubles with pests in my mini-garden inside my apt. First were the fungus gnats (fruit flies? w/e they are) and I got rid of them with some plant safe pesticides and getting the soil very dry to the point I pretty much killed one plant. I had to just cut off everything above the base of the stem and it's kinda sorta starting to come back. The rest came back pretty well. I'm keeping the soil as dry as I can without hurting the plants.

Now I'm noticing a new pest. It's mostly just on one plant. They're little tiny light yellow things with kind of a dark line running down the back.

They look kind of like this - http://images.wikia.com/gardener/images/1/17/Aphids.jpeg
except for the black on the back and these things are nowhere near that big.

I worry that it is aphids, but i can't find any picture in my searches that actually mathes what I have.

My guess is that people here will tell me to stop searching because they're 100% it is aphids and then I'll follow with my next question of how to kill the things.

Also.... I must be one of the worst garden noobs ever.... I'm only growing 18 plants in my apartment and somehow I seem to still get pests.

I'd take a picture of the things, but I don't have anything that is anywhere near good enough to take a usable picture.
 
aphids definately,
u can make a spray up with water garlic and chilli and spray that on but other users will no more than me but u can try that until then
im starting to get them again now so ill be making sum up soon
 
Don't feel like a noob for fighting pests in an apartment. I've always had far more trouble with pests indoors than in gardens (unless we're talking about the furry, four-legged, hooved variety). Indoors, you don't have the advantage of rain and natural predators to wash off or eat pests, and do have nice warm places for them to grow.
 
I ran off for a while... and back...
Thanks for the pointer. I used that Bonide 218 and they're all gone. I still have some issues with those fungus gnats, but they're rare now. I only water about once a week and add some balanced fertilizer every third watering and keep a fan on them a few days out of the week. They seem to be much happier. I also added some wodden dowels an tied the plants to them in order to make them grow upright. Apparently I have enough lighting that the plants cant figure out which light they want to grow toward.

Hopefully I can start seeing some fruits soon. :D
 
I usually just wash aphids off with a blast from the hose, or give the plant a daily shower in the shower if indoors. Soapy water sprayed on them works too, but not too soapy, and not antibacterial soap... just a little dishsoap added to a bottle of water and applied directly to the aphids will suffocate them. If there's not too many I'll make a game out of squishing them with my finger. Neem oil is an organic pesticide that will kill them (and many other bugs as well) and is available at most garden centers and nurseries.

Whichever route I take I usually have to continue treatment for several days up to a week or more to make sure they're gone. Aphids reproduce at a ridiculous rate (One female can be responsible for over 30 generations of offspring in a season) so you can't afford to ignore them.
 
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