This is the first year I've grown peppers from seed. I have 2 bhut's, 4 fatalii's, 2 cayenne, 1 lemon drop, several sweet and inferno bananas, poblanos,some mucho nachos, a fish pepper and some poblanos. I've grown some of these several years in a row, all bought from nursery's. This year however is the first year I've ever had aphids. Those relentless bastards won't go away. I've tried, Sevin, Eight, and blasting them with water and within 24 hours they're back. Not a few, but thousands. Any and all commennt will be appeciated, including witty sarcasm.
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pests War on aphids
- Thread starter schism
- Start date
Here's my aphid experience/experiment from this past weekend. I had old hibiscus bush trimmed down a few weeks ago. It is about ten feet from where my peppers grow. I walked by it and saw a bunch of lizards having a feeding frenzy. It looked like they were chasing ants. So upon closer inpsection, I lift up a few leaves and there tons of aphids and eggs. There must have been thousands of them all over the plant. Not really caring about the hibiscus (and the fact that it was only a short distance from my peppers), I decided to hit the hibiscus with a "supercharged" dose of insecticide.
I used a full strength dose of Organocide (11 bucks from Home Depot) and a full dose of Ortho EcoSense Insecticidal Soap (6 bucks from Lowes). Let's just say that I won this battle with a quickness. Seems like the Ortho kills live ones immediately, while the Organocide takes a few minutes. But the Organocide is a little oilier and looks like it sticks to the leaves more. After one day, it looked like a aphid cemetary. Not a single one moving. The Organocide definitely sticks around a bit, as evidenced by the fishy smell and oily film. Granted, the hibiscus has a much sturdier stem, which is more like a tree trunk. But the hibiscus leaves are pretty much the same size and density of a mature pepper plant. The leaves did shrivel up considerably a few hours after spraying and I thought I had overdone it. But they bounced back a couple of days later and now look perfect. And they still have the oily coating and a slight smell. In any event, not even a hint of an aphid four days later.
I'm not a huge fan of the biggie pestacides like Bayer, Ortho, Sevin or Spectracide unless it is an emergency. I also dont really trust the neem oils or dish soap concoctions. But so far, this has performed much better than any other natural/organic combination I've tried. Hopefully, I dont have to try it on my peppers this year.
I used a full strength dose of Organocide (11 bucks from Home Depot) and a full dose of Ortho EcoSense Insecticidal Soap (6 bucks from Lowes). Let's just say that I won this battle with a quickness. Seems like the Ortho kills live ones immediately, while the Organocide takes a few minutes. But the Organocide is a little oilier and looks like it sticks to the leaves more. After one day, it looked like a aphid cemetary. Not a single one moving. The Organocide definitely sticks around a bit, as evidenced by the fishy smell and oily film. Granted, the hibiscus has a much sturdier stem, which is more like a tree trunk. But the hibiscus leaves are pretty much the same size and density of a mature pepper plant. The leaves did shrivel up considerably a few hours after spraying and I thought I had overdone it. But they bounced back a couple of days later and now look perfect. And they still have the oily coating and a slight smell. In any event, not even a hint of an aphid four days later.
I'm not a huge fan of the biggie pestacides like Bayer, Ortho, Sevin or Spectracide unless it is an emergency. I also dont really trust the neem oils or dish soap concoctions. But so far, this has performed much better than any other natural/organic combination I've tried. Hopefully, I dont have to try it on my peppers this year.
Might be time to call in the troops, namely the ladybug brigade. Another try would be diluted ivory dish soap sprayed directly on the nasties. I have had a history with Black Aphids, this is my first year with peppers, I am ready and armed with ivory............... 
BTW, what is the ideal mix of dishsoap/water?............
BTW, what is the ideal mix of dishsoap/water?............
Not only did I ask them to leave, I took their beer away. BTW, nice bike. I have an '02 Train that I stuffed a 180 into, black lower legs and no front fender.
Thanks. Ive grown tired of that money pit and am thinking about either doing something drastic to change the way I feel about it, or trade it in on something fun.
I use a couple of teaspoons of baby shampoo or nonantibacterial soap, several tablespoons of garlic powder, and a gallon of water. Mix it up and put it in a pump sprayer. Soak the top, bottom, stalk, and root area. I've never had it fail yet, but anything is possible
I use 3tsp of murphys in 500ml of water. Spray in the morning or night then rinse with water 30 min later just to be sure. Seemed to help last year.
I've used Safer Insecticidal Soap for aphids, and it's pretty good. I like it because it's totally safe, in contrast to insecticides - if you spritz it on yourself or get it on a pepper, well, it's just soap, no prob. I found that it takes about 2 weeks to get a dense aphid population under control with the soap. On the first pass, you'll kill about 1/3 to 1/2 of them. Another pass 4-5 days later will pick up another similar %. By the third pass you are down to the hardy stragglers. Soap will not get rid of 100 % of an aphid infestation, but it gets it down to a small enough number that one can co-exist with the aphids in a kind of stand-off, stalemate that you and the aphids can accept.
Sevin's worked pretty well for me.
Sorta funny how I worried about spreading aphids from a plant that I had spent a month picking them off of to my other plant... the other had been lightly sprayed with Sevin since there were ants all over it, and fungus gnats were wrecking havoc about a month ago. When I moved the plant over with an aphid or two (I couldn't catch them all) to the vicinity of the sprayed one, the aphids disappeared. I assume they tried to head to the sprayed plant and got killed by the Sevin.
Sorta funny how I worried about spreading aphids from a plant that I had spent a month picking them off of to my other plant... the other had been lightly sprayed with Sevin since there were ants all over it, and fungus gnats were wrecking havoc about a month ago. When I moved the plant over with an aphid or two (I couldn't catch them all) to the vicinity of the sprayed one, the aphids disappeared. I assume they tried to head to the sprayed plant and got killed by the Sevin.
Ah, but which ones? We have so many here that would be impossible. Some of the ants here are beneficial to capsicum. At our house alone I've counted at least 5 species. Only one brings aphids and one spraying gets them to move on. For my chinense so far so good, no aphids; but I did have to spray our lime tree.
I have this same problem on one plant so I separated it from the other 57 and have been using neem with dawn and the war is still on!!
I have been slowly increasing the Neem strength till either they are the plant is dead!
I have been slowly increasing the Neem strength till either they are the plant is dead!
sliced chilis + detergent soap + a little bit of oil mixed in a sprayer...
Breed with their women and soon your problems will subside. Wait..........disregard. Anyway, I keep my aphids in check with me walking to my backyard and checking all the branches of the trees and collect lady bugs. I try to get at least 5 and unleash them in hopes they stick around to feast. I also catch Praying mantis' but most seem too big to be eating aphids now. They were the right size a month ago when the are more likely to make a tasty morsel out of those plant ruining @ssholes. Good luck. All else fails you can order lady bugs online. Come in vials of like 100. If 100 ladybugs can't take care of it then.......we are doomed.
Thanks for all the tips. Although I do get a slight enjoyment smashing them individually, there are just too many. Good news though, I have 2 but's about 1 inch long, and several fatalii's sprouting. My banana's are about ready to pick. Jalapeno's too. Once I get a good bunch picked I may just set the damn things on fire and watch the little f'rs burn!!!!
Yep reccomend the detergent way, aphids having piercing & sucking mouthparts, most insects / bugs dont enjoy sucking up the detergent espicially aphids. We use this method in the Botanical Gardens where i work.