Eeek - bugs!

[vikkib]

Well, I'm beginning to feel like a 'proper' grower now... I've got my first lot of bugs to contend with!

I've done some searching and I suspect they are aphids but being a newbie I would really appreciate if someone could confirm that for me!

There are the little green things on the leaf but also the little white things on the soil. (The plant is a long sweet pepper seedling btw!)

Apart from squirting the leaves with water with a drop of washing up liquid in it is there anything else I should do?

Do I need to re-pot it, put it into quarantine or at least move it away from the other seedlings?!

How do the little wotsits get there - is there anything I should be doing to prevent them?

[seasprout]

You are the proud owner of Green Aphids, just squash em with your thumb.

Organic sprays are quite good. You must control them though or they will start to distort your plants and generally bugger them up.

[seasprout]

P.s, the white things on the soil are the old skins from the aphids, as the aphids grow they shed the old skins, bit like snakes really.

[vikkib]

You are the proud owner of Green Aphids, just squash em with your thumb.

Organic sprays are quite good. You must control them though or they will start to distort your plants and generally bugger them up.

Aaah, squishing! My mother in law warned me that I must be prepared to do some squishing! (I have to confess to looking slightly aghast when she boldly squished several red lilly beetles between her fingers!)

I'm gonna knock them off the leaves and squish them... not something I thought I would be doing just a few months ago!

Thanks seasprout!

[lynda66]

wear marigolds, it's easier to squish em on the plant ... and they won't escape then

[vikkib]

wear marigolds, it's easier to squish em on the plant ... and they won't escape then

too late!

I just squished them on the plant.

Not sure I could do a lilly beetle sized bug yet but the aphids had better watch out!

[lynda66]

and there was me thinking you were squeamish about it lol

[vikkib]

and there was me thinking you were squeamish about it lol

Hehehe!

I thought I would be! It seems I have a darker, squishing side, to me that I new nothing about!

[zazen999]

Aphids give birth to hundreds more each day, so keep a watch on and keep squishing. It will take a while to get rid totally unless you caught them really early.

I often pop aphidy plants outdoors for a few hours, for other bugs to come along and eat them. Then, if they haven't all gone, give them a soft soap spray and look again the next day until there is no sign.

[vikkib]

Aphids give birth to hundreds more each day, so keep a watch on and keep squishing. It will take a while to get rid totally unless you caught them really early.

I often pop aphidy plants outdoors for a few hours, for other bugs to come along and eat them. Then, if they haven't all gone, give them a soft soap spray and look again the next day until there is no sign.

Thanks for the tip Zazen. I have been checking my plants daily (well more than once a day to be honest) so I may have caught it early. They seemed to spring from nowhere! I'll keep a much closer eye on them and if I spot them re-appearing will try popping them outside to give the other bugs a meal before squishing/soaping!

Out of interest do aphids lay eggs? I was just having a close look at the other aubergines and peppers on the same sill and spotted this in a pot near where the infested one was and wondered if it was an egg? (for scale the metal thing is an un-bent paper clip!)