controlling aphids

[Penellype]

^^^ all of the above - anything that looks like an egg, be it a butterfly egg or a tiny aphid - scrape em all off

Except these:



Ladybird eggs

and these:



Hoverfly eggs

[Ryez]

Yeah, I didn't use soap because after looking more closely and with the help of the lovely people here in the forum, I realized that together with the aphids I had hoverfly larvae, ladybirds and parasitic wasps, that, eventually, ate the aphids! My guess is that using soap might disturb the hoverfly larvae. So have a close look to see if any beneficial insects are around that could have the aphids for dinner!

[Jay22]

Just reading this thread...can these oil/soap mixtures be used while plant has blossom...don't want to harm the bees!

Just noticed I have aphids on my two small pear trees!

[Penellype]

The oil based aphid controls usually say don't use on plants that are in flower. I'm not sure how these work but the oil probably coats the aphid preventing it from breathing through its skin. Aphids are not unique and other insects are likely to be killed as well. Bees breathe through small holes in the skin called spiracles and these could be blocked by oil.

I would wait until the flowers have finished, but be aware that you will also probably kill beneficial predators as well as the aphids even after flowering.

[Jay22]

Thanks Penellype! Made up the mixture this morning and then had a light bulb moment. Will leave it for the moment and just spray with water.

[Chris11]

Yeah, I didn't use soap because after looking more closely and with the help of the lovely people here in the forum, I realized that together with the aphids I had hoverfly larvae, ladybirds and parasitic wasps, that, eventually, ate the aphids! My guess is that using soap might disturb the hoverfly larvae. So have a close look to see if any beneficial insects are around that could have the aphids for dinner!

I very rarely spray, and only as a last resort using water, or with the Ecover mentioned earlier in thread. In early years of chilli growing, aphids were more of a problem, but a combination of companion planting and beneficial insects has successfully managed the problem.

Indoor plants just get an occasional visual check and gentle squishing of any aphids on the leaves. Greenhouse plant aphids generally now dealt with as food for hoverflies, ladybirds etc

Poached egg plants, marigolds etc grown as companion plants.

[Snoop Puss]

Except these:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]67325[/ATTACH]

Ladybird eggs

and these:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]67326[/ATTACH]

Hoverfly eggs

Is it worth having a sticky for beneficial insects and eggs, and maybe another for pestilential pests and their eggs?

[nickdub]

Just reading this thread...can these oil/soap mixtures be used while plant has blossom...don't want to harm the bees!

Just noticed I have aphids on my two small pear trees!

May not be applicable in your case Jay, but just for anyone else reading this with a similar issue my approach would be to use soap and water (washing-up liquid is OK ), but not to spray, rather to use a soft paint brush. You'll find bees go straight for the open flowers (unless they miss their landing), so that's the part to stay away from. Aphids usually build up beginning with a new leaf or the growing tip of the shoot, so attack them there. A few inches difference doesn't seem much to us, but for a bee its loads of space.

[Two_Sheds]

will they normally just go for the pepper plants that's all I can see them on

No, they will infest whichever seedlings are softest, as they multiply they will spread to other plants.

I don’t wash plants with soapy water as it can kill the plant (it’s not dishwash liquid you should be using anyway, it’s horticultural soft soap), I just carefully wipe the leaves* while pouring water over my fingers, squishing the boogers. Repeat daily.

* wear reading specs, the aphids look enormous

[mothhawk]

Encourage predators by making winter homes for them. Bite the bullet, don't spray, squish as TS says, and wait for predators to arrive, thy won't be long, but if you spray, you will kill them all. The first year maybe you'll have quite a bit of damage, but the years after, the predators will already be at home in your garden and will appear soon after the pests and wipe them out in a few days. (Remember, you won't get predators until you get pests, it's their prey that attracts them)

I grow runner beans and they get aphids every year, but within a week even with a detailed search, there's not one left. just lots of ladybirds, aphid lions, hoverflies, and (I'm a bit ambivalent about this one) earwigs.

[muck lover]

Oh please not earwigs....anything but earwigs

[muck lover]

I’m starting to get hoverflies into the polytunnel at last. There are definitely less than last year but I am hoping the better weather will fix that. Previous years I’ve had a natural population of aphidius in polytunnel and outside as I noticed some aphids transformed into golden blobs. I hoping they come back this year as a couple of strawberry plants in greenhouse had greenfly on new buds. I squished them but I know they’ll be back. Then again, so will I!