I usually don't have a problem once the plants are outside because their natural enemies keep them in check. For my inside plants i use ladybugs but my source has been out and I have been spraying with neem oil or insecticidal soap with little result. Today I got a book from the library on organic pest control and they recommended using regular powdered garden lime -1/4 to 1/2 cup per gallon of water along with the soap to help the lime stick. Anyone familiar with this method? It was new to me.

Johnf

ok ive seen thi dish soap with water everywhere but what kind of dish soap just the blue dawn stuff my mom keeps under the sink or do i have to find a not concentrted one.

The easiest remedy is to tip prune the infested twigs and destroy the clippings.
Ants relocate aphids, so get rid of them also.
Dimethoate (if you can get it) is a good systemic and is often labelled for many vegetable crops.
A strong stream of water can drown them but be careful you do not drown your plant(s)at the same time.
The lady bug in all her life stages will feed on them.
Cheers!

Ladybugs in a pesticide-free garden aren't just the healthiest way to control aphids, they're the most effective. :)

You can get the eggs or larvae mail-order (don't bother buying adults, the larvae are the most voracious aphid-eaters and can't fly away), but first try asking around the local independant nurseries: they can probably recommend a supplier.

Even with ants trying to "ranch" the aphids, they won't be able to do much damage in a healthy garden ecosystem.

dish soap will kill the plants along with the aphids.

ladybugs are to eating aphids what fleas are to jumping.

ive never had ants and aphids in the same place, but i've read about it. i fight the green peach aphid every year (along with red and white spider mites). squish what you can. dont underestimate the humble garden hose to control pests like aphids and thrips. make things unlivable and they'll go somewhere else.

arhhhhhhh
2 days away and my small aphid problem is now out of controll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have ants and aphids and lots of both.
what now???

ant traps ??
sevin???
I want ladybugs but no where around here has them and i think i may be too late for them??
will sevin kill ladybugs??

help

shayne

Just spritz the aphids off with a spray of water from the garden hose.

Dimethoate (if you can get it) is a good systemic and is often labelled for many vegetable crops.

A systemic is a poison that moves to all cells of the plant including the pepper itself. thus making the pepper poisonous. In general I never heard of any systemic being used on food crops.

I would look very closely into any systemic before using it on a food crop.

sevin will kill all your earth worms too. I would never use sevin. just my opinion. I dont want to poison myself or my food.

there is an organic section here. so you can ask around over there. but a good poison is to make a strong tea of nicotene. from cigarettes or tobacco. this will kill aphids I am pretty sure. but it might bring in tobacco mosaic virus.

do a search right here on GW of Aphid. and you will find lots of threads. here is one I just picked up sounds good.

Posted by roseman Z 8A GA (My Page) on Wed, Mar 22, 06 at 14:20

Here is a sure fire way to get rid of aphids on your new growth: Place some plain flour in a the toe of an old piece of panty hose and dust the little buggers. The flour sticks to their wet bodies, clogs their pores and they either die on the spot or fall off immediately and then die. Aphid infestations are a cyclical thing.Twenty minutes or so after treatment, you will be able to hose off the remaining aphid bodies and you should be aphid free until the next infestation hits. Flour is cheap, biodegradable and non-toxic to your roses or the environment.
******************

there are "dusters" that apply dust to plants. I would guess putting the flour in a duster would make application easy also.

you might also try dusting with diatomacous earth used in swimming pool filters.

you might spray them down with some cooking oil. hot pepper in water I believe will work also. add some garlic for good measure. aphids are fairly easy to kill off. you do not need poisons.

well i soaked down 4 of them with sevin.
the rest i think i will coat will flour.
I read that ants taxi them around so i will look after them also.
is it normal to have so many ??
some of the leaved are completly covered.
there are even a few red ones???
I have 1 ladybug and we had a talk .... ladybug says too many aphids to eat.

shayne

One word

sevin will kill all your earth worms too. I would never use sevin. just my opinion. I dont want to poison myself or my food.

Sevin will kill your honeybees and other pollinators too.
If you use too much, your son might not have a sex organ larger than he was born with

ON
there is an organic section here. so you can ask around over there. but a good poison is to make a strong tea of nicotene. from cigarettes or tobacco. this will kill aphids I am pretty sure. but it might bring in tobacco mosaic virus.

Fact in 1896, 80% of the tobacco crop was infected with TMV at that time your statement was true, At retired plant pathologist from UMASS Amherst said he has seen 2 cases of TMV in the last 40 something years, not in tobacco but in bell peppers...

From NCSU, Pillip Morris, UKY Burliegh tobacco has been TMV free for over 40 years

From PE I smoked and handled Peppers and tomatoes for over 50 years ( = over 1/2 century) w/o any TMV

A State ( Idaho I think) Claimed they had a recent major outbreak of TMV in a Greenhouse, caused by a smoker. This was in 1949. IMHO this ain't recent.

John

Get some pics of the Ladybug Larva, casue their the ones that eat aphids

Byron

where in canada can i get ladybugs?????

shayne

ps i have 1 ladybug

Byron

The adults also eat them. I watch them do so in my kitchen.

You might Google around for a better price

Here is a link that might be useful: One Canadian Source

I use plain ol' dish soap and water. I've never had a dead plant yet! All it takes is a few drops to water in a regular spray bottle.

Vera

I had the little blighters 2 weeks ago and had about 20 and some white fly in my greenhouse. I sprayed them all with water and washing up liquid and they no longer are in my greenhouse.lol Dead as a door nail.
It only took about 1hr to notice they all were gone and had none since.

arthur.

Ivory liquid dish SOAP, not detergent. Just a few drops in a squirt bottle full of water does the trick. The only thing is you have to repeat this every one or two days since it only kills the aphids on contact. The next day, more can show up. The soap won't kill the plants. I have 3 Scotch bonnets that are doing great and producing lots of peppers. Good luck!

sevin killed all so far .
from now on i will use soap.
is it a bad idea to submerse the whole plant in a tub of water with a bit of soap??
this will also wash off the sevin .
keep in mind i have lots of plants all in 1 gallon containers.
I have 60 hab plants in a big tub that are just waiting to get planted into bigger containers.
my pepper fish got hit the worst ...
I hope they all do well as they are really my only new pepper.
the others i have eaten or grown in the past.
I am also dealing with a ladybug supplier but i think i may be too late and with already using sevin i may have to just wait till next year and do it right.

later

shayne

i'll never use soap again. two drops of dawn in a quart squirt bottle gave the leaves necrosis something awful.

i prefer neem oil. when i cant simply just hose the plant off with the garden hose. drowning works very well.

shelbyguy

Did you used the "concentrated" or the "Anti bacterial"

I will never read a forum and go out and do what i read ever again.
looks like opinions and results vary .
I went out and used sevin to kill aphids and it did .
I then read sevin badd ladybugs good....
then soap good then soap bad....
in the morning i will try soap on 1 plant and alot on another and see what happens.
my aphid problem is no longer really a problem but there are a few of the little buggers on some of my other plants .
later

shayne

Sounds like you're fed up with advice- but I'll throw one more at you.

Earlier this season I had a COMPLETE infestation of my chiles. I read as much as possible about the darn critters (same thing I do every year) and tried a new method that worked. It was disgusting- but it worked.
I had a few beers (use whatever puts you in a "I can do it" mood)and went through every plant and squished them. If there were tons on one leaf/area I cut it off, stuffed them in a baggie and threw them in the freezer until garbage day. This brought me down to finding one or two on a plant per day- easy squishing compared to the first slaughter.
One other thing- I learned this year that certain types of dandelions make them really happy. I found dandelions growing under some bushes- sure enough- my aphid breeding ground. I have not seen one since I removed the dandelions.
Perhaps a coincidence- but that ahpid infestation started the very day after my association sprayed the community dandelions. They literally moved in overnight.
Maybe it will help you next year.

"Posted by shelbyguy
dish soap will kill the plants along with the aphids"

This just simply isn't true. I've used dishsoap and water a dozen times on chiles over the past couple years, and it has never killed a plant yet. On what are you basing this broad assumption? If you are killing plants using this method, you are likely using too much dish soap... a few drops in a quart spray bottle is PLENTY. Spray the undersides of the leaves of the plant thoroughly, wait a couple hours for all the aphids to suffocate, then rinse the plants off... there ya go, aphid-free and squeaky-clean!

To tell you the truth, I don't know if "anti-bacterial" soaps are extra harmful to plants or not... I know we've owned those types of soaps in the past, so it's highly likely I've used them. All I know is that if I use a weak concentration and rinse the plants off after a couple hours, I have no aphids and no ill effects whatsoever. Make of it what you will.

"Posted by shelbyguy
dish soap will kill the plants along with the aphids"

Some 'anti bacterial soaps' contain 2-4D, the same crap as weed killer. It won't kill a tomato or pepper or tomato but
it will make the plants very sick.

If the old type dishsoap is applied during the heat of the day, it can make a plant very sick.

If you apply the old type dishsoap every few days, without rinsing the plant, you can make your plants very sick

If you double the recommended dose, you can make your plants sick

fwiw hth