If you find something, I'd love to know. I'm been fighting with aphids on my indoor peppers for a couple months now. It's driving me absolutely crazy.

I would say "SPRITZ" them. Here is how would have done:

---Take the to garage, bath tub ...
-- Put the pot in a plastic bag.
-- Tighten the end of bag on the main stem, slightly above the lip of the pot. NOW YOU HAVE MADE THE POT ALMOST WATER PROOF.
--- Take a mister/sprayer bottle, place/adjust it to JET SPRAY mode.
-- Now the bottle is filled with plain tap water.
-- Starting from the top, SPRITZ the heck out of them aphid. Continue until they are off the leaves, on the ground. Once on the ground spray them with boiling water.

If you do it thoroughly , there shouldn't be any left on the plant. If you find a few just squish them.

FINAL STEP:
remove the bag ( Or remove the pot from the bag :-)) and bring the plant to its place.

Seysonn

Just use an aphid spray, such as Safer brand.
Or get a systemic. Make your life easy.

Josh

Or just kill the plants... Sorry, but for the last 2 yrs I have not overwintered out of terror of aphids. 3 yrs ago I spent the entire winter fighting them, and I tried everything, even burned some up trying lemon juice (diluted of course), a recipe I found on the web. My friend swears by neem oil, didn't fix my problem. Someday I hope to brave up and overwinter again, but every fall when it comes down to a decision I chicken out... not worth the stress.
Pam

Just last week I successfully used 1 tablespoon dish detergent - I used dawn - in 3/4 of a quart pf water.
It worked - fast - I was totally impressed.

Put the water in first then drop in soap and shake.

I sprayed the dickens out of my totally aphid covered plant. I had tried store bought insecticidal soap, squishing the aphids, blasting them off with water and I mean really blasting and none of this worked so out of desperation I used this homemade mix and voila. I'll never waste my time on anything else in the future.

For the past month, I've been using neem oil spray about every 2 days on a choc scotch bonnet to combat white flies. While some were done away with through selective pruning, they certainly have not gone away completely. I think NEC (Northeast_Chiliman) posted that the effect of Neem is that it messes with them so they quit eating and breeding. Eventually they just die. Still waiting for that to happen.....

CanadianLori wrote: "Just last week I successfully used 1 tablespoon dish detergent - I used dawn - in 3/4 of a quart pf water. "

What is pf water?

I'm impressed. I used that combo every couple of days through my infestation. It appeared they were gone then boom, they were back. at one time I even poured the soapy water into a bucket and dunked the plants in it and swished them around... still had aphids.

Pam

aphids can be sprayed off with water..

insert plant in shower.. use a hand held shower head.. and blast those chuckers off ...

i dont know why you would fool with cold ... maybe try one..

but why not try multiple methods... and spread your odds ...

ken

what ken said. Just have to be diligent. Because they have such fast reproductive rates, you're not seeing the same aphids. You're seeing the babies, and more babies and more babies! Water treatments every 2-3 days for a good couple weeks and you should see the populations decrease. As mentioned above, neem oil has anti-feeding properties... so, even if they're still around, at least they're not sucking the life out of your plants.

Because some of you are overwintering, treatments can sometimes be a PITA. So, after you bring populations down, you might try sprinkling some cinnamon. It works for fungus gnats and ants. It just might works for aphids. Have nothing to lose!

Brian6464: whiteflies are a whole other problem. One usually has to attack them multi-prong because although neem will work on the nymphs, it does nothing to the adults. You might want to invest in some yellow stick cards or make your own.

Homemade are easy --- get some yellow construction paper, place inside a ziploc. Smear with very light coat of motor oil or tanglefoot. Hang above plant, but not directly above in case the oil drips.

Good luck.

Kevin

Pam,

i told you the secret to your aphid problems. Google it and give it a try. You will be amazed how fast those things dry up..John

John wrote:
"Pam, i told you the secret to your aphid problems. Google it and give it a try. You will be amazed how fast those things dry up..John"

Here's the post:
"i use acclaim antibacterial soap. try it, you will be amazed how fast it kills aphids. its a terrible hand soap cintas supplys at work. drys your hands like crazy. but it kills aphids faster than anything i have tried."

mecdave -- Thanks for posting that. I was wanting to know what John's secret formula was, but had no idea where it was originally posted.

You're welcome. Unfortunately it's a Zep product, and while most everything they make/sell is excellent, imo, finding them in smaller quantities for the layman can be difficult. For instance, a quick search has only found it in a box of 4 one gallon size for $88 + shipping!

This post was edited by mecdave on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 5:47

mecdave - CanadianLori just did a typo; it should read "3/4 of a quart of water."

"CanadianLori just did a typo; it should read "3/4 of a quart of water."

LOL Now why couldn't I figure that out?

Just last weekend I was building another shelf in my office for my bonchis when I noticed a ladybug on one of the plants already inside. Uh oh. No idea how she got inside, but you know what that means. Aphids. Sometimes I think they propagate them like ants do. She definitely didn't harvest them all.

PS I would already have a bag of 1500 ladybugs on the way if it weren't so cold right now that they'd die in shipping. ;-)

Sorry about not giving more detail, i have just recomended it so mant times i figured everyone new the secret...

Dave,

I agree with you, most of thier products are good. I guess i should have worded that better. i wasn't trying to bash Acclaim, in fact out of the 3 or 4 supplied at work, Acclaim is my choice. it cleans better than anything, but it is terrible at drying out your hands. If you use it often, you better be putting lotion on your hands like a girl. You're a mechanic, it works great on grease.

I have never googled it, asked the cintas guy what he wanted for it and he gave me a gallon.

Hey John, I didn't take it as bashing, just useful info. I wouldn't mind getting a gallon for use around the house, but yeah, I need something with lanolin for daily use.

Unifirst supplies our handcleaner so Cintas doesn't stop at our shop. I see him around though so just planned on catching him sometime to see if he could hook me up.

(It would be easier if Zep would just make their products more readily available, floor cleaner and penetrating oil in particular.)

I have never seen a soap dry your hands like acclaim, but the good thing is, it does the same to aphids. i have had better results with it than any other soap or insecticide i have tried.

John, I'm just curious, but do you plants have any problem being sprayed with it?

Erica,

Not at all, i just put a little in a spray bottle. just enough that it makes a few suds when you shake it up. Make sure you completely cover the plant, underside of leaves and surface of the soil to get any that have fallen off.

I have never bothered even rinsing it off, except for one tine when i got disgusted and put it in a hose end sprayer and soaped the whole garden.

John -- Lol. I feel you. I've been contemplating moving my whole hydroponic set-up outside, just so I can attack my peppers with the hose.