Hi all,
I recently posted some pictures of what were confirmed to be aphids on my plants. I had released a number of ladybugs, which seemed to keep them at bay for a while, but now all the ladybugs are gone and the aphids are back in more numbers!
Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to get rid of aphids?
I am going to buy more ladybugs as soon as it stops raining here, but I'd like other ideas, as well.
Thanks,
Tom
PS - do aphids hurt the fruit that is growing now?
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn132/tcy1227/DSC00167.jpg
https://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn132/tcy1227/DSC00165.jpg
These are the old pics - MANY more of these bugs all over my plants now...
I pretty much ignor aphids on flowering sized plants. I will rub off the largest concentrations on young leaves with my thumb but thats about it. The plants can support a pretty heavy aphid load without flinching, and there has to be a fair number of aphids on the plants to support a predator presence. The lady bugs will hang around at a low level that the aphids can support.
Aphids do not harm fruit.
Aphids do not harm fruit.
- rainbowgardener
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agree with everything TZ says. It doesn't work if you are a farmer with a field of tomatoes, but for a small scale gardener with a few tomato plants, just take kleenex or paper towel (I'm a little squeamish about bare hands) and squish them. Leave a few to keep the lady bugs happy. They won't hurt your fruit, they just want the plant juices and a few of them won't hurt the plant either. The good news about aphids is that they are slow and stupid and just sit there and let you squish them.
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