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brooklyn boy
- Cool Member
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:45 am
- Location: NYC
How to get rid of aphids
I don't understand the big issue with aphids , When I had them on my jalapeno plant I got rid of them the good old fashion way by carefully spraying a chemical pesticide on the stems only and looking at the bottom side from as much leafs as possible as there black color or white nest will not be hard to notice and kill them there without chemicals Now carefully spray the stem a few times with water ,That's what I did and the plant stayed healthy without any problems the stem of a mature plant can handle some leftover pesticide residue that wasn't completely washed away (as always only use sprays directly on plants after the sun is not shinning on it)
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
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brooklyn boy
- Cool Member
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:45 am
- Location: NYC
Yea your right but in reality you won't gain 100% effectiveness only with chemicals that's the only languish they understandrainbowgardener wrote:But getting rid of aphids is not hard even without poisons:
strong jet of water
soapy water spray
squish them while they stupidly sit there and let you,
etc..
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
RE: "Yea your right but in reality you won't gain 100% effectiveness only with chemicals that's the only language they understand"
You are right, but you don't need or even want 100% effectiveness. Your plants can easily tolerate a reasonable number of aphids on them. It's only when they become covered with them, that the aphids create a serious drain on the plant and set it back severely.
You don't want to get rid of the aphids entirely, because then when the ladybugs, preying mantis and other beneficials that eat the aphids show up, they will find nothing to eat and move on. What you want is to keep a balance so that there are enough aphids to keep the ladybugs etc happy, but not enough to damage your plants. Nature is good at that kind of balance as long as we don't interfere.
In the long run, the chemicals do not work because of upsetting the balance. They wipe everything out, aphids, ladybugs and all. Then when the aphids come back, as they always do, there are no predators for them and you get a population explosion. There have to be much bigger populations of prey animals (in this case aphids), than predator animals (in this case ladybugs), so when you wipe all of them out, it is much easier for the prey animals (the leaf eaters & plant suckers, the ones you don't want) to come back than the predator animals (the ones you do want).
You are right, but you don't need or even want 100% effectiveness. Your plants can easily tolerate a reasonable number of aphids on them. It's only when they become covered with them, that the aphids create a serious drain on the plant and set it back severely.
You don't want to get rid of the aphids entirely, because then when the ladybugs, preying mantis and other beneficials that eat the aphids show up, they will find nothing to eat and move on. What you want is to keep a balance so that there are enough aphids to keep the ladybugs etc happy, but not enough to damage your plants. Nature is good at that kind of balance as long as we don't interfere.
In the long run, the chemicals do not work because of upsetting the balance. They wipe everything out, aphids, ladybugs and all. Then when the aphids come back, as they always do, there are no predators for them and you get a population explosion. There have to be much bigger populations of prey animals (in this case aphids), than predator animals (in this case ladybugs), so when you wipe all of them out, it is much easier for the prey animals (the leaf eaters & plant suckers, the ones you don't want) to come back than the predator animals (the ones you do want).