I stick a spray head into a bottle of rubbing alcohol and mist the aphids. The plant is rarely damaged and you often don't even have to move the plant to the sink. Works for meally bugs too. Use the 95% if you can but the 70% works. A mist of alcohol will also knock flies out of the air so that you can squash them.
Many insects like "scale" insects are protected from their environment, including many commercial insecticides; by a waxy coating. Mild soap solutions, neem oil, and some other products work by simply dissolving the waxy coating. They then die. Scale insects incidentally are related in the same genus to aphids.
Ted
Ted
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Santorican
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It has grown back but unfortunately one of the smaller plants diedgarden5 wrote:As someone else said, you should look for "soap" that is being sold with garden-related purposes in mind. That is the best way to ensure that you do not get a "soap" that may kill off your garden.
How's the pepper plant coming along so far? Any new growth showing?
.I noticed some more aphids on the leaves today so I brushed them off and tomorrow I'm going to go to home depot to see if they have any insecticide soap!
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Santorican
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I tested that on one of the leaves and it completely nuked the leaf. It turned white lolTZ -OH6 wrote:I stick a spray head into a bottle of rubbing alcohol and mist the aphids. The plant is rarely damaged and you often don't even have to move the plant to the sink. Works for meally bugs too. Use the 95% if you can but the 70% works. A mist of alcohol will also knock flies out of the air so that you can squash them.
!simply washing aphids off with a spray of water is effective.
contact insecticides ala soaps are effective.
but there's a catch.
aphids reproduce by laying eggs and / or by hatching live young - depends on the specific aphids in residence - there's lots different types. one adult female can hatch 80 or more offspring _per day_
eggs are not affected by water / soap.
youngsters can easily be too deep in a crack to be affected by water / soap.
to the catch is, if you've got an infestation you have to address it every day until you've got the population essentially reduced to nothing.
unless you're lucky like my last summer - got an aphid infestation on the peas and two days later had a ladybug BOOM - they ate 'em all!
contact insecticides ala soaps are effective.
but there's a catch.
aphids reproduce by laying eggs and / or by hatching live young - depends on the specific aphids in residence - there's lots different types. one adult female can hatch 80 or more offspring _per day_
eggs are not affected by water / soap.
youngsters can easily be too deep in a crack to be affected by water / soap.
to the catch is, if you've got an infestation you have to address it every day until you've got the population essentially reduced to nothing.
unless you're lucky like my last summer - got an aphid infestation on the peas and two days later had a ladybug BOOM - they ate 'em all!
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applestar
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THAT is the other catch. Don't panic on seeing the aphids and go on a squishing or spraying rampage. Lean in close and inspect. Do you see the adult aphids? Do you see the ants? The baby aphids look exactly like the adults, just much much smaller. Get a magnifying glass or a jeweler's loupe if you can't see them well enough.
Do you see anything else? If you see black and orange aligator like bug, or a similar gray/black bug, they are your relief troops: Ladybug and Green Lacewing larvae.
If you see ladybugs busily patrolling the plant, don't immediately squish or spray a cluster of bright yellow tiny ovoid things, thinking they're aphids. That might be a ladybug egg cluster. If you see a tiny white egg suspended on a filament of nearly invisible thread, that is a green lacewing egg. Look around, you'll probably see more.
Go look for these things on other plants in your garden. Where there is ample supply, you could re-locate them to the affected plants. Take the leaf with the ladybug egg cluster and tape it to the aphid-infested plant, etc.
Oh! One other thing to look for: a shell/mummy of an aphid with a pin hole in it: A sign that there are tiny aphid parasite wasps around. Their larvae eat their way out of aphids after feasting on the insides.
There is another helper: Syrphid Fly maggots -- a.k.a. "Aphid Killer" look like [url=https://waynesword.palomar.edu/redmit6a.htm]this[/url] and eat aphids. This one's a little tricky because, to me, they look a lot like the Rose Slug/Saw Fly larvae.
Do you see anything else? If you see black and orange aligator like bug, or a similar gray/black bug, they are your relief troops: Ladybug and Green Lacewing larvae.
If you see ladybugs busily patrolling the plant, don't immediately squish or spray a cluster of bright yellow tiny ovoid things, thinking they're aphids. That might be a ladybug egg cluster. If you see a tiny white egg suspended on a filament of nearly invisible thread, that is a green lacewing egg. Look around, you'll probably see more.
Go look for these things on other plants in your garden. Where there is ample supply, you could re-locate them to the affected plants. Take the leaf with the ladybug egg cluster and tape it to the aphid-infested plant, etc.
Oh! One other thing to look for: a shell/mummy of an aphid with a pin hole in it: A sign that there are tiny aphid parasite wasps around. Their larvae eat their way out of aphids after feasting on the insides.
There is another helper: Syrphid Fly maggots -- a.k.a. "Aphid Killer" look like [url=https://waynesword.palomar.edu/redmit6a.htm]this[/url] and eat aphids. This one's a little tricky because, to me, they look a lot like the Rose Slug/Saw Fly larvae.
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Santorican
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Wow there is some great help in this thread, but I have to point out that my plant is an indoor plant as I cannot figure out where to put it around my house. The sun here in FL seems to be too intense in the mornings and afternoons for me to determine where to put the plant so I leave it inside.
Are there any insecticide soaps that don't use any harsh chemicals and are organic based?
Are there any insecticide soaps that don't use any harsh chemicals and are organic based?
Insecticidal soaps are not themselves pesticides. They are simply soaps which are harmful to the insects. You can make the solution weaker or stronger as you choose. Start with a weak solution and determine the effects. Keep in mind that if you start with a strong solution and harm your plant, you can't reverse the damage. Some plants like succulents have a waxy or protective coating over their leaves. The soap and other solvents can harm that coating (based only on my experience).
Ted
Ted
Those are good points Dil and Apple. We sometimes get so involved with trying to figure out how "we" can control a pest that we sometimes forget that nature can be the best pest removal system there is. Some people actually buy beneficial insects and release them into the garden, but I'm unsure just how well this works. Most probably just fly away.