Have you tried banana peels to repel aphids?

[Joyfirst]

I found this in several places, and it seems like most people who try, have great results with aphids leaving in a few days. Here is link to one post about it:
https://southernruralroute.wordpress.co ... eels-maam/
I am eating and freezing some bananas now, and cutting peels in small pieces. I have each year tons of aphids on cucumbers and melons. But then I have ants, that farm them too. I am baiting ants with borax/sugar/peanut butter, so hopefully that will reduce them, and then banana peels hopefully will do the rest. Some people think it is potassium, that repels aphids as they seem to prefer plants, that have too much nitrogen.

[imafan26]

I use fennel and ant bait. The fennel is a trap plant the aphids will go bother the fennel and the ladybugs will lay their eggs on the fennel and the ladybug larvae will eat them up. The fennel blooms will attract not only ladybugs but parasitic wasps, tachinid flies, bees and other beneficial insects.

The only caveat is that fennel needs to be planted close by, but by itself, about 10 ft from any other plant that attracts the same kind of aphid. Mine is planted next to gingers (different aphids), horseradish and gynuura (bullet proof plants, nothing really bothers them).

[pepperhead212]

I use those every year under the cover for my peppers (for the ones I protect from pepper maggots), and, while it doesn't completely keep them away, it slows them down as far as showing up. Through the off-season I toss any banana peels in my oven on a sheet, and let the pilot light dry them out, then I grind them up, and sprinkle them around where the plants will be, then again after they get planted. I'll still add some ladybugs this season, to make my job easier.

[applestar]

I'm going to have to do more research. How do you end up with dead aphids from the banana peels? My first awful thought was "are commercial bananas grown with systemic pesticides?" ...then wondered if this would still work if you only buy organic bananas....

Pepperhead, so you HAVE been doing this. And you are seeing positive results?

[imafan26]

It probably has an odor they don't like. Bananas give off ethylene gas that ripen fruit, maybe some of the volatile gasses also repel aphids?

[pepperhead212]

I'm going to have to do more research. How do you end up with dead aphids from the banana peels? My first awful thought was "are commercial bananas grown with systemic pesticides?" ...then wondered if this would still work if you only buy organic bananas....
Pepperhead, so you HAVE been doing this. And you are seeing positive results?

I don't think this stuff KILLS aphids, but rather acts as a deterrent. They
show up, just much slower, though I didn't do one covered area with, and one without, to see the actual diffrerence.

[rainbowgardener]

I hadn't heard of it, but I looked and the "banana peels repel aphids" legend is repeated everywhere around the web, but mostly all I found was blogs and forums, nothing authoritative and no data. The most definitive I found was wikihow which says to bury the banana peel pieces 1-2" down in the soil all around the base of the plant you want to protect.

If people try it, please do let us know how it works for you. I'd love to see someone test it with side by side plants, one thus protected and one not.

[Rose bloom]

I have tried it with oranges, 1 with, one without. They seemed to go away for a few days, then they came back.............. Oh well

[imafan26]

At least buried banana peels will give your plant more potassium. Maybe that makes it healthier?

[Joyfirst]

I have tried it with oranges, 1 with, one without. They seemed to go away for a few days, then they came back.............. Oh well

That is very interesting. So you buried orange peels or banana peels? That would mean we have to add fresh ones every few days.

[Joyfirst]

nothing authoritative and no data.

Well, scientists don't work for free usually. And researching banana peels is not exactly a very profitable venture, so who will pay for that research? I have a small garden, so I will try just with banana peels, and so far every year I had aphids without a fail. So if it works, that is a good proof for me.

[Farmerjack1941]

Have always been told to put banana peels around rose bushes to repel aphids. Have been doing this for years, do not have aphids, maybe the banana peels are not the reason tho.