Omg I already have aphids.

ChiliPeppa · March 31, 2016

Went out today to find most of my 60 tomato plants with little black specks all over them. I assumed they were aphids. I've been noticing a fair amount of ladybugs all over the garden but nowhere near the amount able to cope with the aphids. I mixed up some Dr Bronners and Neem oil and sprayed all of them. Will this do the trick? How often should I spray with this? We do have ants of various types all over the farm. I have no idea which are the ones that cultivate aphids. I will not use 'poison'. The weather is still somewhat cool and yet these nasty critters arrived. The plants are already a little bit stressed from no less than five wind storms thus far this month. Any ideas/suggestions appreciated. I really want tomato success this year.

Cole_Robbie · March 31, 2016

http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met5.../met52-ec.html

Met52 killed my whiteflies and any other bug it hit. The stuff is like the bubonic plague for bugs, yet harmless to humans.

TexasTycoon · March 31, 2016

I've been treating aphids on my lavender with a mixture of 2 qts water, 2 T diatomaceous earth, and 1 T neem oil (shake well before application to suspend the DE in the mixture) with relative success (almost rid of the infestation after three days of treatment). I spray the entire plant once a day after blasting the aphids off with a stream of water. The neem and DE take a few days to kick in, but luckily at this point in the season you shouldn't have any aphid eggs or larva to deal with right now.

TexasTycoon · March 31, 2016

Also, with the neem, make sure to apply either in the morning or evening so as to avoid cooking your plants in direct sunlight during the hottest time of the day (it is an oil, after all).

Worth1 · March 31, 2016

I found a wee patch of the things on one of my yard plants last summer.
I cut the hole branch off poured kerosene on it and burned it in the street.

I tried everything with a plant some woman gave me to no avail and did the same thing.
She asked were the plant was I told her I pulled it up and burned it.
I also will never take another plant from her, her place is infested with them and I mean infested.

Worth

Scooty · March 31, 2016

Neem oil is a systemic insecticide, which means it needs some time for the plant to take it up and then for the insect to eat it and then for the insect to feel sick, and then for it to die. It's also a oil, but more to the point, it's a oil with long chain hydrocarbons, which means it's going to happy soaking up lots of heat and frying up your leaves if you spray at noon or have a tendency to overspray in direct sunlight.

Not familiar with Dr Bonners. but assuming it's that peppermint soap stuff, that has a relatively weak knockdown effect. If you don't plan on vigorously spraying gallons and gallons of that stuff to guarantee no aphids survive, you might want to consider something like pyrethrin-based or spinosad-based. Both can be OMRI listed (assuming vendor pays for the certificate).

If you're really ticked at the bugs and don't mind using a pyrethroid, find permethrin-based. It's used for dog and clothing dips (backpacking). It has a much longer linger effect so you won't have to spray much.

Starlight · March 31, 2016

Aphids are not fun, but I would rather have aphids than flea beetles to get rid of. They are easier. If you have any plants like Daylilies, Iris, and Mums, check them. For me those are the plants the aphids usually hit first as they are up and green before other plants.

A bit about aphids:

Most aphids can produce several parthenogenetic generations a year. Parthenogenetic means that these insects are asexual. They do not need a male to mate with. They give live birth to the next generation of aphids and are commonly called "stem mothers." While aphids are parthenogentic, they are also viviparous ( giving live birth during the spring and summer) and oviparous ( females mating with a male and laying eggs in fall) during the fall. It is this ability to produce live births that can cause a single aphid to rapidly become a destructive population in a matter of a few days. Generally, a single aphid will give birth to 10-12 live nymphs a day. Each one of those nymphs, over the course of a two day period, will molt, shed it's skin and become an active birthing adult immediately. Within a one week period a single adult aphid has now produced a colony of several thousand aphids. It is interesting to note that due to genetics, those eggs that are overwintering in the ground, are already developing the embryos of the daughters and the granddaughters and so on of each new generation inside their bodies even before the nymphs are hatched.
When populations of aphids build up to a significant number, birth will then be given to nymphs who will grow up to be winged adults. These winged adults can either fly to neighboring plants and start the reproduction of another colony or they will try and climb to the highest point on a plant and try and catch a wind current to fly on.

Being almost microscopic and light weight, they can travel great distances on these wind currents which makes containment of this species nearly impossible. They do most of their flying during the day preferring to feed at night when the plants are doing their most active growth and the nutrients they seek are abundantly flowing. These winged aphids are especially looking for plants that give off a yellowish-greenish color. Plants that are unhealthy, sick and diseased showing leaves with these colors are very attractive to them.

Some biological controls are:

There are many predators of aphids. Aphids generally appear before they do, but if you can use the simple basic conventional methods first, then these predators can take over for you. Some of the best and easily purchased biologicals are those of the Green lace-wing bug, Lady beetles (Lady bugs) and the aphid eating gall-midge. These predators will increase their populations as needed to control the aphid populations. As they will lay eggs, it is best to try not to use any chemicals that would destroy them.

Other predators that will eat the aphids are, soldier bugs, spiders, syrphid flies, and damsel bugs.
There are also many parasitoid (an insect who will lay it's eggs in the aphid body and the larvae will kill it ) insects that attack aphids. Some of these are Tachinid flies, Braconid wasps and other types of wasps.
Promoting birds to your yard is also another type of biological control you can use.

Conventional Methods:

In the spring, it is a common practice when plants are emerging to apply a lot of nitrogen to your plants. High nitrogen applications can increase your aphid population. High nitrogen promotes growth of new tender shoots which are very tasty and full of sugars. try holding back on nitrogen until plants emerging or new seedlings are more able to withstand aphid attack.

Plant companion plants that deter the aphids, such as nasturtiums,garlic, chives, and petunias. Make sprays from crushing leaves of these plants and spraying on your plants.

Jet spray plants with dish soap product like Ajax. Make sure you rinse the plant leaves well afterward. Be sure to spray underneath the leaves that are tight knit, pull,apart and get down in cracks and crevices. Direct your spray down, not sideways. If you spray sideways there is the possibility that all you will do is spray the aphids off one plant and on to another.

With aphids being attracted to the color yellow, set up yellow dishpans of soapy water on the outskirts of your plants.

Wheat straw mulch instead of pine straw. Wheat straw has a chemical property that confuses the ants. It keeps the ants from emerging early in the season when plants are new and tender. This gives your beneficials time to emerge and be ready for when they do emerge. With the ants being confused and in the ground longer, food supplies wil get low and they will use the aphids as food for their young.

Aluminum foil mulches. Take pieces of cardboard and glue the foil to it and lay out. The cardboard will help keep the weeds from emerging and hold the foil in place. Reflection of the sun off the foil confuses the aphids and they don't know which way they are flying. This method basically only works when your plants are small. Once they get a lot of foliage on them the foil may become hidden.

Horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps can also be used. Make sure you read the directions, especially the temperature that the oil needs to be to be effective.

I use the Ajax Orange dish soap. First I jet spray with plain water, but make sure you jet spray down and not sideways, otherwise you just spread them from one plant to another.

Then I use the dish soap. Some folks I know use Dawn, what they use to clean oil spilled animals. I leave on for about 5 minutes, jet spray the plants clean and unless you have a really, really bad infestation, once or twice of spraying usually gets rid of them.

I've tried neem oil many years ago, but agree with Scooty you have to watch. The heat and sun with the oil, burned my leaves and stressed the plants.

The Met 52 Cole has suggested, I haven't tried, but it sure sounds good for maybe some major pest problems.

Scooty · March 31, 2016

The another option for biological control is getting some praying mantis eggs. A lot of places sell them now. However, as with all biological controls, you have to avoid spraying insecticide to kill off the predators. And you have to wait it out for the predators to actually kill the aphids.

BigVanVader · March 31, 2016

I am trying the reflective plastic http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Metalli...ilpage_o00_s00 this year combined with Surround WP http://www.groworganic.com/surround-25-lb.html to reduce issues with flea beetles, aphids etc. plus in summer I have quite a bit of sunscald and this is supposed to stop that. The negative being that I will need to rinse produce before sale so this will be a trial run. Just some options for those that struggle with small insects. Flea beetles are so bad here I cant grow eggplant at all without Sevin dust or some other toxic chemical.

ChiliPeppa · March 31, 2016

Thanks for the replies everyone, and Starlight that is a lot of useful info, thank you. The MET52 is a bit pricey for me but good to know about. I think I will add some DE to the mix, I know I have some around here somewhere. Oh and I did spray in the afternoon and it was overcast anyway. I'm just gonna have to stay on top of it. Freaks me out a bit really, I've become tomato obsessed.

Scooty · March 31, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiliPeppa

Thanks for the replies everyone, and Starlight that is a lot of useful info, thank you. The MET52 is a bit pricey for me but good to know about. I think I will add some DE to the mix, I know I have some around here somewhere. Oh and I did spray in the afternoon and it was overcast anyway. I'm just gonna have to stay on top of it. Freaks me out a bit really, I've become tomato obsessed.

The closest thing you will get to a cheap "nuclear" option as far as bugs go and still be organic (OMRI) will be pyrethrin (Bonide Pyrethrin Spray, Garden Safe Worry Free - Walmart) or Spinosad (Monterey Garden Insect Spray, Bonide's Captain Jack). Both are way way cheaper options than Met52.

Met52 is going to have a really long kill effect. So long as that fungus is around, bugs will get sick and die. It's expensive, yeah but you don't need to apply a lot or as frequently in a heavily infected area. Peppermint soap mix's kill effect is going to last about as long as it takes to evaporate. Neem oil lasts a long time too, well... once it gets taken up by plant, but it's not an instant killer so you have to wait for bugs to eat at least some part of plant. Pyrethrin (extract from chrysanthemums) and Spinosad are more like broad spectrum insecticides, but they are both rated for organic use. Pyrethrin break down in full sunlight about 2 hours, so better than peppermint but not as long as met52. Spinosad lasts a week I think. If you go one step further to a pyrethroid (so basically a super charged extract similar to the natural pyrethrin), you got close to two weeks of protection in full sunlight.

ChiliPeppa · March 31, 2016

Thanks Scooty.

clkeiper · March 31, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooty

Neem oil is a systemic insecticide, which means it needs some time for the plant to take it up and then for the insect to eat it and then for the insect to feel sick, and then for it to die. It's also a oil, but more to the point, it's a oil with long chain hydrocarbons, which means it's going to happy soaking up lots of heat and frying up your leaves if you spray at noon or have a tendency to overspray in direct sunlight.

Not familiar with Dr Bonners. but assuming it's that peppermint soap stuff, that has a relatively weak knockdown effect. If you don't plan on vigorously spraying gallons and gallons of that stuff to guarantee no aphids survive, you might want to consider something like pyrethrin-based or spinosad-based. Both can be OMRI listed (assuming vendor pays for the certificate).

If you're really ticked at the bugs and don't mind using a pyrethroid, find permethrin-based. It's used for dog and clothing dips (backpacking). It has a much longer linger effect so you won't have to spray much.

Actually neem is not an insecticide. It interferes with the reproductive cycle reducing the numbers since they aren't able to reproduce. Making the oil appear to be ineffective. It does not knock them down it does not kill them on contact, it works, just not like we expect.

Scooty · March 31, 2016

Neem oil is considered an insecticide for garden/cultivation purposes if you're a vendor submitting for an OMRI certificate. Considering there are like 20 or more compounds in neem oil I doubt they researched all of them. Composition and ratio probably even changes depending on the tree like when you tap maple syrup. All I know is that OMRI, OSU, etc.. etc... all consider neem oil an insecticide/pesticide.

Insecticides or pesticides do not have to kill on contact. There's a nictone based systemic insecticide on the market. It gets taken up by plant. Bugs eat plants. Bugs feel like crap. Bugs die.

clkeiper · March 31, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooty

Neem oil is considered an insecticide .....

Yes, you are correct, I meant it is not a systemic insecticide. Sorry.

March 31, 2016	#1
ChiliPeppa Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Mojave Desert - California Posts: 368	Omg I already have aphids. Went out today to find most of my 60 tomato plants with little black specks all over them. I assumed they were aphids. I've been noticing a fair amount of ladybugs all over the garden but nowhere near the amount able to cope with the aphids. I mixed up some Dr Bronners and Neem oil and sprayed all of them. Will this do the trick? How often should I spray with this? We do have ants of various types all over the farm. I have no idea which are the ones that cultivate aphids. I will not use 'poison'. The weather is still somewhat cool and yet these nasty critters arrived. The plants are already a little bit stressed from no less than five wind storms thus far this month. Any ideas/suggestions appreciated. I really want tomato success this year.

March 31, 2016	#3
TexasTycoon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Round Rock, TX, Zone 8b Posts: 1,157	I've been treating aphids on my lavender with a mixture of 2 qts water, 2 T diatomaceous earth, and 1 T neem oil (shake well before application to suspend the DE in the mixture) with relative success (almost rid of the infestation after three days of treatment). I spray the entire plant once a day after blasting the aphids off with a stream of water. The neem and DE take a few days to kick in, but luckily at this point in the season you shouldn't have any aphid eggs or larva to deal with right now. __________________ -Kelly "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn Bloom where you are planted. Last edited by TexasTycoon; March 31, 2016 at 12:35 AM.

March 31, 2016	#4
TexasTycoon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Round Rock, TX, Zone 8b Posts: 1,157	Also, with the neem, make sure to apply either in the morning or evening so as to avoid cooking your plants in direct sunlight during the hottest time of the day (it is an oil, after all). __________________ -Kelly "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn Bloom where you are planted.

March 31, 2016	#6
Scooty Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Chicago-land & SO-cal Posts: 583	Neem oil is a systemic insecticide, which means it needs some time for the plant to take it up and then for the insect to eat it and then for the insect to feel sick, and then for it to die. It's also a oil, but more to the point, it's a oil with long chain hydrocarbons, which means it's going to happy soaking up lots of heat and frying up your leaves if you spray at noon or have a tendency to overspray in direct sunlight. Not familiar with Dr Bonners. but assuming it's that peppermint soap stuff, that has a relatively weak knockdown effect. If you don't plan on vigorously spraying gallons and gallons of that stuff to guarantee no aphids survive, you might want to consider something like pyrethrin-based or spinosad-based. Both can be OMRI listed (assuming vendor pays for the certificate). If you're really ticked at the bugs and don't mind using a pyrethroid, find permethrin-based. It's used for dog and clothing dips (backpacking). It has a much longer linger effect so you won't have to spray much. Last edited by Scooty; March 31, 2016 at 01:56 AM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

March 31, 2016	#2
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met5.../met52-ec.html Met52 killed my whiteflies and any other bug it hit. The stuff is like the bubonic plague for bugs, yet harmless to humans.

March 31, 2016	#5
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I found a wee patch of the things on one of my yard plants last summer. I cut the hole branch off poured kerosene on it and burned it in the street. I tried everything with a plant some woman gave me to no avail and did the same thing. She asked were the plant was I told her I pulled it up and burned it. I also will never take another plant from her, her place is infested with them and I mean infested. Worth

March 31, 2016	#7
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Aphids are not fun, but I would rather have aphids than flea beetles to get rid of. They are easier. If you have any plants like Daylilies, Iris, and Mums, check them. For me those are the plants the aphids usually hit first as they are up and green before other plants. A bit about aphids: Most aphids can produce several parthenogenetic generations a year. Parthenogenetic means that these insects are asexual. They do not need a male to mate with. They give live birth to the next generation of aphids and are commonly called "stem mothers." While aphids are parthenogentic, they are also viviparous ( giving live birth during the spring and summer) and oviparous ( females mating with a male and laying eggs in fall) during the fall. It is this ability to produce live births that can cause a single aphid to rapidly become a destructive population in a matter of a few days. Generally, a single aphid will give birth to 10-12 live nymphs a day. Each one of those nymphs, over the course of a two day period, will molt, shed it's skin and become an active birthing adult immediately. Within a one week period a single adult aphid has now produced a colony of several thousand aphids. It is interesting to note that due to genetics, those eggs that are overwintering in the ground, are already developing the embryos of the daughters and the granddaughters and so on of each new generation inside their bodies even before the nymphs are hatched. When populations of aphids build up to a significant number, birth will then be given to nymphs who will grow up to be winged adults. These winged adults can either fly to neighboring plants and start the reproduction of another colony or they will try and climb to the highest point on a plant and try and catch a wind current to fly on. Being almost microscopic and light weight, they can travel great distances on these wind currents which makes containment of this species nearly impossible. They do most of their flying during the day preferring to feed at night when the plants are doing their most active growth and the nutrients they seek are abundantly flowing. These winged aphids are especially looking for plants that give off a yellowish-greenish color. Plants that are unhealthy, sick and diseased showing leaves with these colors are very attractive to them. Some biological controls are: There are many predators of aphids. Aphids generally appear before they do, but if you can use the simple basic conventional methods first, then these predators can take over for you. Some of the best and easily purchased biologicals are those of the Green lace-wing bug, Lady beetles (Lady bugs) and the aphid eating gall-midge. These predators will increase their populations as needed to control the aphid populations. As they will lay eggs, it is best to try not to use any chemicals that would destroy them. Other predators that will eat the aphids are, soldier bugs, spiders, syrphid flies, and damsel bugs. There are also many parasitoid (an insect who will lay it's eggs in the aphid body and the larvae will kill it ) insects that attack aphids. Some of these are Tachinid flies, Braconid wasps and other types of wasps. Promoting birds to your yard is also another type of biological control you can use. Conventional Methods: In the spring, it is a common practice when plants are emerging to apply a lot of nitrogen to your plants. High nitrogen applications can increase your aphid population. High nitrogen promotes growth of new tender shoots which are very tasty and full of sugars. try holding back on nitrogen until plants emerging or new seedlings are more able to withstand aphid attack. Plant companion plants that deter the aphids, such as nasturtiums,garlic, chives, and petunias. Make sprays from crushing leaves of these plants and spraying on your plants. Jet spray plants with dish soap product like Ajax. Make sure you rinse the plant leaves well afterward. Be sure to spray underneath the leaves that are tight knit, pull,apart and get down in cracks and crevices. Direct your spray down, not sideways. If you spray sideways there is the possibility that all you will do is spray the aphids off one plant and on to another. With aphids being attracted to the color yellow, set up yellow dishpans of soapy water on the outskirts of your plants. Wheat straw mulch instead of pine straw. Wheat straw has a chemical property that confuses the ants. It keeps the ants from emerging early in the season when plants are new and tender. This gives your beneficials time to emerge and be ready for when they do emerge. With the ants being confused and in the ground longer, food supplies wil get low and they will use the aphids as food for their young. Aluminum foil mulches. Take pieces of cardboard and glue the foil to it and lay out. The cardboard will help keep the weeds from emerging and hold the foil in place. Reflection of the sun off the foil confuses the aphids and they don't know which way they are flying. This method basically only works when your plants are small. Once they get a lot of foliage on them the foil may become hidden. Horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps can also be used. Make sure you read the directions, especially the temperature that the oil needs to be to be effective. I use the Ajax Orange dish soap. First I jet spray with plain water, but make sure you jet spray down and not sideways, otherwise you just spread them from one plant to another. Then I use the dish soap. Some folks I know use Dawn, what they use to clean oil spilled animals. I leave on for about 5 minutes, jet spray the plants clean and unless you have a really, really bad infestation, once or twice of spraying usually gets rid of them. I've tried neem oil many years ago, but agree with Scooty you have to watch. The heat and sun with the oil, burned my leaves and stressed the plants. The Met 52 Cole has suggested, I haven't tried, but it sure sounds good for maybe some major pest problems.

March 31, 2016	#9
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	I am trying the reflective plastic http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Metalli...ilpage_o00_s00 this year combined with Surround WP http://www.groworganic.com/surround-25-lb.html to reduce issues with flea beetles, aphids etc. plus in summer I have quite a bit of sunscald and this is supposed to stop that. The negative being that I will need to rinse produce before sale so this will be a trial run. Just some options for those that struggle with small insects. Flea beetles are so bad here I cant grow eggplant at all without Sevin dust or some other toxic chemical.