Aphid explosion

[efisakov]

First time I got them on this property (since we moved here) on dahlias. I saw ants and aphids and was thinking that ants would kill aphids. Very naive of me. That year my dahlias buds dried out and did not bloom at all. Now I dust them early with Diatomaceous earth. It works.

Getting rid of ants farming aphids is not easy. Every year they pop up in different locations. But dahlias are earliest favorite spot for them.

[JLJ_]

Might not be of any use to you as I'm sure you grow many more peppers than we do, but a few years ago when I had a rare and devastating aphid attack on all the pepper seedlings I did some of what you did, but also used blue painter's tape wrapped sticky side out around the end third or so of popsicle sticks. Made it possible to clean the varmints off the growth tips easily, permanently (at least *those* aphids weren't coming back), and without any damage to the baby peppers. Worked to remove them from anywhere I saw them, but I was particularly concerned about protecting the growth tips, and that seemed to be their favorite spot.

Don't think I used DE, as these were in the house, but I expect that puffed right onto the trouble spots it would help. I don't think I could grow any tomatoes without DE to protect the babies from flea beetle attacks until the plants get big enough to survive them without significant damage.

[maxjohnson]

Aphids don't like water, so I just hose under the leaves for them to mostly go away. The ants farm aphid so unless you get rid of the ants it's not possible to get rid of the aphids. Ants are less active on mulch. I've been using powdered sulfur as Tracy had recommended.

[Starlight]

If you want to knock them out fast, since you don't have any fruits yet I use Safers 3 in one complete. Kills instantly, but it kinda expensive for a spary bottle so usually I get Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer . It works above and below ground. I get the big 40 oz concentrate bottle and just mix my own into a sprayer. Like 10 bucks for the big concentrated bottle. Rainproof after one hour and will last about 60 days in the soil for underground nasties. The Bayer takes care of just about all our insect problems.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Aphids love tomato plants/

https://www.google.com/search?q=toma...+curl+aphids&*

And they also come in lovely different colors such as black and red and yellow, but I have yet to see puce ones.

And yes, I've had my share of aphids on tomato plants, they prefer to attack the weakest plants first. When the leaves curl up into a tight tube the first thing I looked for was aphids.

Carolyn

I have seen puce colored aphids but not often.

Bill

It is definitely not true that aphids don't like tomatoes- I have had the varmints shoulder to shoulder on some of my tomatoes- usually late in the season, but all colors and on any tomatoes--

[Worth1]

If I see them I spray with kerosene and mineral mixed, dead in their tracks.
Saw an infestation some place in town the other day on some ornamental plants, cant remember where.

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

Ever try placing your pots around ant colonies?

Ants protect aphids. They look after them (farm them) for their honeydew
KarenO

[Sun City Linda]

I just now sprayed some aphid infested tomato seedlings...... First real break we've had from the rain. Didn't take them long.

[AlittleSalt]

One year, I planted 10 rows of black eyed peas. They grew fast and produced well. I was letting the pods dry on the plants - then I had a down week where I didn't go out to the garden. When my health improved, I went out to check on the peas and they were covered in black aphids. There were so many that you could see them from 30 feet away. It was like fireants swarming on a candy cane.

I carefully pulled up each plant putting them in a large plastic trash can and took them straight to our burning barrel. We didn't get a single pea that year, but we haven't had that bad of a problem with aphids since.

[Donna Mattingly]

Very first aphid infestation I had here in Central Kentucky was last spring on my tomato plants, before planting them in the ground. Guess I am lucky they passed me by so many years...

[clkeiper]

Look for a host plant close to your peppers. they may be harboring a colony that keeps reintroducing more to your plants. I bought ladybugs for my greenhouse the last two years. they worked way better than trying to spray the plants with anything.