Aphid Control Help Needed

[bower]

I have to say that the aphid situation here in the past year has been not at all good! Battle with aphids is enough to make you cut down on your growing.
I may just grow few tomatoes in the greenhouse this year, and spend more time working on sealing it up better.

The last time I had a bad aphid year, we had a ton of paper wasps around the following summer. They'd hover around the place ants were getting in, and just pick em off the trail. Between that and my efforts inside, they were wiped out and replaced the following year with a different kind of ants that also seemed to eat the aphid tending ants.
It's all so complicated.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by zipcode

Not sure how people use the neem, but it's best to use an emulsifier to mix it with water (like soap). If it's actually better than a common oil however, is debatable to me. What you need to do is have a decent concentration, otherwise it's kinda for nothing. You need at least 3%, preferably 4-5, and about 90% will die in one application.
Having to do it inside sure doesn't sound like fun though. How did they get there? Are you overwintering peppers?

Agreed on neem oil. If you're not putting in an emulsifier, make sure to spray after the afternoon sun, especially in zone 6 and above during those blazing summer days. Otherwise, you're just putting oil on leaves and they about to get a really really nice tan. You won't like the results.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday I noticed lady bugs on the peas. Uh oh... yep, on closer inspection the green aphids were on the march and a few peas were almost encrusted with them. That sure was quick! I put the hose end sprayer on fan setting and sprayed down the plants and that knocked a lot off. Tonight, as most of the lady bugs seemed to have called it a day, I sprayed some insecticidal soap against the remaining aphids and will probably alternate that again with more water spraying. What I don't want to do is harm any more lady bugs than necessary.

Spring is usually the only time they are a problem. Once it gets real hot they seem to go away.

[AlittleSalt]

I know Aphids infest peas GoDawgs. Being what time of the year it is, I'm thinking English/Sweet/Sugar Snap is what you are talking about. The aphids can be even worse for Cowpeas like Black Eyed Peas. It's past time to get rid of those aphids in my experience.

FWIW, I’ve had very good aphid control this year from using the Seabright Labs yellow sticky traps.

No aphid buildup in the garden at all, including the Hamelia, peas and tomatoes. Big difference compared to last year.

[b54red]

Thankfully this spring has been blessedly aphid free. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping the higher than usual ladybug population won’t disappear as the heat keeps rising like they usually do.

Bill

[seaeagle]

Dawn dish soap mixed with water will work but I was uncomfortable using that on stuff I eat. But it eliminated the aphids.


I ordered this castile soap cause that works too according to the video I will post.In the video there is a experiment seeing what eliminates aphids best and Neem oil worked as did castile soap but castile soap is much cheaper. I haven't tried the castile soap yet cause after I got it the aphids were gone.



The castile soap has 4 different kinds of oil in it and is all natural. Made with natural peppermint, coconut, olive, hemp and jojoba oils


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Be...l-oz/183200385


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5dNzupzOQ0

[Worth1]

I just wiped out a whole herd being shepherded by fire ants on one of my grape vines.
The ants have them placed in a feed lot at the end of the new growing tips along the vine.
Simple solution, I coated them with ISO 68 hydraulic fluid, AKA mineral oil.

[JLJ_]

For most, one or more of the aphid control sprays etc would probably be best, but for situations when serious numbers of aphids suddenly appear on young vulnerable pepper plants, I have found it helpful to wrap a bit of blue painter's tape, sticky side out, around one end of a flat popsicle stick and just clean the plants by touching aphids -- not touching the plant -- with the "sticky" -- it picks them right off the most tender of plant areas -- then removing "full" tape, dropping it into a small bag for later disposal, and replacing tape as often as necessary.



I concentrate on the aphids' favorite growth tips, but try to clean each young plant as thoroughly as time permits. You have to keep it up until the varmints stop appearing, but usually that doesn't seem to take too long -- unlike spraying or washing them off, the physically removed aphids definitely don't survive to try again. And plant and ladybugs or other friends aren't hurt.


I haven't had aphids on peppers for a while now -- perhaps because I've not grown many peppers -- but this really has saved the day for young peppers some years.


YMMV