what to do about aphids - Page 2

bower · November 2, 2014

Oh, Dee.. the bad news. Aphids of different shapes and colours in the fall, likely they are or were getting into egg laying mode - and how they survive the winter, dormant and safe.

I guess I'll be doing the hot water trick with the soil this winter, hoping to kill their eggs.

Should've put them outdoors before they had time to lay.
Oh, and the ants will keep the eggs in their nests over winter too, to protect them.

Here's more from a pepper forum... yep, a common problem.
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/18920-...r-kill-aphids/
I'm done with the indoor spraying BS.... it never really works, it's way too high maintenance for me.

Worth1 · November 2, 2014

In your link about aphids there was another link about ants.

http://insects.about.com/od/coolandu...sandaphids.htm

Worth

AKmark · November 2, 2014

Bower, read this and believe it, I have tried many things and here is what does not work so well, and what does.
Green lace wings only eat them in the stage before they fly, they are very angry looking under a microscope too, lady bugs crawl away, and fly away too fast.

Parasitic wasps are aphid hammers, that lay eggs in aphids and turns them into cocoons. I literally had them stop the advance of thousands of aphids that almost killed plants in one of my greenhouses that is 3000sf, it was the killing fields. You need to get a good magnifying glass or a microscope, look and see weather they have long antennas or short ones, then you can be wasp specific.
I hope this helps, get online and look up the name, I used evapar, I am just sitting here so spelling may be wrong.
Mark

ddsack · November 3, 2014

Thanks for all the info guys! I have developed an intense hatred of these little sucking monsters. Tomorrow I am going to pick the rest of the edible fruit in the greenhouse, and dump the plants out in the woods away from my greenhouse. Maybe the ones still crawling around in the greenhouse will starve to death before they reproduce! I have learned my lesson and next year will do better short interval maintenance. My greenhouse is only 8'x16', so thinking about putting some of those stinky pest fumigation strips in there for a couple of weeks before I use it in the spring. It should get warm enough to wake any dormant ones or hatch eggs before I'm ready to bring any plants out there. My flooring is pea gravel covered with rubber mats in the walkway, so lots of crevices for hiding. Sigh. Live and learn.

bower · November 3, 2014

Worth: I can see why you're laughing, it's exactly the ant scene you described.

Mark: Thank you for very valuable information. That explains why aphids are never a problem in my garden - there are a lot of native parasitoids enjoying the perennial habitat. I will read up on the ones that can be bought for use in the greenhouse, but will have to consider that carefully because I don't want to interfere with the natural dynamic outdoors, by risk of introducing a competing species.

Dee: We're having freak warm weather today (18C!) so insects are active, and I'm sad to report that there are aphids this morning on the same leaves that were doused with hot rosemary tea yesterday. They don't seem to be deterred by the rosemary residue, and I guess the tea spray wasn't hot or hard enough to kill/crush them all. This might work better outdoors, if it also attracts beneficials which are missing in the greenhouse.

On the plus side, I used the last drop of rosemary tea in my pasta sauce-with-chicken-and-scrubbed-yu-choy last night, it was good.

A plant bug and several little flies, if not winged aphids, also turned up in the veggie wash water.

I'm going to have to wait for the greenhouse to be cleaned out before starting anything to grow indoors, and this is the big downside of an attached greenhouse!

Worth1 · November 3, 2014

Bower I can promise you I do feel for you with the dreaded aphids.
A greenhouse pest invasion is one of the hardest things to deal with.

I am lucky I dont have aphids, the one time I did from a gift plant I could never get rid of them.
I ended up pulling the aphid infested butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) plant and burning it.

My other problem it took 2 years to get rid of was web worms (Gypsy moth caterpillars) on my Texas mountain laurel(Sophora secundiflora).

Careful hand picking and Raid took care of them.

Worth

KathyDC · November 3, 2014

Just chiming in for ladybugs. I had aphids pretty bad last year and they took care of them - and, I didn't really have an issue with them this year. (Not sure if that's causally related or not, but I'll take it.)

November 3, 2014	#19
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,231	Thanks for all the info guys! I have developed an intense hatred of these little sucking monsters. Tomorrow I am going to pick the rest of the edible fruit in the greenhouse, and dump the plants out in the woods away from my greenhouse. Maybe the ones still crawling around in the greenhouse will starve to death before they reproduce! I have learned my lesson and next year will do better short interval maintenance. My greenhouse is only 8'x16', so thinking about putting some of those stinky pest fumigation strips in there for a couple of weeks before I use it in the spring. It should get warm enough to wake any dormant ones or hatch eggs before I'm ready to bring any plants out there. My flooring is pea gravel covered with rubber mats in the walkway, so lots of crevices for hiding. Sigh. Live and learn. __________________ Dee **************

November 2, 2014	#16
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Oh, Dee.. the bad news. Aphids of different shapes and colours in the fall, likely they are or were getting into egg laying mode - and how they survive the winter, dormant and safe. I guess I'll be doing the hot water trick with the soil this winter, hoping to kill their eggs. Should've put them outdoors before they had time to lay. Oh, and the ants will keep the eggs in their nests over winter too, to protect them. Here's more from a pepper forum... yep, a common problem. http://thehotpepper.com/topic/18920-...r-kill-aphids/ I'm done with the indoor spraying BS.... it never really works, it's way too high maintenance for me.

November 2, 2014	#17
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	In your link about aphids there was another link about ants. http://insects.about.com/od/coolandu...sandaphids.htm Worth

November 2, 2014	#18
AKmark Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Wasilla Alaska Posts: 2,010	Bower, read this and believe it, I have tried many things and here is what does not work so well, and what does. Green lace wings only eat them in the stage before they fly, they are very angry looking under a microscope too, lady bugs crawl away, and fly away too fast. Parasitic wasps are aphid hammers, that lay eggs in aphids and turns them into cocoons. I literally had them stop the advance of thousands of aphids that almost killed plants in one of my greenhouses that is 3000sf, it was the killing fields. You need to get a good magnifying glass or a microscope, look and see weather they have long antennas or short ones, then you can be wasp specific. I hope this helps, get online and look up the name, I used evapar, I am just sitting here so spelling may be wrong. Mark

November 3, 2014	#22
KathyDC Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Suburban Washington, DC (Zone 7A) Posts: 347	Just chiming in for ladybugs. I had aphids pretty bad last year and they took care of them - and, I didn't really have an issue with them this year. (Not sure if that's causally related or not, but I'll take it.)