Aphid explosion

[b54red]

I was going to pot up some of my small pepper seedlings yesterday and when I started I noticed some of the seedlings looked funny. Upon closer inspection they were literally covered with aphids. This is really early for aphids to be making such a mass appearance. This doesn't bode well for the bell peppers this year. It has been unusually mild and maybe that explains the early infestation. I sprayed all the plants top to bottom with a soapy water and Permethrin spray yesterday and again today. I will repeat this process until I don't see any more and hope they won't reappear once they get set out in the garden. Once I have them potted up I will try dusting them with food grade DE and see if that will keep them away. I have an abundance of ladybugs out in the garden right now and I hope they will stay long enough to keep the aphids under some control once the garden in full of tomatoes and peppers. I sure don't want a repeat of the aphid disaster I had four years ago on my peppers.

Bill

[Starlight]

I feel for you Bill. I been on the look out for them here too. Usually they hit the Daylilies first. I've already been treating and removing every ant bed I can find and putting the quick grits around the plant areas outside to keep them off plants plus kill them off naturally.

If you plants are in small pots still, I find that it easier to take the pot, put fingers over to hold dirt and plant in pot and turn foliage upside down and swish in soapy water good and then swish again in clear water. The swishing method helps get into those teny tight spots they like to hold on to and hide in.

Some other things you might try.

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. House wrens are good meat eaters of aphids.

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.

If worse comes to worse and it a case of economic loss, Safer's insect spray kill's on contact and doesn't hurt the plants.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by b54red

I was going to pot up some of my small pepper seedlings yesterday and when I started I noticed some of the seedlings looked funny. Upon closer inspection they were literally covered with aphids. This is really early for aphids to be making such a mass appearance. This doesn't bode well for the bell peppers this year. It has been unusually mild and maybe that explains the early infestation. I sprayed all the plants top to bottom with a soapy water and Permethrin spray yesterday and again today. I will repeat this process until I don't see any more and hope they won't reappear once they get set out in the garden. Once I have them potted up I will try dusting them with food grade DE and see if that will keep them away. I have an abundance of ladybugs out in the garden right now and I hope they will stay long enough to keep the aphids under some control once the garden in full of tomatoes and peppers. I sure don't want a repeat of the aphid disaster I had four years ago on my peppers.

Bill

I just got rid of an explosion in my greenhouse. It seemed to have started not long after our one cold weekend. I'm sure my plants got stressed because I lost power to the greenhouse for awhile.
I purchased a pack of ladybugs two weeks ago. They cleared up the problem in about two days,finished cleanup for about a week and then flew off.
I'd use them anyway over soaking plants upside down for hours,spraying everything off everyday or even soap and neem. It was too easy!
I had also just fed everything with fish emulsion and kelp so I suspect that new growth was also a cause.
I don't even have my pepper and tomato seeds started yet because I've just not gotten around to it.

[b54red]

Like I said I have plenty of ladybugs in the garden right now but these seedlings were very young and on the porch. No ladybugs in sight. I had an emergency because they were stunting the plants already. I have seen aphids kill or irreversibly ruin young seedlings when they get that heavily infested that young. They even ended up killing some of my 3 and 4 foot tall bell pepper plants four years ago when I had another massive outbreak mid summer after almost or all of the ladybugs had decided to go elsewhere. They killed my mustard greens late in the fall despite them almost looking orange there were so many ladybugs on them. The ladybugs couldn't start to keep up with them. That was the first time I had ever seen that happen with what I thought were plenty of ladybugs. I ended up just tilling them under to get rid of them.

I am just worried that with that omen this past fall and this sudden surge on my baby seedlings that I may have a real problem coming again this year. I hope not but despite a heavy ladybug and also green lacewing population right now in the garden I have seen the aphid predators move along and leave me defenseless before. I now have found a pesticide mix that will work but I try avoiding using it in the garden until the predators have moved along on their own. That is why I have such a heavy population right now in the garden but come late spring and very hot days they always leave the garden.

These seedlings were too small to dunk and also they were in flats. I have tried using just the soapy water mix many times in the past and found it only works for about 24 hours if that long before they are back when the infestation is heavy.

I was really just putting out a bit of a warning to others to check their young peppers for this problem. I will stay on top of the problem and if I have to I will use my killer mix of food grade DE, soapy water and Permethrin. I have found that combination when applied well will take out any bug population but the problem is it will take out the good with the bad. The fine film of DE it leaves on the plants seems to take care of the problem of new ones hatching out as long as it doesn't get washed off by rain. This is the only slightly poisonous mix I have found that will work great with stink bugs, leaf footed bugs, aphids and spider mites. I am just hoping against hope that this year I won't have to use it early in the season and interrupt my predator bug cycle that has been very helpful to me for years.

Speaking of good bugs has anyone else down here noticed the big resurgence of honey bees the last few years? I even started seeing a lot of them this January which is really early to be seeing so many honey bees but things really started flowering early this year.

Bill

[b54red]

The aphid explosion in my greenhouse and on my porch has continued. I have lost a number of small peppers due to the concentration of aphids on the new growth even though I have kept them sprayed. The other thing that is getting hit really hard are my small citrus that I move onto the porch during the winter. I have lost a lot of new growth and blossoms along with having to do some heavy duty pruning on my citrus. This is the first year that I have had that problem with my overwintering citrus. I also had a massive attack of scale on my Satsuma outside this spring. With the few days of cold weather mostly behind us I fear a really long summer of fighting pests this year. I don't think it got cold enough long enough to kill back the usual villains that can be major problems. I have already been seeing leaf footed bugs that survived the winter full sized and I'm hoping not to see any stink bugs early but that hope may be in vain this year.

Bill

[dustdevil]

Ever try placing your pots around ant colonies?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

Ever try placing your pots around ant colonies?

These are my young seedlings that I am getting ready to plant out this spring. As for the citrus I have never had an aphid problem on the outside. It is just this year on the porch that has been the problem.

Bill

[Labradors2]

I recently read that aphids do not like tomato plants. It might be too late to place tomato plants around to deter them, but perhaps it would work for the future.

Perhaps less fertilizer would be better, until the plants are bigger and more able to sustain some insect damage.

Sounds as if it's a real battle growing in 'bama. You have my sympathies.

Linda

[Ricky Shaw]

I don't think it got cold enough long enough to kill back the usual villains that can be major problems. - Bill

I'm certain this is what's behind our psyllid problem. Historically they come on summer's south winds, but their advance has been so strong and so early the last few years that I think they're finding warm pockets within the metro and over-wintering. In any case, with this warmer climate all bugs have more survivable days in a year. In turn, they will come on stronger and stay longer. Not liking it at all.

[efisakov]

Bill, sorry you have aphid infestation.

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I recently read that aphids do not like tomato plants. It might be too late to place tomato plants around to deter them, but perhaps it would work for the future.

Perhaps less fertilizer would be better, until the plants are bigger and more able to sustain some insect damage.

Sounds as if it's a real battle growing in 'bama. You have my sympathies.

Linda

I had last year relatively early in the season aphids on my tomato plant. I think it was Black Master plant. So, yes they do attack tomatoes.

Originally Posted by dustdevil

Ever try placing your pots around ant colonies?

There are Aphids Farmed by Ants. Not all ants are good for your garden.

Read more at:https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/pla...s-and-ants.htm

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Bill, sorry you have aphid infestation.




I had last year relatively early in the season aphids on my tomato plant. I think it was Black Master plant. So, yes they do attack tomatoes.




There are Aphids Farmed by Ants. Not all ants are good for your garden.

Read more at:https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/pla...s-and-ants.htm

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

[Labradors2]

So much for that! Sorry for spreading false information. I haven't seen aphids on my tomatoes, so I immediately believed what I read - duh!

Linda

[gorbelly]

There are different species of aphids, and they all have their preferred hosts. So if you have a particular species that doesn't like tomato plants, it can seem like the tomato plants are repelling them somehow when what's happening is that the tomatoes are not their natural food.

But there are definitely some species that prefer tomatoes, such as the potato aphid, which can be peach-colored or green. I usually see the peach ones on my tomatoes, but usually only early in the season and/or very late in the season. In between, there seem to be plenty of beneficial predators to keep them in check.

[GrowingCoastal]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

So much for that! Sorry for spreading false information. I haven't seen aphids on my tomatoes, so I immediately believed what I read - duh!

Linda

I too had never seen aphids on tomatoes until last year. They came on greenhouse grown plants and I didn't notice them until later and still thought they would just leave. Well, they didn't until much later after I had removed the lower leaves they were still on.
Hopefully, our very prolonged winter will kill them off outside and I will never see them again! No store bought tomato plants for me this year.

[RJGlew]

Every year I face serious, very destructive problems from aphids on my lupins, delphiniums, dahlias and on occasion, tomatoes. I keep a 2 gallon sprayer handy, full of a weak soap/water mix and use it daily during the problem periods. If things get really bad, I'll use carbaryl since it works & persists better than soap - half life is 3.2 days on leaves/stems.

Do Ants Farm Aphids?
https://www.westcoastseeds.com/garde...s-farm-aphids/