gardengirl7
Chillin' In The Garden
there are little aphids all over, how do i get rid of them without chemicals?
they are on our pepper plant
they are on our pepper plant
how do i get rid of aphids?
- Thread starter gardengirl7
- Start date
desertlady
Attractive To Bees
I squished them with my fingers !! But there could be so many of them !!
- Thread starter
- #3
gardengirl7
Chillin' In The Garden
yea, they come and i squish
so lucky
Garden Master
A hard spray of water will knock them off and they don't crawl back up on the plant.
catjac1975
Garden Master
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2010
- Messages
- 9,020
- Reaction score
- 9,146
- Points
- 397
- Location
- Mattapoisett, Massachusetts
Spraying with water does help a lot. You can mix garlic and water, filter it and spray it on the plant with a little dish soap added. This will get rid of any stubborn infestation.
vfem
Garden Addicted
I usually spray, but I've notice an abundance of lady bugs this year and they did the work for me.
digitS'
Garden Master
Don't use one of those anti-bacterial dish soaps.
Three tablespoons per gallon of water sprayed during late afternoon should kill the aphids. They dehydrated.
Pepper plants are sensitive. You don't want to damage the plants so it would be best to come back the next morning to rinse the leaves with clean water.
"Safer" is to use insecticidal soap. In fact, there is a commercial brand with that name. I've used that and "Concern."
Steve
Three tablespoons per gallon of water sprayed during late afternoon should kill the aphids. They dehydrated.
Pepper plants are sensitive. You don't want to damage the plants so it would be best to come back the next morning to rinse the leaves with clean water.
"Safer" is to use insecticidal soap. In fact, there is a commercial brand with that name. I've used that and "Concern."
Steve
lesa
Garden Master
I had good luck with one of those "poison" sprayers that you pump up. Of course, I just put water in it...but you can spray it on, right where the bugs are and kind of squish them at the same time. I found many more on the underside of the leaves, than the tops. Don't kill any lady bugs or their larva or eggs-they will really help.
hoodat
Garden Addicted
Short term the best way(as noted by others) is insecticidal soap. Try not to use it during the hottest part of the day. A blast of water is also good. Besure to blast from all angles, including underneath.
Long term the best method is to encourage natural predators. The three best predators are, in order, tiny predatory wasps, syrphid flies and ladybugs (especially the larvae). You will have to look closely to see the wasps. They are tiny, some smaller than the aphids they prey on. Syrphid flies are the hover flies that seem to follow you around, hovering just out of reach. There are a great many species and they come in all sizes. Some of them mimic the colors of a bee as camouflage. In some parts of the country the larger ones are known as news bees because they hum as they hover and seem to be trying to tell you something. Adult hover flies live on nectar and pollen but in the larval stage they are voratious carnivores on aphids and other soft bodied pests.
Syrphids and wasps both need nectar and pollen in the adult stage so be sure to provide it in your garden. They prefer small flowers. Let some of your onions, celantro and carrots go to seed. Those are favorites of both wasps and syrphids. Having a small patch of weeds that are left untouched somewhere near your garden provides them with cover and the proper environment. Gardens that are completely free of weeds have few predators.
Long term the best method is to encourage natural predators. The three best predators are, in order, tiny predatory wasps, syrphid flies and ladybugs (especially the larvae). You will have to look closely to see the wasps. They are tiny, some smaller than the aphids they prey on. Syrphid flies are the hover flies that seem to follow you around, hovering just out of reach. There are a great many species and they come in all sizes. Some of them mimic the colors of a bee as camouflage. In some parts of the country the larger ones are known as news bees because they hum as they hover and seem to be trying to tell you something. Adult hover flies live on nectar and pollen but in the larval stage they are voratious carnivores on aphids and other soft bodied pests.
Syrphids and wasps both need nectar and pollen in the adult stage so be sure to provide it in your garden. They prefer small flowers. Let some of your onions, celantro and carrots go to seed. Those are favorites of both wasps and syrphids. Having a small patch of weeds that are left untouched somewhere near your garden provides them with cover and the proper environment. Gardens that are completely free of weeds have few predators.
- Thread starter
- #10
gardengirl7
Chillin' In The Garden
Thanks everyone for replying, there are none ( that i can see ) on the pepper now, but there are these little orange bugs all over, what are those?
gardengirl7
gardengirl7
