Red Alert! Red Alert! APHIDS

2 Parts Rubbing Alcohol

5 parts water

few drops dish soap.

few drops peppermint oil.



These aphids adore my cabbage....   compost the APHIDS!    or at least give them a bath of this.



Lady  bugs will have nothing to do with these beings as they have some sort of powdery substance on them...    



So, I gave them a good hit with the spray bottle this morning of this brew.

Did the plant receive lots of nitrogen recently? If the N:S ratio is high, amino acids will build up and attract aphids. The spray will set them back for a while but they will keep rebouncing.

I am now more inclined to the opinion that plants getting balanced nutrition are healthy and pest free. Here is what John Kempf talked about aphidshttps://permies.com/t/146343/prevent-manage-aphids-insects-managing

Although I don't have experience of adding S/Mg/B to get rid of aphid infestation, I had the other way round. Once I made organic liquid fertilizer from some sick looking plants and used on my healthy ones. Within a week, all had attracted some sorts of sap suckers on corresponding hosts! Lady bugs showed up later to clean the aphids up but the plants already lost quite some growth potentials.

May Lotito wrote:Did the plant received lots of nitrogen recently? If the N:S ratio is high, amino acids will build up and attract aphids. The spray will set them back for a while but they will keep rebouncing.

This is true, but it is also true that the plant needs nitrogen...

If they come back I will put the entire grow bag about 3 feet deep in water, I will see how well they swim ;-)

I also notice that aphids and other bugs thrive when nitrogen exceeds what a plant needs. Sometimes I observe this effect after a summer lightning storm as well, because lightning oxidizes nitrogen into forms plants can use.

The story I tell about nitrogen goes like this...

The natural world consistently runs on a shortage of nitrogen. Therefore, plants never developed mechanisms to stop absorbing nitrogen. They just take in all the nitrogen they can find. Then, they get poisoned by too many amino acids which come from the nitrogen, so they call out to the ecosystem for help. Bugs need amino acids to build their bodies, so in their compassion and good will, they travel to the plant to help it out, by sucking away the excess, or chomping some leaves so that other leaves can live, once nitrogen levels moderate.

Spraying aphids with a strong jet of water from a garden hose can knock them off the plant, and they croak before finding it again.

I was watching a test of different soil mixes and the ones that had higher nitrogen had more aphids.    


I have been using a foliage feed that is high in nitrogen which has worked awesome on my tomatoes....

This video had good  control methods,   of cutting off infected leaves, and spraying off the aphids from the plant...




I have noticed if my sweet potatoes get too much nitrogen they stunt and stop growing....     The leaves get an amazing green color, but the growth rate halts.

I have been attempting to use Korean natural farming to get the soil life to give what my plants need, but I am a newbie at this, and I am slowly stumbling my way thru using these methods.  

It is my understanding that if you get rid of the ants th aphid problem goes away.

Vinegar works for getting rid if ants.

I often see this kind of infestation on my brassicas when it hasn't rained in a while. Blasting them with water helps, as does a soap-based spray. Next time I'll try the recipe with the alcohol.

"It is my understanding that if you get rid of the ants th aphid problem goes away.
Vinegar works for getting rid if ants."

How do you apply the vinegar?

I noticed the appearance of aphids after heavy storm too, at the same time plants are showing sulfur deficiency symptoms. S and B exist as anions and leach easily down past the root zone in high rainfall. Usually in corns, I see S deficiency associated with aphid the sap sucker and boron deficiency with earworm the tissue muncher. For soil amendment I use gypsum and borax. If you have other cabbages, maybe you can give one some Epsom salt and see if that reduces aphid loads.

Mart Hale wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:"It is my understanding that if you get rid of the ants the aphid problem goes away.
Vinegar works for getting rid if ants."

How do you apply the vinegar?

I use a spray bottle usually.  If ants have trails I might pour the vinegar directly onto those trails.

Other aphid predators include green lace wings, wasps (of which 95%+ are harmless to people) and brachanid flies. All of these have a pollen/nectar dependent stage of their life cycle. Simple white and yellow flowers, like yarrow, queen anne’s lace, alyssum, cilantro, fennel and other umbels provide easy to access food for this stage of those aphid pests’ life cycle. I had a marked drop in aphid and other pest and disease problems in year 3 of my current garden ecosystem’s succession. This was also true with other projects. The use of minimal nitrogen and always having it in a complex organic form has also likely helped reduce the protein glut produced by nitrates that feeds those suckers.

Ben Zumeta wrote:Other aphid predators include green lace wings, wasps (of which 95%+ are harmless to people) and brachanid flies. All of these have a pollen/nectar dependent stage of their life cycle. Simple white and yellow flowers, like yarrow, queen anne’s lace, alyssum, cilantro, fennel and other umbels provide easy to access food for this stage of those aphid pests’ life cycle. I had a marked drop in aphid and other pest and disease problems in year 3 of my current garden ecosystem’s succession. This was also true with other projects. The use of minimal nitrogen and always having it in a complex organic form has also likely helped reduce the protein glut produced by nitrates that feeds those suckers.

I waited a a season just letting these things go waiting for a predator to come eat them...

None came....

Trying to grow some milkweed now as I heard they were helpful for aphids treatment.

Mart Hale wrote:

Ben Zumeta wrote:Other aphid predators include green lace wings, wasps (of which 95%+ are harmless to people) and brachanid flies. All of these have a pollen/nectar dependent stage of their life cycle. Simple white and yellow flowers, like yarrow, queen anne’s lace, alyssum, cilantro, fennel and other umbels provide easy to access food for this stage of those aphid pests’ life cycle. I had a marked drop in aphid and other pest and disease problems in year 3 of my current garden ecosystem’s succession. This was also true with other projects. The use of minimal nitrogen and always having it in a complex organic form has also likely helped reduce the protein glut produced by nitrates that feeds those suckers.

I waited a a season just letting these things go waiting for a predator to come eat them...

None came....

Trying to grow some milkweed now as I heard they were helpful for aphids treatment.

It will take more than one season for an ecosystem to get reestablished, as predators breed more slowly than their prey. 3yrs is pretty common in restoration for pollinator and predators to come back in balance with their food supply. I would just avoid interventions that kill predators as well as the pest, which it seems most sprays do (I had a homemade lemongrass spray that worked on mites and aphids, but also killed other things too). Also remember, even if its just hand crushing, if we kill off the pest, we kill off their predators even moreso, and the pests will still persist elsewhere and come back to a site full of food and devoid of predators and then explode in population. If surrounded by biocide laden land, it can be much harder, but those small predators are an indicator of what pollutants in that environment do to living things, with 10x the potency for every step up the food chain. I am lucky to be on the edge of a national forest, which meant native beneficial predators were around.

Yeah I have brought in nematodes that go after stinging nematodes...      I was considering some that go after leaf miners which decimate my crops.

I am consdering building a secured area that is covered with insect netting..

I can grow taro, cassava,    white yams,   figs without issue,  along with bolivian sunflower....      These are my main crops to stay alive.      I would like to grow more that does not require me to spend so much effort to keep going.

Well, use of the first spray I made, along with removing the leaves that were aphid infested helped alot.

I was able to harvest some cabbage from this, and I learned good lessons on preventative..

I found inside the grow bag there was a nest of ants that were farming the aphids.       That grow bag is now being held down with a cement block under water to finish off the ants.        

I still have cabbage growing in other areas that have other problems, with worms, but at least I am getting better at this war for my food.

It took 3 years for things to balance in my garden. I'm not saying I never have bug problems. Most of the time the problem is taken care of. No one ever believes my when they ask what do you do for aphids or other bugs, and I say I wait. I might remove leaves, once in a while, but most of the time I don't do anything. If I don't have "bad" bugs the good guys don't have a reason to stay.  Human nature is Oh no somethings wrong I need to fix it.  But the more we help mother nature, the more we have to be mother nature.  

I work for a Co-op. I'm a cashier, but enjoy helping out in our nursery.  They spray all kinds of bad stuff, except  on veggies and herbs. I try not to judge them harshly, because it's not like a garden.  Always getting new stock, things come in with all kinds of bugs and funguses and diseases. It's a real challenge to keep everything healthy.  California keeps removing chemicals for sale ( which makes them upset, and me happy) the thing is most everything they try just doesn't do the job.  Maybe they look better for a few days, and then they are bad again.  I was just wondering if any of you have a good suggestion for a situation like this.  I know they think they have to spray ick, but if I could give them a better solution we would all be happy.

I just had to open my big mouth. My beans are covered in aphids. I have sprayed them with a jet of water once, but a day or two later they are back in force. I have waited and hoped the predators would take care of the problem, but so far I only see a few ladybugs.
Now I'm noticing aphids on the squash in the same bed.
I add a mix of what organic fertilizer I have at the beginning of spring, and fall ( just before new crops are planted) but that's it. So I don't think it's too much nitrogen.  I pretty much always get aphids on my beans in August, but this is quite early, and a pretty bad infestation.
I think I will buy some ladybugs and see if they can balance things out.
Strange enough besides being gross, the beans and squash don't seem to be slowing down production, or show signs that there's a problem.
I keep going back and forth in my head. Should I try soap, or something, but I always come back to my own advice to stay out of it. Adding ladybugs isn't starting out of it, but it's not spraying something that indiscriminately kills bugs and bees, so hopefully an alright compromise.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:I just had to open my big mouth. My beans are covered in aphids. I have sprayed them with a jet of water once, but a day or two later they are back in force. I have waited and hoped the predators would take care of the problem, but so far I only see a few ladybugs.
Now I'm noticing aphids on the squash in the same bed.
I add a mix of what organic fertilizer I have at the beginning of spring, and fall ( just before new crops are planted) but that's it. So I don't think it's too much nitrogen.  I pretty much always get aphids on my beans in August, but this is quite early, and a pretty bad infestation.
I think I will buy some ladybugs and see if they can balance things out.
Strange enough besides being gross, the beans and squash don't seem to be slowing down production, or show signs that there's a problem.
I keep going back and forth in my head. Should I try soap, or something, but I always come back to my own advice to stay out of it. Adding ladybugs isn't starting out of it, but it's not spraying something that indiscriminately kills bugs and bees, so hopefully an alright compromise.

I feel ya,   i know that struggle.   ;-)

Ants farm aphids     so controlling the ants can help...      

I have switched to crops that I don't have to worry about aphids or snails...    Taro,   cassava,    white yams  I have found are worth my effort,     the cabbage I am starting to wonder,       This year I got two quarts of fermented cabbage,  the previous 1...     I am glad I do not have to rely on what I produce or I would be in some serious trouble.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:I was just wondering if any of you have a good suggestion for a situation like this.  I know they think they have to spray ick, but if I could give them a better solution we would all be happy.

Have a look into JADAM. At least it is organic and doesn't give money to big corporations/the filthy rich ideologues. https://en.jadam.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=10986

For your own garden: I have learned just recently about the brix value of plant leaf sap (sorry if I use the wrong words, I'm not a native speaker).

The higher the value °Bx, the less pests eat from a plant. Aphids are an indicator of a *very* low Brix number. So: Keep on feeding the soil microbes, stop fertilizing (force feeding your plant) with water soluble fertilizer. Let the microbes bring the nutrients needed to the plants roots. All necessary minerals are there, in your soil. But they are often not plant-available. Only the soil life (bacteria, fungi, etc.) can make the nutrients available for your plants in order to push their Brix value.

Read more: https://www.soilscopes.co.za/post/why-do-we-measure-plant-brix-levels (this is just the first website I came across explaining about Brix, I'm not suggesting any products/services)

What would you do? I bought and released hundreds of ladybugs. I watered well, and opened the container after dark. I put the lid that was full of Ladybugs on one side of my infested beans, and the container on the other side. Today I hoped I would see lots of ladybugs all over the beans ( I literally put them in the middle of a feast). But not so much. I did see more than yesterday, and a juvenile ladybug, but no where near what I hoped for.
This afternoon I'm going to pick most of the beans. I will drop them in soapy water. Then rinse well. What is eatable will be taken into the house, and what is not willing be composed. This will kill a lot of aphids. I also plan to remove all yellow, and dead leaves putting them in soapy water.
What I need help with is the next step. Would you spray the beans to try to remove as many aphids as possible? Or wait to see if the ladybugs come to the rescue? This is a very bad infestation, I'm sure it's an exaggeration, but it feels like it is doubling daily. My hesitation is I don't want to harm the ladybugs. I don't intend on spraying anything but water. And to make matters worse I will be out of town for work all of this next week. My kids are super helpful, but are not gardeners. ( We won't starve if the beans fail, just fyi)
Thanks everyone.

Mart first of all when you say rubbing alcohol what strength are you using? 50%, 070%,  or 92?  Second will this solution work on flowers and shrubs?
I work at a Co-op, and I'm often in the nursery.  We have a terrible time trying to keep aphids and other pests off the plants. I thought I would suggest this solution. It's certainly less toxic than the other stuff they use. I don't want to suggest anything that could be harmful to the flowers, and other plants.
thanks

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Mart first of all when you say rubbing alcohol what strength are you using? 50%, 070%,  or 92?  Second will this solution work on flowers and shrubs?
I work at a Co-op, and I'm often in the nursery.  We have a terrible time trying to keep aphids and other pests off the plants. I thought I would suggest this solution. It's certainly less toxic than the other stuff they use. I don't want to suggest anything that could be harmful to the flowers, and other plants.
thanks

Hi Jen,

The alcohol recipe that I posted was one for white fly,    which I have also been using for aphids.        That said I did some searching around and I found this video that looks to be very promising for the ingredients look to be far better than what I have used before.

70%   seems to be what this gent uses, he explains why in the video.







8 cup - Water
1/4 cup - Teatree
1/4 cup - Peppermint
1 tablespoon - 1% Peroxide
1 cup - 70% Alcohol

Halfed:
4 cup - Water
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) - Teatree
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) - Peppermint
1/2 tablespoon - 1% Peroxide
1/2 cup - 70% Alcohol



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Another recipe I found   I have not tried yet...

One thing I've found works really well, especially for my house plants, is to use a mix of;
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 squirt dishwashing liquid
1 litre of water
Mix really well and spray onto your plants every 2 ish days depending on how bad the infestation is.
It works well because the dishwashing liquid breaks down the outside shell of the aphid, then the baking soda drys them out!


Also:

Another trick..  I have coated yellow plastic cups in Vaseline for years and the aphids love them.


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I have been collecting various recipes out there and trying them,    I highly suggest when you try a recipe you try it only on one or two plants,  I did great damage one time with neem,       but if you only do it on one or two plants your loss will not be as great as mine.

Getting rid of the ants with baits made with borax also looks to be effective as it removes the ants that farm the aphids.

We are in this war together be strong! ;-)

Cheers