I have a small container garden in South Florida and my new tomato plants are looking healthy and beautiful but I am having some trouble with my eggplant and pepper plants
( Read more... )
Aphids. I hate aphids. The only thing I've found that actually works is Ortho Maxx spray. I've tried hitting the plants with a heavy spray of water to knock them off, neem oil, all the organic stuff.
You have to kill them. And you better hurry or your plants will be dead really quick. And liminalia is right, it's just two different species of aphids. That white moldy stuff is mold that grows on the honeydew (excrement) of the aphids.
If you do decide to use the Ortho Maxx, be sure to only spray in the evening after the bees have gone to bed. The poison in the Ortho Maxx isn't (as) deadly to bees after about 12 hours, but it will kill the aphids for days. Be sure to spray every 2 weeks until you don't see any more aphids.
I've found that spraying my plants early in the season has worked to keep the aphids off them all season long.
Actually, you also need to put some ant poison out. Many ants "farm" apids the way we do cows--they will even carry them to new pastures if they think their apids aren't getting enough to eat. That's how a plant can go from having no apids one day and being infested the next day. To simply kill the aphids: tomato leaf spray garlic oil spray (http://organicgardening.about.com/od/pestcontrol/a/spraysforaphids.htm) You can also dust with powdered snuff (tobacco) or diatomious earth to kill the aphids on your plants. Good luck! :)
Comments 11
Reply
Reply
You have to kill them. And you better hurry or your plants will be dead really quick. And liminalia is right, it's just two different species of aphids. That white moldy stuff is mold that grows on the honeydew (excrement) of the aphids.
If you do decide to use the Ortho Maxx, be sure to only spray in the evening after the bees have gone to bed. The poison in the Ortho Maxx isn't (as) deadly to bees after about 12 hours, but it will kill the aphids for days. Be sure to spray every 2 weeks until you don't see any more aphids.
I've found that spraying my plants early in the season has worked to keep the aphids off them all season long.
Reply
Many ants "farm" apids the way we do cows--they will even carry them to new pastures if they think their apids aren't getting enough to eat. That's how a plant can go from having no apids one day and being infested the next day.
To simply kill the aphids:
tomato leaf spray
garlic oil spray
(http://organicgardening.about.com/od/pestcontrol/a/spraysforaphids.htm)
You can also dust with powdered snuff (tobacco) or diatomious earth to kill the aphids on your plants.
Good luck!
:)
Reply
Reply
If none of the above work, try the Ortho. It really does break down pretty quickly, and if you spray carefully, you won't hurt the bees.
Reply
:)
Reply
Leave a comment