WHEN APHIDS INVADE ~ USING A MORE NATURAL APPROACH TO GETTING RID OF APHIDS

You may ask just what are aphids?  They are bugs that are pear in shape and tiny around 1/8 inch. They are over four thousand different species of aphids and can be green, white, yellow, orange, gray or black.  Aphids mouth pierce the stem of the plant, sucking out the vital nutrients that help a plant grow and thrive.  They can spread quickly due to their life cycle is between one week and 40 days.  A female can have up to 12 offspring a day.  Think about the math there.  If one female has 12 babies a day in a week she can have 84.  If the babies mature in a week and they have more offspring, well heck you are overrun with the little vampire sucking insects.  

I think I have stated before we did not do too well in germinating our peppers at the beginning of February.  Which means I started more seeds a few weeks back with the thought process that they will at least mature in time to overwinter for next season.  This past winter most of our pepper plants we overwintered died.  Today as Scott was looking at the small plants he noticed we have APHIDS!!!  Oh NO, my poor baby ghost, Carolina Reaper, and scotch bonnets peppers.  

In the past when we have had an invasion it was always in the garden, not on my tiny plants still in the house.  Which means we had to be very careful about how we go about ridding our plants of those pesky insects.  When plants are so small you have to be very careful about how you treat them for disease and bugs because you can at the very least stress them or kill your plant just as surely as a disease or a bug can.

We chose to do what we have in the past in our garden and use soap and warm water in a spray bottle.  Scott diluted a couple of drops of dish detergent into lukewarm water in one of my spray bottles.  You can see the soap suds in the bottle below.

Scott sprayed the tiny plants with the soapy water.  This method dissolves the outer coating of the aphids and will dehydrate them which kills them.

Of course, there are all kinds of methods to rid yourself of aphids but for us today this was the preferred method.  

Here are a few more ways to get rid of aphids on your plants naturally or more organically.

• Neem Oil.  This is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruit and seeds of the neem tree.  You dilute with water as you do dish soap.  Neem oil will not kill good bugs but it may prevent them from entering your garden.
•  Ladybugs.  They eat the tiny insects and leave your plants intact.
• Soap and Water.  Dilute dish soap into lukewarm water.  A couple of tablespoons into a bucket of water does the trick.  You can use it in a spray bottle or apply with a sponge. 
• Watering your plants.  The pressure of a hose can knock off the bugs but it will not kill them.
• Onion and Garlic.  You can grow these strong feeling plants and it helps to deter aphids.
• Birdhouses.  You can encourage birds who love to eat bugs by putting up birdhouses.
• Essential Oils.  You can make a mixture of thyme, rosemary, cloves and peppermint essential oils.  Equal parts of each create a great bug killing spray.  
• Insect Killing Soap which you can purchase ar garden centers.

The key to killing aphids is early detection.  Aphids love all kinds of plants not just vegetable plants.  You need to actively inspect your plants on a regular basis.  As soon as you notice an aphid you need to attack them.  Above I tired to name a few of the more organic or natural way of killing them.  We prefer not to use harsh chemicals especially on plants that will produce fruits and vegetables we eat.  

Happy Gardening and Enjoy your Sunday.