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Vegetable Gardening

Soapy water for Aphids

12 years ago

I've been using soapy water to try and control a very large aphid infestation. Several of the leaves on my plants are dying, and I can't tell if it is just the aphids or if it is the soapy water. Am I supposed to spray the leaves off after the aphids are dead, or is it okay to leave the soapy water on them?

Thanks

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Comments (4)

Belgianpup
12 years ago
The water shouldn't be very soapy -- a quarter-teaspoon to a gallon or two is more than enough. As long as it's very weak, you shouldn't have to rinse it off.

Severe infestations are often a nutritional problem. Weak plants give off odors that attract insects. If these are annuals, mix up some fish emulsion, worm tea, or compost tea and feed the plants and see if there is some improvement.

It generally isn't advised to feed perennials after the middle of August, as it promotes new growth that isn't 'seasoned' well, and can cause winter damage.

Sue
User
12 years ago
If they're not indoor plants you can always go after them with just a simple blast of water from a water hose. You'll have to do it a few times over the course of a week or more, but it's effective. Make sure to get under the leaves...

You don't want to do it very late in the day or on excessively overcast+humid days so the plant leaves don't sit around being wet for many hours. That invites a little more disease pressure.
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Sorry for intruding since I am a rose person, but we do have aphids infestations too. Safer Insecticidal Soap will knock 'em dead! Maybe you can use a spritzer and spritz the alcohol where the crannies are or use a qtip for the dabbing? To be honest I am very surprised to read about alcohol, it dries out human skin, and I would be worried that it would dry out the flower too, but I'm just an ignoramus. I only know roses, not orchids...hmmmm. We in the rose world never use alcohol to kill aphids. A handful of us use hot wax pepper spray to deter them on our buds and blooms, but to actually kill them we use Safers Insecticidal Soap or smoosh them by running our hands over them if they're on a leaf or a stem. By the way, Neem oil is not too "heavy" for a flower. Blooms don't care one whit. If a rose can take it, I would think likewise an orchid. But be very careful if your orchids are outdoors. Neem oil (if it contains pyrethrins) need a drying time of 4 hours or else it will harm a bee that lands on it(however it doesn't wipe out the entire hive like Sevin will-it just kills on immediate contact if it hasn't dried), so I would only spray in the late evening when the sun has gone way down. If your orchids are indoors, I wouldn't worry about any of this.
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This is an article I found a few weeks ago about soapy water and aphids: Nasty green "bugs" Dear Roger: I have 2 roses in a pot on front veranda in direct sun that I planted last year. I pruned them back three weeks ago and have new early buds showing. Yesterday I noticed tiny green "bugs" on all the new buds. I also have a new ÂKnockoutÂ rose that I put in the ground to the side of my veranda, also in full sun. This one was in a bag. And on checking, I also saw the tiny green "bugs." I spayed them with a solution of soap and water and today the "bugs" could be rubbed off. What could they have been ? Â Betsy, Whiteville Dear Betsy: The bugs sound like aphids, which are very common on new growth of roses in spring. Your treatment of these insects was just right. They may return. But another squirt or two of soapy water should do them in. The soap removes the wax that protects them from drying out. They soon dessicate and die. Hope that helps everyone!
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I have had excellent results using soapy water and then let it dry for an hour or so. This allows the cracking of their bodies. Then I rinse of with a spray of plain water. I would suggest doing this before sunrise and rinsing before the sun is hot. 6am spray soapy water all over the leaf liberally. 7 am rinse off the soapy water and aphids with it. Leaf dries before the sun is hot so as not to burn the leaf. I have never had to resort to sevin (7)dust for aphids. Yes the aphids are often an indicator of stress but also this weather is stressing everything so much that it almost unavoidable to have some periodic break outs of aphids. Still they are one of the easiest pests to deal with and remove. Often with light infestations I just spray the water on them to knock them off and this works fairly well. Doing this in the morning so the leaves dry will minimize fungal problems. Doing it at sunset will increase the fungal potential. Good Luck and Happy Growing David
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missingtheobvious
12 years ago
You don't want to do it very late in the day or on excessively overcast+humid days so the plant leaves don't sit around being wet for many hours. That invites a little more disease pressure.

But alternately, you don't want to spray in the middle of the day when the sun is shining, or you'll have sunburn spots on your leaves (this can also happen if there's sun while raindrops are still one the leaves).
zzackey
12 years ago
Soapy water will kill some plants. It is not recommended for use by the University of Florida Agricultural Dept.

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