Sevin, Carbaryl, is a very broad spectrum poison that will kill beneficial insects as well as the target insect, and has been so overused over time that many insects are developing immunities to that product and so it is no longer effective against them in some places. If the sharp spray of water, which does need to be repeated often and frequently, does not work (keep in mind that many people do not understand the life cycle of an aphid and will claim that sharp spray of water will not work because they know not) maybe, possibly you might need to move up the toxicity ladder to Neem products or pyrethrins which also are very broad spectrum poisons that will kill any insect, good, bad, or indifferent, they contact. Aphids will start to produce live young almost as soon as they are born, live, themselves so by the time you see any Aphids on your plants you could easily have 5, or more generations of Aphids there. Spraying those you see off your plants leaves a vacancy for the next generation to move in. Those you knock off are not smart enough to know where they came from and do not climb back up, they will however starve to death since they do not know where their food source is. So you knock some Aphids off today and tomorrow there are more that need to be knocked off, not the same ones you already did. Knock those off, keeping in mind the buggers have been producing more young that will appear in a bit for you to knock off. The best control for Aphids is however to be sure the soil your plants are growing in is a good and healthy soil that will produce strong and healthy plants that are better able to withstand insect pests. Plants that have a lot of insect pests on them are telling you there is a problem that needs to be addressed, and that most often involves the soil.

the aphids were all concentrated on dahlia buds and stem below it. remaining plant was fine. i filled garlic powder in an empty salt shaker, and slowly shaked powder on the affected area only i mean the place below the buds and stem near it.

Cat22woman, When I was a kid, my dad tried to use Sevin and Kelthane to control spider mites on his tomato plants, but I saw very quickly that every time he sprayed a pesticide, we saw an intial drop in the number of pests, but then within a few days, the population resurged and was larger than before. After several weeks of this spray, kill, and repopulation cycle, the spider mites were on his tomato plants in epic numbers and the plants died. So, by the time I was a teenager, I knew that logically there had to be a better way. What my dad and his gardening friends didn't understand then that we know now is that every time they sprayed a broad-spectrum pesticide, they were killing off the beneficial insects that helped control the pest insects. Even if they used a miticide like Kelthane, the same thing happened because there are beneficial predatory mites that kill red spider mites and the Kelthane was, of course, killing them too. After I began gardening organically as a young adult and convinced my dad to stop using miticides and pesticides too, he never lost his tomato plants to spider mites again and he gardened into his early 80s. A lesson like that sticks with you and that's why I've learned to avoid pesticides like the plague. If I have to, I'll use an organic pesticide that targets a specific pest, but I hate doing even that. I'd rather hand pick or just ignore them and let Mother Nature's system work. When I was in my mid-20s and a young mother myself, a co-worker of mine had his house treated for termites. I believe the product the company used was Chlordane, which by then had already been banned....but that didn't stop them from using it. To make a long story short, this gentleman, his wife, and his three children were poisoned by that chemical and became very, very ill and their health remained poor for many months. Their dogs became ill at the same time and died. Before it all was over (and without a lawsuit being filed), that pesticide company had removed and replaced the top two feet of soil around their house and had replanted grass sod, trees, shrubs, etc. as compensation for those that had to be dug up when the soil was replaced. They also replaced all the flooring, furniture, drapes and carpet in the home. A lot of little things, like the kids' stuffed animals, had to be thrown away. As I watched this family go through this awful experience, I told myself I'd never use, or allow anyone else to use, a pesticide like that on our property, and I haven't. Several years ago, back in the early 2000s we had a huge grasshopper outbreak here and the hoppers were eating bark off trees, peaches hanging on the trees (leaving only the stem and peach pit), etc. They even were eating cotton rag rugs on our wrap-around porch and the fiberglass window screens. Many of the local ranchers went nuts with pesticides and lamented over and over that the pesticides weren't even controlling the grasshoppers. However, many birds died and we didn't see a single bluebird for 3 years after that. Meanwhile, at our house, we didn't use the chemicals and we had less damage than anyone else. So, there was a lesson in all of that for me (and hopefully for some of those pesticide-happy farmers and ranchers too). Because of those incidents I described, I avoid all chemical pesticides and even use the organic ones sparingly. There are organic pesticides I'd never, ever use too.....rotenone and pyrethrin are two of them....because of their toxicity to humans, pets and wildlife. I have found that the fewer pesticides a person uses, the fewer insect problems they have and the more pesticides they use, the more insect problems they have. Are there times when I see an insect infestation and have a little panicky moment when I think I 'should' spray a pesticide? Of course I do. Then, I get a grip and remind myself that if I am patient, the beneficials will do their job and all will be well, and that is exactly what happens. I am not a militant organic person who wants to beat everyone over the head with a 2-by-4 stick of lumber and exhort them to be 100% organic. But, I have found being organic works for me and I do try to encourage others to give it a try. About the other pesticides I'll use are the organic snail/slug killers that have iron phosphate as their active ingredient, the different Bt products that target a specific pest, and Spinosad, although I generally only use it as a part of the snail/slug product Slug-Go Plus. I have a bottle of it and can mix it up and spray it on something if needed, but I probably use it 1 time or less per year. Most pests that annoy me can be hand-picked (like Colorado Potato Beetles) or squished under my foot, like blister beetles, or dropped into soapy water and drowned (like various caterpillars) or fed to the chickens. There's just no way I'm going to poison the very environment that we, our animals and the wildlife live in. Dawn

Esther, I have used garlic oil for two year now with good results. However! I do keep a close eye on temps and there are a couple of roses in my garden that didn't like it at all, Mutablis being one of them. All roses did recover but they did let me know they didn't like it. I later found that many of the old garden roses don't like sprays of any kind and these are mostly what I have. The hybrid teas don't seem to mind the garlic oil at all. But again I must stress that I paid close attention to day time temps and I tried to spray in the late afternoon. I personally like using garlic oil. I do keep in mind though that while it is safer for us, it can still kill beneficials so I try to use it sparingly and with some common sense.