While I don't know anything about Brugs, I sure have had a lot of experience with aphids. I have been fighting them most of the winter, and at this point, I do believe I have won. It is a lot of work, but you have to keep up with them since they reproduce so rapidly. What I did was to take each tray of plants to a sink (or bathtub if the plant was large) and give them a good spray to knock off the aphids as much as possible. Then I stuck them under a very bright light and searched for any stray aphids. You have to look very carefully as the nymphs are really tiny. I did this about every three days. For a while their numbers would come back after a week or so. But at this point, I haven't seen any now in about three weeks. I hope this helps. It would be awful to lose your plants when you are so close to being able to set them out.

Hi Sammyqc. I've used Dr. Doom (blue can) and only needed 2 applications. Rona here carries it. I've even used it on the dreaded spider mites and it's worked. Good luck!

Believe me, I've been strip searching my seedlings. It's my brugs that have gotten past the point of no return. I check and spray and scrape everyday, and they just seem to come back five fold. I've seen the spray work ( aphid death throes), but they come back.
I just thought if I strip all the leaves off, no more food source except for my seedlings which will hopefully go outside soon, then that would help?

I've never actually done this, but I wonder if you filled up a bath-tub with soapy water and submerged the affected plants sideways for a few minutes to drown all the bugs, if that would eliminate the aphids...it certainly won't harm the plants at all, if you have branches in all directions then you'd have to flip the plant around to get all the surfaces under water.

It is messy but if you prepare yourself and lay out some old sheets or something, it can be done in a clean manner.

Just a thought..

I was just going to ask the same question. This is my first year with Brugs that I started last Fall. I have a spide mite problem that seems to be under control right now. However, because of all the spraying with soapy water, one side of the tree is completely bare with no leaves while there are leaves on the other side. Should I just strip all the leaves? What happens to a brug that has all its leaves stripped? Please let me know. Thanks!

I just went through a war on spider mites. I was losing until I stripped 90%+ of the leaves. I only left the real small and immature ones. It allowed me to concentrate on the mite problem. Now I did this with 100+ plants outside. They like to hide very well. Any leaf suspected of mite infestation should be stripped, put in a pastic bag and frozen until it can go out with the trash. It did not hurt mine at all. I superthrived them as a reward. They look happy right now. Most still held their flowers.

Jim

I have never tried this but they say the systemic insecticide stakes made for houseplants will take care of most insect problems. I would suppose though that early use would be important.Steve in Baltimore County

sammy, whatever method you are using, you should be repeating it every 7 days (minimum) and also hitting your surface soil with it.
It wouldn't hurt to switch products every other application either.
You also need to make sure you are soaking ( to the point of dripping) the leaves, stems and all the crotches as well as the soil surface. It would help too if you could set them in a large plastic ( clear, like a dry cleaning bag) for 24-48 hours after dosing them. This bag method is a great way to use aerosol products like Raid but don't spray directly on the plant, just fill the bag with the spray/fumes. The raid in the blue can works the best I have found out of all the Raids. Keep the bag out of the sun though.

Yes, you can strip all but the growing tips of leaves without hurting the plant and only minimal setback and may be the easiest route to take depending on how big your plants are but even than I would still treat them for 3 applications as if you hadn't stripped them.

Oh I have to laugh here!! That little Blue can does get around and I have found that with using soap and alcohol, one makes them happy! I agree with RuthAnn strip them away and put sand on the top of the soil for many reasons. If you leave the leaves on don't burn them with the spray.

Alright, I'm just gonna strip all the leaves but the tips. I can't stand it anymore! Some of these guys are just too big for the bath tub, and I've been spraying every single day. Next time, when I bring them in for the winter, I'm gonna strip them too. I didn't this year, cause we had such freaky weather,they were still going outside some days in December, and flowering and I didn't want to lose that.
That's what I get for being greedy! And maybe I'll meander up to Crappy tire and see if I can find that blue can!
I sure hope spring comes soon so I can throw these outside and let the ladybugs do their thing!

LOL, you call Canadian Tire the same thing I do and really they aren't Crappy at all.
If they don't have the blue can of Raid, likely any will do. I just shot the green one at a small Spider mite problem developing on a couple of seedlings here in the house. It was time to return them to the GH and I didn't want the mites thinking they had gone to a smorgasbord of niceties down there.