If you are going to try to preserve " a few " plants you might as well keep them all because you will have aphids. Only way i have been able to deal with them inside is ladybugs.

john

Try to understand your enemy

There are over 4,000 species of aphids

They reproduce at the rate of 200 per 2 weeks per female

Females are born Prego.
They can fly 125 ft on a windless day.

Some like green peach aphids will feed on almost anything green.

Partial control, spray everything that grows on your lot every 2 weeks from frost out to frozen soil...

Slightly better control, spray everthing in your county, a better method spray everything in your state, etc.

I had an aphid infestation in my hydro g'house. I killed all the plants and threw them out, cleaned the g'house well and let is sit for a month.

I planted new chiles a month later and have had no more aphids.

thanks willard3, that was the kind of thing I was looking for. Sounds like its less than a month.

I may just have to live with the aphids until its warm enough to put the plants outside.

I don't think I want ladybugs in my living room, besides, they probably wouldn't live very long just eating aphids from my 30 plants.

I started with the spray in the sink, when it was only 2 plants to worry about. I expect that works better outdoors because apparently the aphids are more susceptible to predators once dislodged. Indoors I wonder if it just gave them the motivation they needed to go find my seedlings.

Apparently they are much more mobile than I had originally given them credit for. When they are hunkered in attached to the plant they seem barely able to move.

I'm going to be out of the country for a couple of weeks. I'm curious to see what my brother will do and what state I'll find them in when I get back. He has a degree in horticulture, so hopefully he will use good sense :)

Murky

Nothing wrong with ladybugs in the house. My wife even accepts them--once they settle in they stay with the plants where the food is.