Are these aphids? And if so why is nothing working to get rid of them?
Hi all,
I'm losing my mind here.I'm in Los Angeles, and my sprawling, massive cherry tomato plants are flourishing, but all of my flowers are falling off because of these darn bugs. They're small, green and flying. At first I thought they were winged aphids, but nothing on earth seems to work: I've tried neem oil, horticultural oil, diluted dish soap, insecticidal soap, swearing at them, lady bugs (I watched the lady bugs crawl over these guy without giving them a second glance)... I would have a bumper crop of tomatoes if not for these jerks.
I did have a massive aphid infestation on some nasturtiums a while back, and I'm seeing aphids starting again on my tabasco peppers. But they're grey, immobile and clustered. These guys are green, they roam around, are quick and fly.
Please help!
Comments (7)
kimmq
8 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (23)If the beneficial insects that feed on thrips and aphids are attracted to certain plants, it makes sense (to me, anyway) to plant those beneficial- insect attractors as some of the companion plants to roses. I tried doing this in Alabama, and it either worked pretty well or I didn't have much of a thrips problem anyway. I don't ever use pesticides in the garden either, as I am aware that there is an entire universe going on at the insect level that I don't see or much understand. I also do believe what Hamp and buford say, that there are some roses that are thrip magnets. It would be fun to make a list of those sometime. So, here are a couple of links that list plants that attract hoverflies, tachnid wasps, ladybugs, lacewings, etc. in case anyone is interested. http://www.dianeseeds.com/flowers/beneficial-insects.html Here is a link that might be useful: plants that attract beneficial insects...See MoreCompanion Planting want to get rid of aphids! plant basil.
Comments (4)I have nasturtiums, one in each rose pot. I wonder if it is just the flowers or the actual plant that keeps them off the roses? Nearly all suffered from aphids but seem to be getting over it. Not sure if it was Safers spray or the Nasties, but the aphids seem to be gone now. I also have chives in each pot, to test the theory of the allium family keeping blackspot at bay. So far so good, or have I just been lucky? Stay tuned to the continuing saga. Basil too eh? intersting. sounds like a herb garden in with the roses. Kinda cool....See Morewhy DOES water work on aphids???
Comments (10)I've done this to elephant ears, a Gardenia shrub that had 'em BAD, and various potted plants. The force needed to knock aphids off of EE's with a stream from the hose is often cosmetically damaging to the leaves but they continue to function even if they are somewhat damaged. Ants may bring them back eventually. As I'm sure you know, Ken, aphids like to get on the bottom of leaves and in the crotches of nodes. Knocking them off with water not something you can do with a shower setting, you need a pretty strong stream. So for this reason, I haven't found it to be practical on a large area but works well on plants that I micro-manage. Just knocking a significant amount of aphids off of something like a shrub seems to help a lot, allow the plant to recover faster than the few you missed are sucking it dry. For house plants I use a squirt bottle set on a direct stream setting. This seems to kill them in some way because they do not crawl or walk around after they get knocked off. I sit down and hold each leaf, check both sides, so I would notice if the ones I knocked off were crawling around. I used to be concerned with turning the plants sideways so the critters wouldn't fall into the pot but I'm a lot less anal about it since they don't seem to come back unless/until the ants bring them. Aphids don't seem to show up unaided/unattended....See MoreOrganic way to get rid of aphids?
Comments (47)I'm a newbie to gardening. I'm growing some veggies for the first time. My Purple Hull Peas appear to have some Black Aphids on them. At least that's what I've been told they are. I really don't know. I bought 1500 Lady Bugs. I released them per the instructions. - Stored them in the refrigerator. - Took them out and warmed them up for about 30 to 40 minutes. - Released half at dusk on the first night. - Released the other half at dusk on the second night. The Lady Bugs just strolled around the Purple Hull plants, walking right over the Aphids, not paying any attention to them. Okay, a few looked like they stopped to eat a little but, not very many at all. In a couple of days, there were hardly any Lady Bugs in the garden. A few days more and the Aphids have spread. They're taking over! I just sprayed some "pre-mixed" Garlic and Pepper Tea on them. I hope that helps. But, if not, I guess I'll try the Neem Oil (from seed, not leaf) or, maybe some soap and water with some oil mixed in....See Morerhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years agobobllama
8 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years agobobllama
8 years agoThe blossom drop started about 6-8 weeks ago, when the days were quite long. Prior to their arrival, I had very bountiful plants. Since their arrival: just about nothing. This includes both the plants I planted at the beginning of the season and plants that were planted about 2 months ago.
Further damning evidence: I have a tomato plant in the front that barely has any of them on it, and it's pumping out a ton of tomatoes.
The plants are both in beds and containers. Automated drip line in the beds. I stopped fertilizing when I believed they were aphids. The flowers don't drop, they appear dried out. And these bugs are always on the stem immediately below where the flowers are. They tend to just roam around, always below where the flowers are. They're never on sucker branches.
I have sprayed both neem oil and insecticidal soap directly on them and watched them walk around for minutes afterwards.
Basically, tomato production just abruptly stopped right around the same time the population of these bugs jumped up. The plants have been growing in size and are thriving. I had one that had a 33' diameter (my wife ended up pulling it since it wasn't producing but was getting so big).
Here's what it looked like before their overrunning the plants:
I was getting this weekly:
And this was a week or two ago, before my wife pulled up the two biggest ones (there are only 4 tomato plants in the beds in this photo, three in the middle bed and one in a back bed you can't really see):
The plants seem healthy in every single way, except that most of the flowers shrivel up before fruiting. Most drop before they even blossom. But some make it through and flower and I'm getting 1-6 tomatoes a week.
ronalawn82