Free aphids to good homes!

[GrannieB]

I do believe every aphid in the world has decended upon my poor yard and veggie garden. :eek: Every blasted thing since early this year in Jan.-Feb. starting with the greens,collards and cabbages have been "coated" :mad: with grey aphids. And what the devil is this darn tee-neiny other bug? :confused: Off white,can't see legs or wings because the darn things aren't any bigger than ..'...They don't move even if I thump the plant and leave a sticky ick on the seed pods I've harvested.

P

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

Yeah Aphids are a real test of my patience.

I have been gardening for a while now and there is no a fool proof way (that i have found to keep them away.) I will probably start an argument here but, oh well. People say that if your soil is healthy and the plant is strong that the aphids will stay away...well...fooey on that. I have conducted many "experiments" to test this and they all have had aphid problems. I have been ammeding my soil with more compost than most could dream of with mico and macro nutrients out the wazoo....organic fish ferts, neptunes harvest foliar, humace, earthworms, you name it its in my soil. Have had tests done and there is not much lacking...in fact my nutrient levels were perfect and so is the PH. Also tried these "miracle pots" that give the plant the "perfect enviroment" to live in and they get aphids as well. I have some gardening buddies that are better than I am and their soil is better than mine and they still get overrun with Aphids. One guy I know worked at a nursery for years and years and built all his raised beds with left over potting soil from the nursery. (Talk about the perfect soil!) You can not move an inch of soil off his ground with out exposing 5 earth worms. And guess what......he has aphids every year as well. I think that the good soil idea against bugs is more of a fantsy tickler than a full reality. Not that I think a sick plant wont bring more bugs but none the less I have had aphids attack the weak and the stong.

Try safers soap. If you are consistant with it...it works pretty good. That is what I use. But you have to stay up on it. If I have a free evening I will hand rub them to knock a big dent in their population. The die pretty easily between the fingers. Then after that I will soap em.

Get your soil as healthy as you can....but do not believe that it will cure all of lifes bug problems.....you will only be disapointed.

Hope this helps....

Chad

[zebraman]

Hey Creation Groans;I am one of "Those"that states that healthy soil=No aphids.I have been Double Digging/Raised Beds/Bio-Dynamic for over 25 years and Never Had Aphids on my Vegs.I have had massive infestations on weeds that were 5 feet from my beds at the edge that looked like Alien Life Forms because there were so many.This happens every year.We don't have alot of the bugs you have but we do have aphids.And besides ammending the soil I do nothing else.Elliot Coleman's books say that if the soil is really good the aphids wont be able to take hold.This has been Consistant with my experience.-

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

I wish me and my buds could say the same...I do not know how you can get soil any blacker and richer than what I have...I have even resorted to introducing beneficial microbes into the soil...I spray them in with equal parts mollasses and still have problems with aphids....I don't know man....I do believe you but I do not know what I am doing wrong if you are right....I double dig....with that whole biointensive thing....read that book several times too. My soil is ammended over two feet deep in spots but mostly right at 2 feet. Use super thrive when watering.....hmmm...what else???? Clean up the beds each year and add new organic matter....compost the heck out of it....you can see that I am doing every thing right.....which makes my experience more real than anothers....even though I wish I had your experience with aphids...but I got what i got....and i got aphids.

Sometimes I think I am just going to take a whole year off of gardening and just ammend and concentrate on soil building and feeding....but I never can shake the itch come January to get ready for planting.

Any advice other than what I am doing would be appreciated....


Thanks!

[GrannieB]

Well guys,I'm with you. My little veggie patch is ammended out the wahzoo. :D I have 3/12"raised beds(made from flat french drains stood on their sides) made up totaly from potting mix from my nursery and other organic materials taken from my yard. Stuff grows beuatifully in the raised beds and pretty darn good in ground but I'm still over run with these @*&^%$!! aphids! :mad: Safer soap would be jim-dandy fine but what a pain on getting all the lil buggers sprayed on loose leaf veggies.

...and Creation Groans,as for sqiushin' aphids with my fingers...my girly side says...EUW! :o

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

Saw a ladybug larve grab an aphid the other day, he picked it up while it was squirming and sucked the juice out of the middlle....kinda like a jelly donut. Man....I am glad those guys are on my side!

As for the aphids....maybe I should hire zebraman to help me with my soil for a year???? Whadda ya think???

As for the Safers I use my sprayer set on a pretty fine mist and then just ram it in the bush until I feel that all the undersides are coated...and if you can get over that girlyside the figer smoooshing works pretty good. Or pay the local kids a couple dollars an hour to do it for you. In the old days that is what alot of gardeners did...paid kids to take care of the bugs. I am thinking a dime a horn worm.... :)

Later!

[chubbyduckie]

Wouldn't diatomaceous earth kill the aphids?? Or would it do any good tilled into the soil; tho that could get expensive, too.

[SelfSufficientOne]

I have never had aphids in my garden either and my soil is anything but perfect. I do have them swarm on my rose bushes but never on my veggies. I wonder why this is?

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

Selfsufficentone,

Well according to Zebraman you have good soil...maybe you can give me some tips???

I don't know....I am through beating my head against wall in trying to get my soil perfect. Intensely the last three years have been devoted to just that....and I do not know how I can make it any better.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Oh well.....


Later!

[ipaintedmyhousewhite]

There are different kinds of aphids that favor different vegetation, perhaps our differences in experience are due to this. HI everyone! I've been gone for awhile working like mad outside...having fun but yeah, the aphids are here.

[tabitha]

yeah, every day as i go out into our 106 tomatoes and squish aphid colonies, i think about all the times i have heard that healthy plants dont have aphids. i dont discount the experiences with no aphids, not calling anyone a liar, but i also will not say all 106 of my tomatoes/ our soil are unhealthy. we have an organic garden that is as beautiful as can be, and we have aphids. c'est la vie.

we use diatomaceous earth. buy a puffer/ duster for it, so you can get right under the leaves at the little buggers. you have to reapply alot because or rain and dew. i also hand-rub the colonies on a very regular basis. i hate them, i hate them!

i do the same for our squash- hand pick and squish squash bugs.

tabitha

[ipaintedmyhousewhite]

I squish, too. Ended up spraying my artichoke with Safer something-or-other, but that's the only thing. Thankfully, the reinforcements have arrived: TONS of ladybugs have descended on my garden and apparently are reproducing rapidly, I saw a ladybug larva attack and carry off an aphid in its mouth yesterday. Very gratifying. Also about one bijillion spiders, weaving Very Useful webs. I like the squishing...instant gratification.

[GrannieB]

We haven't had many ladybugs so far this year.

[boston]

Heirloom Acres sells an insecticidal soap they say is good for ahpids and does not harm benificial's. I have never used it so I can't tell you how good it is.

www.heirloomacresseeds.com