First line of defense? Spray them off with water and they become the tasty meal
This is a question I get all the time. “Every year in the middle of the summer, I get hit with aphids which attack my squash and string beans. What can I use to control them”?
Aphids can not only wipe out some of your vegetable plants, but they are very bad about spreading disease to other plants in your garden. Here are a few suggestions. First, keep on the lookout. They can spread and multiply quickly, but they tend to travel in thick groupings so they are not too hard to spot if you are looking. The first line of defense should be a stiff spray of water. Believe it or not, this is very effective. They are blasted off and become a tasty meal for other beneficial insects or birds that might be nearby. Just be careful that the water stream is not so strong that is damages your plants.
Next, be sure to have lots of lady beetles and lacewings around. They are both crazy about aphids. As long as there is a food source around, like aphids, the beneficial bugs will have no reason to leave. You can even order these insects in catalogues and online if you don’t have any in your garden. Try The Beneficial Insect Company.
If it is practical for you to do so, you can also use a barrier, such as a floating row cover during part or all of the growth cycle. However, this would not be practical for string beans or squash.
Then, if your problem is not going away, you may need to resort to organic sprays. My first choice would be insecticidal soaps. Note that these will also kill beneficial insects. Use sparingly. These soaps have varying degrees of toxic properties to plants. Apply either in the cool of the evening or early in the morning for the least plant damage. You can buy or make your own. Just add from one teaspoon to several tablespoons of liquid soap, such as Ivory to each gallon of water. Start with the lesser concentration first and see if you need to strengthen it. Avoid using detergents. Keep it as simple and pure as possible. But, if you want to boost the effectiveness, add a tablespoon or two of cooking oil as well.
Finally, here is a recipe for an effective, organic all-purpose insecticide:
All-Purpose Insecticide
1 bulb of garlic
1 small onion
1 tablespoon cayenne (red) pepper
2 tablespoons liquid soap
1 quart water
Spray bottle
Finely chop onion and garlic; mix with tap water; add cayenne pepper; let sit for one hour, then add soap. Mix well. When foam subsides, strain into spray bottle. Keep refrigerated. Good for 1-2 weeks.
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
Hello!
I brought in some outdoor deck plants into our house a few weeks ago (in MN). A few weeks ago–even though we’ve had hard frosts outside–I was still see what I thought were gnats in the house. I just now realized that those darn plants had aphids on them! I put them back outside to freeze and die (don’t know why I brought in to begin with).
My question: will these aphids now in my house die? I can’t see if they’re in the carpeting or what. Presuming that with no food I won’t have to worry about further infestation?
Thank you!
As long as the aphids have a food source inside VIA your plants that you moved in, they can persist and multiply. I would do two things if possible. If you can blast them off the leaves with a stiff spray of water, that’s the first step. And either way, buy some insecticidal soap and spray all the leaf surfaces above and below. You have to come in contact with the aphids to kill them. Good luck.
Hi. I have an outbreak of aphids on my enclosed grow room. There are seven medium size plants in the room (5’x6′) . I initially sprayed some Neem oil and then switched to garlic/mineral oil/dish soap solution. I also purchased 4500 ladybugs and released them into the grow room and stopped spraying. My questions is, can I still spray my plants with the garlic solution while the ladybugs are present or will it kill the ladybugs also? Thanks!!
It should kill the ladybugs Fred as the garlic is only a deterrent. If possible, you could take the plants out of the grow room and BLAST them with a hard stiff spray of water to knock of the aphids. However, now that you have all those ladybugs, you might just want to see what they do and given time, that might be enough.
I know this may sound crazy, but I’ve been extremely successful at destroying aphids and keeping my cucumber vine in perfect health. I noticed one day that if I put a lit cigarette close to the aphids on the plant, they will brown up real fast and die almost instantly, within .5 to 1 second. The heat from the cherry on the cig. fries them, while leaving the plant ok. I was able to wiggle it in between the meristem and new leaves/flowers with very minimal contact with the cucumber plant all while roasting every last aphid. I thought I would have permanently burned the plant, but a day later the meristem has continued to put out more growth, so it either repaired itself or was not damaged enough to matter. Perhaps a heated piece of metal or maybe even a soldering iron would be a better candidate for pinpoint heat applications. Anyways, hope that was helpful. Also, if you look for a gathering of little ants on your plant, it’s a good sign there are some aphids on there, the ants like to eat the sweet aphid poo.
Thanks for this helpful article. I have a chocolate mint plant that’s been infested by aphids and now the leaves look metallic. Question: can I still eat the mint if I wash it thoroughly? Or is it considered diseased and not edible?
I thought the cure of aphids was to throw a bunch of them in a blender with water until they were entirely pulverized and just spray this back onto the plants. That was what my grandfather used on my grandmother’s roses.
He was probably gathering the leaves of the plant that had aphids on them.
Letting these leaves sit in hot water and straining into a sprayer to spray tomato plants is suggested; there is a toxin in the leaves of tomato plants.
Go figure!!!
During the last few weeks of the growing season my tomato plants had tons of aphids on them. Then we got a hard frost and I just pulled up the dead plants and forgot about it until I was thinking about gardening in the spring. Will they survive over winter? Things are starting to thaw a little bit and if I need to spray something I want to do it as soon as I can.
Thanks so much!
It depends on how cold it gets. They might be able to overwinter where you live. If so, you need to stay proactive in your garden and watch for the earliest signs of their presence. Once you see them, you can blast them off the plants with a stiff spray of water. Also, you can spray them with insecticidal soap–a safe product to use that won’t harm mature beneficials or your plants. Just make sure to catch them early and make contact with the soap and the aphids. And do all you can to promote beneficial insects to your garden. Lady beetles in particular, love aphids! Good luck Mary.
Cockroaches can maintain their breath for 40 minutes.
Don’t forget to close any open trash bags under your kitchen sink as well.
One problem people have with these products is their levels of toxicity, especially when there are young children and pets around.
I had tried neem oil with soap solution in water. At the beginning it worked. But now sorrylah it is not effective
Thanks for your notes on aphids.fills some relieve for these insects have destroyed my entire
field. Ave resolved to try the all purpose insecticide on my next crop. Thanks.
I am trying not to spray anything in my garden, but they have invaded my squash plants. There are tons of ants too, which i have left alone because they haven’t caused any damage, but they are protecting the aphids, i guess they kind of “milk” them, so they take care of them like a herd, i looked it up on wiki. But anyway, i set a sprinkler for a few hours on the plants that have the most damage, and it got rid of a ton of aphids, the ants are everywhere looking for them, but when i got a closer look, there where still some where the water did not reach, maybe like 20% got wiped out. so i guess my question is, do i hold out longer until nature takes care of it? i saw more lady bugs on the plant today, but still tons of ants, and i found some webs full of dead ants and aphids. like i said, i really dont want to spray anything, but will the ants just wipe everything out and herd their fat aphids onto my squash again? do i just keep the water on them? precipitation is a danger to them, according to wiki, and i believe it now. thanks
Cesar, I usually advise against buying lady beetles to combat pests in the garden, but if you’re in a hurry and want to attack the aphids quickly, then go for it. You can find them at a lot of independent garden centers. I know you are trying to avoid spraying anything but why not try spraying insecticidal soap? It’s just liquid soap, water and a little oil. That won’t detract from harming you or your food crops, but it is effective on aphids if the spray makes contact with them. You can make or buy this. I suggest the latter, also found at garden centers. Good luck.
I hv a problem with aphids in my garden so as I just try to find a help.in my garden there is cucumber,watermelon,tomato,pumpkin, okra and sweet potato as I hv seen large group of the green aphid mainly to the sweet potato and I hv try to spray with most insecticide but the number seem to increase my fear is spreads of virual disease to tomato please if I could get a help thank
Sadi, blast the suckers off with a good stiff spray of water on the sturdier plants. But the best natural solution is beneficial insects such as lady beetles. Avoid using pesticides since this will kill any beneficials you have there now. Promote a pesticide free environment, plant a diverse array of flowering plants, herbs and veggies, and the beneficial insects will build up populations quickly to take on the aphids.
I know another way…After watching a video on you tube I tried his method of keeping them off his pot plants-no joke they get a little bold now days. But this is what I did. I went to Target bought some plastic yellow(only) file folders and cut them up into strips about 3 inches wide. I purchased some Tree Tenderfoot from Ace Hardware (webpage) cheapest place on the net. Take a tooth brush and spreed it on the strips. It works great. No flies, aphids or leaf miner problems. I’m even growing lettuce(heat tolerent) out in the open and no bugs problems.
I live here in Central Fl where it gets hot in the Summer so bugs can be an issue. Not so far you should see my bug traps loaded with bugs.
Great tip Richard. Thanks for sharing it here!
Hi Richard,
I googled “Tree Tenderfoot” and don’t get any hits. Can you describe the product for me please. What is it used for. Thanks so much.
It is not “Tree Tenderfoot”, it is “Tanglefoot” “Tangle-Trap Sticky Coating”.
“Tangle-Trap Sticky Coating”.
well those are physical approaches to control of aphid give me some back ground infomation ,introduction and key intergrated strategies in control of on bean aphid
Great advice for aphids! Any advice on getting rid of an infestation of clothes moths? I’ve vacuumed, cleaned everywhere I can get to, thrown out rugs, put cedar blocks and herbal sachets, but I’m still finding 4-5 little ones a week throughout the house!
Cedar wood
I was watching an episode about parasitic wasps. I am overwhelmed w/ squash bugs. How do I get these wasps, as I have heard they are real good bout kiling squash burg.
Thanks,
1 tablespoon of Sunlight dish liquid soap in a half gallon of water. Spray up under the leafs and the top of the soil. This will get rid of several types of pest including pill bugs. Good Luck
I have a hoophouse ,late last summer and fall I started having whitefly and aphid problems,I tryed spraying with water,organic pest controls(such as your recipe)and could not get them under control.I started removing the food sources for them but they just moved to every thing else in the hoophouse.I finnally cleared all plants out and opened up to very cold tempuratures{0>10} Do you think this will work? How about companion plants?any suggestions?
Hi Curt. I ran this by our expert in biological pest control, Suzanne Wainwright-Evans of Buglady Consulting. Here’s her reply:
Without knowing where he is or what plants he had these are my thoughts…
Depends on the species of WF he is dealing with. Tropical ones will not over winter (like Bemisia tabaci, sliverleaf WF will die after 10 hours of 14F) but others species can over winter. Aphids will over winter in the egg stage and can handle the cold temps. Make sure all planet debris is removed. Best way to prevent WF’s is to check plants before brining them home. Most people buy WF problems in.
Also if he has been spraying with insecticidal soap and not getting control he is not getting proper spray coverage and not spraying often enough. WF needs to be sprayed a few time in a row about 3 days apart, targeting the underside of the leaves. One spray application will not work.
Aphids are easy to control and my guess is he is not getting spray coverage, and leaving a few alive to reproduce. He could always use green lacewings to control them.
And biodiversity is always good, so adding other plants will not hurt.
Suzanne Wainwright-Evans
Buglady Consulting