What the heck is all over the bottom of my kale?

by DemonKittens

29 Comments

  1. YippieKiAy

    Generations of Aphids.

    Congrats on the extra protein?

  2. loveychipss

    My chickens would go crazy for that! And yes, that’s lots and lots and lots of aphids

  3. oldaliumfarmer

    Cabbage aphids are tough to discourage. I don’t have a good solution.

  4. Resident-Lobster7796

    You can spray them off with the hose. They’re not too hard to manage just hose off.the underside of any affected leaves as you find them and keep checking 

  5. BoldBoimlerIsMyHero

    And those are why I told my husband I’m not growing Kale. I hate those guys.

  6. Inevitable_Tank9505

    Ladybug food. What flowers do you have growing with or around the kale? Trap crops are the solution.

  7. brattybrat

    The way to deal with them is daily rinsing the leaves, wiping them off if you must with a gloved hand. I also use neem oil to control them, and I’ve heard people suggest planting things that will attract ladybugs nearby. The key is doing the maintenance before it gets to this point, because bleck.

  8. goonatic1

    These are a little far gone, but next time I’d grow stuff that attracts lady bugs and especially hoverflies, like marigolds and lots of dill. The hoverflies at my place put in gods work towards aphid genocide lol. And everyday check your plants and blast them off with the hose, aphids aren’t great at moving much so once you hose them off they don’t really come back, you’ll just be dealing with what’s left and what hatches. I grow my kale in big pots so I can just move them far away from its spot and hose them down then put them back into place. But since I’ve recruited my good bugs I haven’t had issues l, hope this helps

  9. Additional-Stay-4355

    I got the same type of aphids on my eggplant. I have the spray them off with water periodically, it’s a pain but they do come off and stay off for a while.

  10. techgal_R

    BT usually helps me with those pesky aphids

  11. Super-Chamchi

    I am considering growing kale under some type of cover next year because of this issue.

  12. thickhipstightlips

    My kale had so many aphids this year. Saved the other plants, but the kale went bye-bye (my tortoise didn’t like it anyways, so it didn’t matter). It grossed me out 😵‍💫

    I had no idea how bad kale attracted them ! Eeewwwwwww, never again.

    I’m sorry for your loss.

  13. Patrick95650

    I was blessed to have a lot of praying mantis this year.. They kept the aphids down to a minimum..

  14. avianmeltdown

    I didn’t know aphids could infest something this badly

  15. rubystandingdeer1

    Pick the leaves and put them in a sealed bag and spray the rest with strong water

  16. Dear-Mud-9646

    Holy shit that’s a sea a aphids

  17. rubystandingdeer1

    I looked up at what temp do they die off… OMF

    Could take to -20 degrees

  18. GambitEk1

    holy mother of all aphids.
    That’s a lot of aphids

  19. Spaghettisaucers

    I have something like this coating the underside of my kale. They look flatter and don’t clump up like that though. Same color.

  20. Wasabi_Grower

    A good spray: Per Gallon
    – 1 tbsp neem oil
    – 1 tbsp peppermint extract
    – 1tbsp tea tree soap
    – 1 tsp hydrogen peroxide

  21. RoxyAndFarley

    That is a whole lot of aphids, wowee!

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