Hey everyone!
I live in the Midwest and have a basement greenhouse. It’s been lots of fun and I have some soil plants and some hydroponic plants in there. As you can see, I have a bit of an aphid problem. Just went down there and about 50% of my plants have aphids. I’m going to try to give as much info as possible here:
The greenhouse is a 5’x5’x6’ thats new this year. I have 4 computer fans, two at the level of the first shelf blowing in, and two closer to the top blowing out. They were running every other hour for ten minutes, now they are always on, on low. The humidifier is set to 60%, and the heater is set to 73. I have a led grow light above each shelf, one big powerful one at the top (more for the hydroponics totes than anything), and then 6 greenhouse grow light bulbs in there.
The aphids have been there since the beginning, I brought a plant in from outside and it must have had them on it. The rest of the plants were started from seeds. The aphids have kind of come and gone, but now they’re full force lol.
I have tried several things.
1. Always squish the ones I see and wipe off with a paper towel
2. Neem oil. Idk apparently it’s controversial now to use buuuuttt I stopped using it because it was killing my seedlings/small plants and burning the large ones. I no longer use neem oil.
3. Garden Safe brand insecticidal soap (1% potassium salts from fatty acids). I last used this about a week ago.
4. Upon recommendation from several gardening related subreddits, I’ve switched to Captain Jacks Dead Bug Brew. Today was the first time applying it.
I’m starting to feel really defeated with all of these aphids, and how they keep coming back. I clip so many beautiful leaves, and a lot of what I grow is leafy greens. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
by twofold48
12 Comments
Definitely being on top of them every single day helps.
If nothing else works, killing with a mix of isopropyl alcohol and water will kill them almost instantly, and then you can rinse off the alcohol to prevent damage to the plant. I don’t see this suggested much of anywhere but it’s seemed to have worked for me YMMV
My mom is a gardener and orchid grower from way back. She taught me to fill a bucket, dish tub, or sink with clean, cool water and dish soap. (I’m now a Dawn fan, but have used cheap detergent for years.)
Dip each and every plant in the soapy water by placing your hand over the soil with the stem(s) between your fingers. Other hand on the bottom of the pot. Swish the plants gently in the suds. Set plants aside to drain and dry. Residual soap bubbles on leaves and a little on soil are fine. If you can’t dip pots, get an empty spray bottle from a hardware store, fill with same soapy water as above, and spray generously, applying at least 2 times in the first week.
Repeat above about 3 days later. Make sure to wipe down shelves, plant trays, and especially clippers and other tools with fresh soapy water. Follow up with the neem oil spray as needed. Some plants just attract aphids- one of the more disgusting plant pests!
Aphids are hard to eradicate, especially with all of the home remedies like ISO, dish soap, or essential oils. The most effective product I’ve used is Organishield, which is essentially a chemical derived from tobacco and other plants that kills all soft bodied bugs, without killing beneficial ones. All organic, and breaks down quickly into harmless by-products. So safe for food, weed, and any other plants. It’s expensive, but super concentrated so a bottle goes a long way. I spray every couple of days durning an outbreak, and every couple of weeks afterwards to stop future outbreaks. But don’t think they’re ever gone for good, little bastards are tenacious.
Neems oil works great, soapy water is good too.
They usually leave soon (couple days)after applying
If you were an outside greenhouse you could use lady bugs. 1500 is 7 dollars plus 10 dollars for shipping. They make short work out of most pests.
Shower! Spray it off with the hardest water you can, all sides, get the under leaves too. Repeat if more come back until done. A hose works better than the shower but if it’s cold, there you have it.
Could cut some leaves off too.
I gave in at one point and bought Eight to treat my pepper plants over winter. usually I use a ton of neem and warm water but it didn’t knock them back enough this time.
Lady bugs
I use either Shell flour or PyGanic
lady bugs to clean up the aphids and some jumping spiders to clean up the lady bugs
Diluted tobacco or diluted white vinegar 😉
Peppermint castile soap and water mist it from spray bottle wait a few minutes rinse off with fresh water they’ll all die