Little Green bugs on my indoor spinach

Thoughts? Neem Oil?

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/15/82/38/98/bugs10.jpg

Thanks!

ndgarden wrote:Thoughts? Neem Oil?

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/15/82/38/98/bugs10.jpg

Thanks!

ND: Try using a spray of insecticidal soap or make your own using liquid soap (not detergent) and water. Spray the bad bugs once a week or more until they are gone. Just a little soap is needed. Adding a little Neem oil will give the spray a nice kick. Just be sure not to over due the Neem as to much can cause problems. I used too much this summer on my squash and they were squashed flat.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

great pic! i have those same bugs on my brussel sprout plants.


thanks ward for the advice! i'll be sure to rinse my plants in some warmish dish soap/water before i use them this week for eatin...

Aphids, grrr, I hate aphids! for my indoor plants that I can carry to the sink, I spray them off the plant then hit them with insecticidal soap every few days. Oh yeah, and I hand squish 'em too. grrrr.......

Sprayed 'em. Neem Oil on the way if I need more horsepower.....

If you ever find any ladybugs elsewhere in your yard catch them and place them on the plant with the aphids. This is all we use and it is amazing how many one ladybug will eat. They will stay there as long as there is a food supply.

Good luck

I thought of that, but lady bugs are hard to find this time of year!

LOL especially in North Dakota eh?

How did the neem oil work out? Any change?

Jennie

Doused them with a dish soap/ water spray, slowed them down some. Then I opened the garage door, got down to 30 degrees, very few are alive still, we'll see how it goes. Neem oil isn't here yet. Having other problems, see my next posts.

No more Mr. Nice Guy:

pyrethrum spray on the way, www.pyrethrum.org if you're interested, as well as 1500 ladybugs from www.buglogical.com

Not so sure about releasing all 1500 of them though.........don't need to create a new problem. The guy said that they'd just crawl outside if there was an overpopulation.........but it will be below 20 degrees for a high next week, I'll bet they don't head outside.........

Be careful with the ladybugs, especially releasing so many indoors in cold weather. I know it sounds crazy, but a few years back I visited someone here in Virginia whose home was INFESTED with hundreds of ladybugs. At first, I was absolutely fascinated and thought it was such a marvelous, beautiful thing. The homeowner quickly disabused me of that notion. They were hungry ladybugs!

Ladybugs, being meat-eaters (aka aphid-eaters) will BITE if they are hungry! I know it goes against everything you've always known about them... to me they are the friendliest insect in the world, but they can and will bite if they get hungry, and 1500 ladybugs inside a house in ND with winter coming on sounds to me like a good recipe for hungry after they get done with your aphids. If you can move the plants to an outbuilding before releasing the ladybugs, I'd strongly recommend it. Or if you can work out a way to put netting over the plants and release the bugs in there, that might work to contain them?

Good points. My garden is in my heated garage......but I do have some trepidation about actually releasing bugs into the garage anyway. I thought maybe a few of the little chompers would be fine. Maybe I'm better off with the spray after all.

I don't have enough experience to say, honestly. Please let us know what you decide and how it works out. I wish I had something more educated to tell you.

Wow. That's alot of ladybugs. I only have about 10 patrolling the greenhouse with 7-3'x2' beds. You might think about using 10 or 20 (depending on the amount or aphids and plants) and just let the others go in the yard.

Good Luck

Its 5 above in the yard right now.......

Try the ladybugs or go pyrethrum? Don't have to worry about a spray getting too out of control.

Maybe get a mosquito netting tent(s) from your local army/navy surplus store to drape over your plants to contain the ladys? I got a big one for very cheap some years ago, but I don't remember how much, seems like it was under $15.00? It's big enough to cover 2 oversize cots.

Oooh, now there's a good idea!

Update - I only let out about 30 ladybugs, and the darn things happen to just walk around on the lattice, I rarely see them on a plant. I put one on a plant and it just walks over the aphids - thought they'd be hungry!

Found a ladybug in my house yesterday.......glad I didn't let more go. Hopefully the spray comes soon, these aphids seem to really be hindering the growth of the plants.

If the ones shipped you are babies, maybe they are still feeding off the remains of whatever internal larval food supplies they have stored up? That is a pure guess... anyone please feel free to correct me on that.