Oh no....Aphids?

Oh no!! I woke up this morning to find little tinny green bugs on my sweet pepper plants!! There is also small black ants crawling around under them. I found an image that looks like the bugs and it said they were aphids. This is my first garden so not sure what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I only found the bugs on the pepper plants, do they spread to the other plants, other boxes??

here are some answers to your question. http://organicgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/kill_aphids_in_the_organic_garden

I have no experience with aphids but this what my only gardening book (besides SFG), Carrots Love Tomatoes recommends. Pyrethurm, wood ash at the base (it said this in the pea section, so I don't know if it works for peppers), smoking them with oak leaf smoke, and companion planting with stinging nettles.

Good luck...let us know how it turns out.

I have had good results by spraying with soapy water. I don't know if it's the slippery footing or ingestion of the soap, but most are gone a few days later.

I just get a good squirt gun (super soaker style if the plants are big enough) and give them a blast. Mostly gone. Don’t get squeamish but you can also flick and pinch them off (c'mon your hands wash)

The real problem is the ants. Did you know that the ants "farm the aphids? They do something called milking them. Control the ants and you can control the aphids.

Deborah ....it is beautiful out, I was only coming in for a moment

I picked them off. I think I caught it early because most were still eggs/larva (what ever they are). Do aphids have wings? I saw some that looked like aphids but with wings. I will try the soapy water, just in case. My papers have blooms and peppers do you think the soapy water will harm the blooms?

insecticidal soap works well i myself prefer Neem oil its organic and so far for me has taken care of just about every bug ive come across (except roachs lol) and if you can get some lady bugs and praying mantis to call your garden home that would be even better cause they love to feast on aphids and such.

choksaw wrote:insecticidal soap works well i myself prefer Neem oil its organic and so far for me has taken care of just about every bug ive come across (except roachs lol) and if you can get some lady bugs and praying mantis to call your garden home that would be even better cause they love to feast on aphids and such.

I know this is an old thread. I just came across this. Did you know you can kill roaches with dish soap water? I read about it and gave it a shot with Dawn diluted in a spray bottle. Some may not die right away, because it depends mostly on the strength of the mixture. As I turn my compost I keep a bottle handy for the roaches.

Dstack,  How is your garden doing?  Post photos!!

Thanks for asking Sanderson. I can give more details when I have more time. Basically, most of everything is coming along slowly but surely. I have a challenge with my cukes and zucchini. I'll try to get some picks and more detail tomorrow.

sanderson wrote:Dstack,  How is your garden doing?  Post photos!!

Sanderson, most everything is doing fine, although it's all growing slower than I'd like. My biggest challenge are the cukes.  I've been searching with no luck on this forum hoping to find someone that has, or had, the same problem I'm having with either my cukes or zukes. 

My cuke vines haven't produced anything and decided I may need to do some hand pollinating like I do with the squash and zukes. My cuke vines all of a sudden died way back. One day last week I found that one vine from about a fourth of the vine to the terminal bud hung totally limp as if it had been cut. But no, it was still attached, although I've cut it off and thrown it away in case it was diseased. Then the next day I'd come out and another vine or two would be hanging limp from the youngest third (or fifth, or tenth...) of the vine.  It's always one decisive point just beyond a particular node in a vine that life has shutdown. Every one of the vines have died back significantly, and don't know if this is a disease, or just stress from not getting something it needs. 

Yes, the vines have been under stress from spraying it a lot for the aphids. And I've sprayed my cuke leaves so much (never during peak sunlight) for bugs that the leaves show the stress. I've lightened up on the spraying, but I'm about to rip the vines out and start fresh. I have planted replacement seeds on my seedling bench away from the boxes just in case. 



I've also planted backup seeds for the zukes...

You cukes look like they need to be fed. And gad zukes. What are you spraying? Most older zucchini foliage will get a silver sheen, that is perfectly normal.

http://carletongarden.blogspot.com/2008/06/zucchini-leaves.html

I've been on a rotation of spays using soap water, neem oil, H202, rubbing alcohol (70%, and then rinse with water after 20-30 minutes).

And the zuke thing isn't just a silver sheen, these are very defined mildew spots.

I'll post more pics and updates on one of my threads under "Show us yours."  

dstack wrote:I've been on a rotation of spays using soap water, neem oil, H202, rubbing alcohol (70%, and then rinse with water after 20-30 minutes).

Maybe your Mel's mix is now polluted. Just a thought.

My cukes look exactly like yours, leaves yellowing, curling up and dying. The new growth is dark green, but not for long as powdery mildew sets in. I've had zero females, only male flowers. However after the first 4 ft of growth died off on 8 of the separate vines, I now have more females than males so I'm hand pollinating like crazy and most of the females are now growing fruit even though the mildew is still there. 

Maybe give it some more time like I did and plant will change modes.

I think it you have a mosaic virus.  I had it in my garden this year for the first time ever and I didn't know what it was until it destroyed all my cucumbers and winter squash plants.  It started in a zucchini which I left in the ground because I didn't know any better.  After it got it, all the new growth was deformed (leaves were spindley and no female flowers ever opened again).  The new growth never took on a mottled look but everything else lined up exactly.  Eventually it spread to my cukes and then squash.  Aphids can be carriers of the virus and so can we (humans).  I'm certain I helped spread it by using the same pruner on each plant when I was cutting off some old leaves with spider mites on them.  

Once you get a plant infected with a mosaic virus nothing can help.  You have to pull it and throw it away in the garbage.  I also read that it appears more often on later plantings (which my squash plants were - they were second plantings).

edit: by carriers I mean we can spread it around via our equipment and hands. Not that it actually infects us.

Resistant is good, but it is not synonymous with immune. I think control of the virus vectors is a priority. Good luck with the new plants.

Thanks for the info on the mosaic virus - I realize that's what my fall planting spaghetti squash had. I new it looked strange but the plants continued to do fairly well and produced 3 mature squash each of large size. However, the plants were dying off early, now I know why.

Is there anything that should be done for future plantings where the virus was? Will it die off over the winter?
Audrey

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:
Is there anything that should be done for future plantings where the virus was?  Will it die off over the winter?  
Audrey

It depends upon what specific type of virus it is, some die with the plant others can be hosted in seed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_virus