More info: https://www.epicgardening.com/aphids/ – Aphids are one of the most common – and annoying pests in the garden. Here are our strategies to get rid of aphids without needing to spray any pesticides or take any drastic, garden-destroying measures.
00:00 – Intro
00:05 – Aphids Overview
00:43 – Common Signs Of Aphids
03:25 – Clearing Aphids
05:59 – Aphids Control Mistakes
07:14 – Prevention
09:06 – Outro
IN THIS VIDEO
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BTW, that Hawk's Bill knife has become my every day carry out in the garden: https://shop.epicgardening.com/collections/tools/products/felco-light-grafting-pruning-knife
Since I am growing garlic and onions this year, I trim the dying, dried, and yellow leaves, snip it up into smaller bits, and sprinkle under my brassicas. Similar to how companion planting works, the smell of the onions and garlic help deter the insects for a short time. Not a 100% fix, but it definitely has reduced the aphids since.
I use concentrated neem oil mixed with water. It works so well. I have had the concentrated stuff where you use 1T per half g of h20. I've had this bottle for years.
The typing you can hear in the background of the podcast is really the worst for my brain.
Also, love Kevin, love Epic Gardening, love my birdies raised bed!
Neem oil is also good for red beetles for liliesto
Chickens love aphids fyi if you're willing to sacrific some of the infected leaves
I have aphids on my paepermint! Of course on radish, rose, strawberries, cilantro, peas, on and off on the lettuce, overwintered eggplants, tomato seedlings. At some point it got so bad and I ended up with 5 ant colonies in my containers (including mint!) I got rid of the overwintered tomato that had the worst infestation, trimmed the rose bush to a stick, threw away any containers with ants. That helped control the population and I see signs of the parasitic wasp turning many aphids to egg hosts.
Does soap and the neem oil harm the ladybugs?
You should have a container or bag to place the infested leafs to help control the spread of the pests
Hmmm, my gorgeous kale was destroyed over 1-2 days by aphids. I soaked the plant in a dawn water solution, some help but not enough. Last year, that same kale plant survived my first aphid attack by 2 lady bugs that showed up out of nowhere. One day & the aphids were gone, so we're the lady bugs. I had tried need oil first without any success. If I had more than that one plant, I would've bought lady bugs. I think you can buy them online.
The aphid attack happened during a 28 degree overnight freeze. We never really get below 30s, nor rain of more than .01 inch. (I know pathetic.) I thought it weird they would exist when it was so cold.
Aphid (and slugs ) were terrible at my place when I moved in. Killing them was an endless task, especially since the neighbour is a rental and no one cares about the garden, so it's an infinite source of pests.
I bought lacewings for the aphid and they have been amazing. It's a long term solution; took about 3 months to really notice the difference. But now I rarely see aphids at all.
The main catch with this solution is that the lacewings are carnivores when young, and nectar eaters as adults. So you need flowers for them to complete their life cycle. Actually, not that much of a problem for a gardener.
Also these are native where I am. If you look into bio-control of pests, please encourage native predators to your area.
I don't have much trouble with aphids as I have a wide variety of insects, frogs, toads, and birds in my yard. When I do get some, I spray the plants with garlic juice. Works really well. A couple of cloves per liter (quart) of water is what I use.
Assassin bugs? Yikes.
is the discord no longer around?
Trap cropping and spraying neem, castile soap w/ wintergreen seems effective for me. I tried to plant nesturtium because I read it was a trap for aphids, but they much preferred the near by borage.
Diatomaceous earth seems more effective at stopping leaf miners by frequently dusting the soil under the plants.
Can you put those cut leaves in the compost pile, or is that a no-no with aphids?
Those things creep me out so much I have to wear gloves!
What timing! I actually noticed some (I'm pretty sure) aphids on my hibiscus flowers a couple weeks ago. They like to attack the flower buds where it's nice and soft. I was so worried because I give the flowers to my bearded dragon as occasional treats, and so using any chemicals or anything that alters the plant was off the table. I wouldn't say the aphids were to the point of infestation (yet), but they were noticeable, and I of course didn't want to feed aphids to my beardie in case of parasites or disease.
But then, few days later, I noticed several ladybugs! A pair even laid some eggs under a hibiscus leaf! I kept an eye on the eggs and they just hatched a day or two ago. The larvae have already over doubled in size and gained some color, so I know they're getting some good food! I was lucky and it's been really cool to see nature keep itself in balance without my intervention 🙂 Can't wait to have my own little ladybug army haha
Do you have any videos on when a plant is not safe to eat or how to clean them before eating? New to gardening and I don't know what a leaf would look like thats not safe to eat anymore
I have a medium size stone fruit tree and last year I noticed it had a couple limbs COVERED in aphids, there was also a lot of ants. I was thinking about what to do and then noticed a couple of lady bugs. I went around the tree and counted about 8 or 9 total lady bugs. I also noticed the ants harassing the lady bugs to protect their food source, the aphids. I put ant traps at the base of the tree to get rid of the ants… the lady bugs, being unmolested now, took care of the aphids. I was pleased with myself for having the patience to only slightly alter the environment and then let the ecosystem do the rest.
I’ve been experimenting with applying a solution of Hydrogen Peroxide (1 qt bottle added to water in a 2 gallon watering can) to the soil at the end of the growing season and/or prior to planting. This seems to be working to prevent the infestation from happening at all or at the very least reducing the magnitude. I think this is probably because cabbage aphids overwinter in the soil, and the H2O2 kills the eggs. For example, I did two applications in my grow dome this winter where I grow collards and kale all winter. Usually, by this time of the spring, the aphid infestation is coming on strong. This year, nothing! It has also been useful outdoors.
Great timing! I went out to the garden this morning and discovered aphids. My work schedule has been hectic so I was neglecting the plants. Lesson learned.
Can you do a video about black dots and powdery mildew on tomato plant, I have a raised bed garden and my tomato looks ver bad with black dots almost rot and powdery milk dew.
can you buy praying mantis eggs and lady bugs?
Thanks for giving the knife info. It looks super handy and easy to carry in a pocket. I just ordered one from you.