Me vs. Aphids

[gtarman]

Hey guys.

The last couple of days I've been tackling bit by bit the health of a tree under which I want to plant some Psychotria's I have on the way. The main problem was that this tree has been mauled by lots and lots of aphids, and I didn't want them nibbling at my Psychotria's once they're in.

The whole process has actually been kinda fun, and pretty simple - using only some things from the kitchen and a hand sprayer bottle. So I thought I'd share what I've done here if anyone was interested.

First, I sprayed all the aphids and nests I could see with a solution of 60% white vinegar in a hand spray bottle. I've read that this can burn some kinds of plants, but this tree doesn't even seem to have noticed.

Then I removed the bits that were beyond help with some garden shears, and the ones that were just covered in dead aphids.

Then today, I put a stockpot of water on the stove, and boiled half a jar of minced garlic in it for...15 to 20 mins I think? I then waited for that to cool, then submerged and filled the spray bottle with it a few times, giving the whole plant a good coating - from the reading I've done apparently aphids can't stand garlic.

Then the last thing I did, I actually did to keep ants off the tree - aphids leave some kind of a residue that ants love, and so ants will protect the aphids from other predators....I misted a wide section around the whole base of the tree with plain water, and then dusted liberally with cinnamon (which apparently ants can't stand), and the water helps the cinnamon stick, forming a coating all around the tree which ants (hopefully) can't get past.

I'll post on here after a week to let you know the results

EDIT: the cinnamon does seem to be working quite well. The ants already on the tree can't seem to get down - they just turn around whenever they hit the spice.

Edited October 6, 2012 by gtarman

[PositiveHAL]

sounds good gtarman!

let us know how it goes

ive had a similar war raging with my thrips infested bedroom garden.

on the up side the thrips have eaten all the spider mites which is good,

those damn thrips breed up so rapidly and love the peres,

got any advice on those?

im gunna get chemical on their little arses soon

[gtarman]

I've not dealt with thrips before actually. The most info I could find was here: http://www.ghorganics.com/page9.html#Thrips:

You'd be better equipped if you lived in the US - where you can buy nematodes and ladybugs by the punnet - both predators.

[PositiveHAL]

cheers,

what sort of tree do you have?

[gtarman]

I feel kinda stupid for not knowing what it's called actually...I'll have to ask my neighbour.

I always find it hard with plant names - coz until somebody tells you what something's called or you stumble upon the info by luck there's not really much of a way to build a large id repertoire. Unless somebody write's a book called "every plant ever, and it's botanical and common names, organized by appearance and features"

But it grows everywhere in Brisbane. I think I need to get a camera...

Edited October 7, 2012 by gtarman

[BentoSpawn]

I have a problem with aphids at the moment anyone know a good treatment that wont also kill the lady birds munching on the aphids? Or do i just let the aphids and lady birds keep battling it out?

[gtarman]

Hey Bento.

...depends how much you like ladybirds I guess - if you kill the aphids, you won't necessarily need the ladybirds. You could also just re-locate the ladybirds by scooping them up on your finger or gently flicking them off the plant before you go to town on the aphids though.

And for an update - the aphids and ants are gone as far as I can see.

In hindsight it looks like the vinegar solution did hurt my tree a little though, the effects just came on reeal slow. Next time I'm going to use one of the two solutions on this page. I didn't know nightshade plants could be used in that manner! I'll have to try it out sometime...

Though to be honest my first port of call would be the "garlic oil" option. But I'd probably skip the oil bit...just make some a concentrated garlic solution/reduction via boiling in a stockpot jars of minced garlic or (probably better) a few packets of the powdered garlic from the spice aisle. Put that in a spray bottle with some dishwashing liquid, mix it up and booom!

Edited October 12, 2012 by gtarman

[BentoSpawn]

The plant that is being attacked my aphids is rather large, flicking off the butterfly's by hand would be completely impracticable I like having butterflys munching away on garden pests so i would prefer not to kill them in the process of getting rid of the aphids - that and the butterflys look nice

Edit: Ended up using Pyrethrum, but after using it i found out that it also kills lady birds >_< So i am still keen to hear on anyones solutions that don't also end up killing the lady birds for future attacks

Edited October 12, 2012 by BentoSpawn

[gtarman]

So I just found out my prized Ourinhos caapi had aphids all over a few of the leaves! Needless to say, they were sent right back to the fiery chasm from whence they came, by courtesy of uber-concentrated garlic solution and detergent in a spray bottle.

It was actually the ants that made me take notice, so I guess even though they were helping fuck my shit up, I should be thankful to them. The above spray worked FAST too, killing the ants as well as the aphids in less than 30 seconds it seemed.

The exact recipe if anybody wants it, was 50gm of garlic powder, and 3 teaspoons of minced garlic from a jar, boiled down for about 20 minutes in a full stockpot of water. Once that cools down enough to use and the chunks of garlic have settled to the bottom, fill up the spray bottle with the garlic solution and squeeze in a generous squirt of detergent (I use the Earth brand in those big bottles). Shake well, and proceed to get Dirty Harry on those munchy little fucks.

Edited October 20, 2012 by gtarman

[Ambient]

I've been having similar problems with aphids on new spring growth & was a bit paranoid about spraying anything on some of my less tolerant tropical species. So I gave the insect warfare approach a go & managed to win the battle by providing regular reinforcements to my ladybird nymph army. Fortunately I have a large nympho (i wish) nymph training camp on my citrus trees & conscript those who fall on a table under the tree where I often sit to have lunch. I save them from the ants on the table & they save my plants from the aphids It took a while for the nymphs to get the upper hand, but once I'd collected a few, the aphids disappeared really fast.

Although this isn't the most strait forward approach, or very practical for larger scale infestations (due to all the collecting you have to do), if you have the time & right plants in the garden to collect nymphs from, it can be a rewarding process & boosts the ladybird population ready to protect the rest of you're garden.

The aphids haven't come back so far... but if they do I might be giving you're recipe a go

[gtarman]

Sounds like you did good AF

One thing I think I might experiment with after doing a little more research is planting out heaps of coriander and Queen Anne's Lace through my garden. Between those two plants, apparently you can attract a great number of beneficial insects - ladybirds are attracted to both, and they also get lacewings and predatory wasps among other things from what I have read.