How to prevent/get rid of APHIDS

What are aphids? Aphids, also known as plant lice, greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions (Wikipedia, 2012).

Why are they a problem? Because they cause damage to the plants and can spread plant disease.

What will they attack? In my garden I have found them on my chilies (this was their favorite and needed the most attention), tomatoes, and parsley. I hear that they also enjoy strawberries, citrus, sugar cane, roses, and potatoes.

How do I identify them? You may know that they are getting about your garden when your plants exhibit damage such as, decreased growth rates, mottled leaves, yellowing, stunted growth, curled leaves, browning, wilting, low yields and death (Wikipedia, 2012).

Most aphids have soft bodies, which may be green, black, brown, pink or almost colourless. They are very tiny and are generally found on the underside of the leave.

The ones I used to find kind of look like this...

How can I prevent/get rid of them? I have managed to destroy and keep a bay a massive aphid infestation. I can’t identify a single technique that fixed it because I was in such a hurry to get rid of them I used heaps at the same time. My chilli plants did get really sick and I almost lose one but having used a combination of the follow techniques they are now mega healthy, look great and are about to give me LOTS of chillies! So this is what I used:

Quarantine – The first thing I did was move the infected plants away from healthy plants that might also be on the aphids menu.

Foil – a skirt of foil at the base of the plant, (see previous post) with the most reflective side facing up is suppose to be intimidating so that aphids won’t bother with the plant.

Other plants – I rearranged the plants on the veranda to have things like basil, chives and mint next to the plants that aphids love. This is because aphids don’t like the scent of these herbs.

Weak detergent spray – I mixed a small amount of dish detergent with water in a spray bottle and every day would give the entire plant a wash with it. Remember to wash you fruit and veg before preparing it because it may be a little bit soapy but I try to avoid spraying the fruit.

Hand-to-hand combat – If the infestation is a manageable size you will be able to sit down and do a leaf by leaf inspection and evict by hand any unwanted visitors or just go Chuck Norris on them and knock out some aphids! Make sure that you crush them because they will come back. I did this a couple of days in a row and got rid of them all. Now, I check the plant about once a week just to be sure (paranoid? YES, haha) and occasionally I might find one but his fate isn’t hard to determine…DEATH.

Additionally, these have also been suggested:

Seaweed/hot pepper/coriander spray – Just from the local gardening/hardware shop. Can be used early, to prevent and later to kill them. (Roth, eHow, 2012).

Banana peels – Firstly, EWW. But apparently aphids, like my friend Alex, hate bananas. Additional benefit is nutrient from the composted peel (Roth, eHow, 2012).

Ladybirds - YES, sounds crazy but these little cuties love to eat aphids! You can buy boxes of them online (from places like EcoOrganic Garden) and release them onto your plants. Don't believe me? Check out this awesome video of a ladybird chowing down on some aphids!!