Need a safe alternative to pesticides for aphids. Help?
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There are a lot of ways to get rid of aphids! I liked the first answer of ladybugs (which are even available at big places like home depot now) or insecticidal soap (Dawn and water in a spray bottle, type in homemade insecticidal soap into a search engine for a specific recipe). With insecticidal soap, you have to thoroughly coat the plant, top and bottom of leaves. I also saw blasting them off with a hose which works well. I wouldn't recommend praying mantids as those eat everything, good & bad insects alike. Also, pyrethrins are NOT considered organic as they are a manufactured insecticide.
I'd like to suggest that you check out this website from the Univ of California, Davis. It has a lot of good ideas for management, including the ones mentioned above. It has much better instructions and reasons too, yet it user friendly. Can you tell it is one of my favorite websites? :P
http://ipm.ucdavis.edu/
Ladybugs. They eat aphids as their main source of food! You can order them online too!
If you don't want to get some ladybugs you can use Dawn dish liquid and water and put in a sprayer and spray on your plants.
There is a product called neem oil that is safe to spray on plants and veggies. It is mixed with dish soap and sprayed on. If ladybugs aren't an option (they really do eat a lot of aphids), neem oil works well.
here's a non traditional insecticide.. Technically anything that kills a bug, including another bug is an insecticide.. And though the ladybugs will work, they are living creatures and you can't control their movement so if they decide to leave.. there goes your solution..
If you get used cigarette buts, cigars, a can of chewing tobacco or loose tobacco and soak it in water it makes a great insecticide.. The Nicotine leaches into the water over a day or so and is at toxic levels for the insects when applied or when they eat the sprayed surface.. it washes off with no residue.. There are also pyrethran based products that kill insects that are not in the traditional insecticide bin as both pyrethrans and nicotine are considered organic insecticides..
hold the bud or area and spray with hose.the easiest and safest of all ways if you have the time
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