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Outdoor Aphids in flower (not root aphids)

GET MO

Registered Med User
Veteran
In almost 20 years of outdo growing ive never had issues with aphids, now this year they goin nuts. They actually aint effecting the yield n plants dont seem bothered, sept they leavin they sticky bullshit on the leaves, and Im not tryin to smoke aphid piss. Any good ideas for mid to late flowering aphid infestations?

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I'd say if you're at least ten days from harvest, hit them with two rounds of Bug Buster-O.

Try to stay off the flowers I guess... I've never dealt with aphids like that before, but pretty much any crappy insect I've had the misfortune of shooing off my plants has been successfully gotten rid of by using Bug Buster-O.

It degrades in sunlight and is said to be safe up until the day of harvest... but I'm really conservative with my pesticide treatments, only using them when absolutely necessary and never within a few days of harvest. I always give it 5 days to clear off the plants and rinse them the night before harvest with clean water.

They get a good shake the day of, and then trimmed and hung up.
 
mine got some too. they were right next to a veggie garden that got them though. I just dropped 5k ladybugs on them while i wait for my Aphelinus abdominalis in the mail. im trying to go the whole year 100% organic without spraying anything ever. Ive been ordering green lacewings all summer but they dont seem to fuck with aphids
 

Ktaadn

Member
I'm on my second year dealing with these. I'd never seen them before until bringing in cuts from outdoors last season. I underestimated them and ended up losing some unique genetics because of it. Once you see them in the winged stage they spread like wildfire and they'll reproduce faster than you can remove them manually.

I'm seeing them again this year on some plants that are close to finish. I don't want to spray anything on those and am just removing any leaves with them, but will be ordering some essential oils to hopefully prevent another infestation in my veg.
 

MrDotto

New member
Aphids are more now as they were in fhe past because of the climatic changing from the global warming. Try with a mix of wather vinegar and pepper it should kill them and the eggs too and keep away them until harvest
 

Mikell

Dipshit Know-Nothing
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Spray with a hard blast of water and apply tanglefoot to the base of the plant. Once you have dislodged them the only way back is by ants.

Spray once a day or as often as you like. It's bloody water.
 

GET MO

Registered Med User
Veteran
I been sprayin with the hose, seems to knock um back, i got some tanglefoot i jus gotta find it, then ima tanglefoot n spray again tomorrow, then its sposta rain for the next three days too, so they should be dented pretty good in the next week.
 

GET MO

Registered Med User
Veteran
They been back every year, these aphids no how to hold on when u blast um with water. I need to take some cuts so Im wondering what will definitely kill them and eggs I could dip cuts in...
 

hellfire

Active member
Predators. Get some green lacewings if you can. You may be able to find a free assasain if there's any praying mantis around.
 
I've been suggesting this stuff a handful of times lately for different things around here, I'm no shill for the company I just used the product recently for mites and it worked well for me so I've been suggesting it to other folks.....


But some stuff called "Dr. Zymes" should kill and wipe out aphids. I've been using it for russet mites so I'm sure it'll help wipe out aphids. It is safe to use during flowering and shouldn't have any impact on aroma/flavor of the buds. It is OMRI listed, it is some proprietary mixture but is citric acid/enzyme based from what I understand.

That's what I'd use if I had big plants and an aphid infestation during flowering.



If this wasn't happening during flowering I'd try to use a hose to spray them off the plant with water. Or I'd use a mixture of dish soap and veg oil in warm water and spray that on them to kill them. Or I'd use a mixture of essential oils, castile soap and alcohol diluted in water.

And if my plants weren't big, I'd simply use a paint brush to wipe the aphids off the leaves.


I had aphids last year on my plants about a week or two before harvest. I didn't want to spray anything on my plants and since my plants were relatively small I just used a paint brush to wipe/knock them off the leaves physically. I did that for about 20 minutes every morning, after a few days I wasn't seeing much of them on the plants and my plants made it to harvest with out being impacted by the aphids.


Good luck!...I hate the nasty mess aphids make.


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mr.brunch

Well-known member
Veteran
Squashing the bastards with your thumb helps-
Plant some marigolds nearby next year and they should stay away.
Good luck
 

Noonin NorCal

Active member
Veteran
get underneath the cannopy and pluck every one of those leaves off and step on them lol...
Maybe order a bunch of ladybugs too

I heard green lacewings work a lot faster though when they eat
 

LizardMan

Member
Lady bug larvae are hungry little fuckers nice by product of having a bunch of lady bugs.... But they also don't get down between the bud and stem where the aphids live in late flower
 
Squashing the bastards with your thumb helps-
Plant some marigolds nearby next year and they should stay away.
Good luck


I don't know how big your plants typically are, but squashing them by hand would take damn near all day just to go over a single plant or two, and one's hands would be totally caked & covered in bug guts.

A paint brush would be a lot quicker at doing the job of wiping them off the leaves...but if one's plants are typical outdoor plants then even that will likely take all day long just to go over a plant or two. A single plant has thousands of leaves on it, it will take a long time to turn over each individual leaf on a plant.

Companion plants can help...but merely planting marigolds nearby will not totally prevent aphids from infesting plants.

Increasing the bio-diversity of one's yard in general is the idea tho....Make one's backyard into an eco-system of its own. Let native plants grow and plant many other plants, let all sorts of insects and critters live around the yard.

My yard is somewhat "wild" and a little diverse with native plants, and some flowers and vegetables that I planted, my yard is totally chock full & loaded with wild/native lady bugs and lacewings....and I still get aphids & mites and other "pests" .




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