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Post by nana on Mar 7, 2020 17:04:39 GMT -5
I have a mandevilla vine that lives outside in the summer but comes inside when it gets cold, and it has been disgustingly infested with aphids all winter. I had rinsed it off with the hose before I brought it in, but they keep coming back. I tried insecticidal soap spray, but apparently the plant is sensitive to it as well because it started dropping leaves and the tender growing tips got burned from it. I even tried scooping up the foolish winter ladybugs that crawl around on the windowsills to try to get them to eat the aphids, supposedly their favorite food, and they ignored them. I am reduced to going over the plant every few days and smushing the aphid colonies between my thumb and index finger and even after months of smushing they seemingly regenerate overnight. I've hardly even made a dent in their numbers. I do not want to use actual poisonous insecticide, especially since it's in my living space. Does anyone have any other ideas?
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Post by vaporvac on Mar 7, 2020 17:29:54 GMT -5
I thought for a minute I was on my rose forum! : )) Those would have been my suggestions, Nana. Perhaps try a dilute skim milk solution. Can you take it outside to spray? The only other suggestion is tobacco tea, which while being a poisonous insecticide, is not to be confused with neonictinoids and other systemics. It is a contact killer and will quickly degrade in sunlight.
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Post by nana on Mar 7, 2020 17:50:25 GMT -5
Outside is a no, too cold and the outside faucet is still shut off and drained. Is tobacco tea something you can make with a few cigarettes emptied into boiling water? Next time I'm around someone who smokes (thankfully, not often) I will ask to bum a few. And after they get over their shock I'll explain why. I don't know enough about the aphid life cycle, I suppose. They must lay eggs, hatch out as larvae, and pupate, but no matter how many I smush they come back in a matter of days. It's like there's a vortex pipeline direct from planet aphid and they just keep coming!!!
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Post by vaporvac on Mar 8, 2020 13:15:43 GMT -5
Sorry to be the bearer of bad new, but I think aphids are born pregnant! I meant can you take it outside to spray with a bottle? Yes, to the tea method. I get pipe tobacco and use an old tea ball. They can spread disease, btw. Outside, I generally leave them to the good bugs, but inside they have no predators.
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Post by nana on Mar 9, 2020 19:18:56 GMT -5
Ugh, I should be happy they're just on that plant and not all over the house then!
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Post by mach12 on Mar 10, 2020 15:08:01 GMT -5
It has been awhile since I had an indoor aphid problem and my Dad was still alive so I had the option of calling him. He had gardened forever and did organic gardening before it was a thing so had some amazing tips and tricks. When I needed to deal with them he told me to use neem oil, an oil from the neem tree. I just looked it up because I don't trust my memory anymore and it's even safe for vegetables and fruits. He said the thing that was often overlooked was how important it is to spray the bottoms of the leaves and how that was often overlooked. When I looked it up just now it said it's also effective against stuff like leaf mildew and other problems too. About 10 years ago we had aphids on our roses and some other outdoor plants so I bought a box of ladybugs and opened the box and set it on a pot of one of the affected plants and a week or so later I had fat ladybugs and didn't see any more aphids. Too bad that's not a good option with indoor plants.
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Post by nana on Mar 10, 2020 17:18:35 GMT -5
I have lady bugs, but they are the stupid indoor winter ones that crawl on the windowsills and die. I have tried to pick them up (the live ones) and actually place them right on top of the aphids and they don't seem to recognize them as food, or else they are at some strange point in THEIR life cycle where they don't eat...
The lady bug is the New York State insect, but these aren't the ones which I remember from my childhood. Those were bright red and always had the same number of spots. These are a dull orange and have random numbers of spots. These are the type that people can buy by the boxful, and they are a different species. They have pretty much displaced the native ladybugs, and they seem to have population spikes and they infest peoples homes. If they were roaches or spiders people would probably freak, but they're just ladybugs, so you kind of put up with them and vacuum up the deadsters when you see them. Some people call exterminators if they get really bad.
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Post by vaporvac on Mar 11, 2020 13:24:28 GMT -5
The ones you have are a Chinese invasive species so I guess something else is on their menu.I didn't know they actually sold them. Neem is great, but be careful as it can burn the leaves right off in hot sun. Probably not such a problem inside during the winter.
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Post by mach12 on Mar 11, 2020 14:04:16 GMT -5
When we bought this house it had been repossessed and involved in several years of legal battles between the banks (several loans secured with the house and land), owners, leans by the state and so on and had sat empty for years and ladybugs had found their way in the house and in the pumphouse so I just brought in the shopvac and went to town. When I took the shopvac outside to dump them they took off flying like nothing had happened. Tough little suckers!
Vaporvac, you're right about being careful how you use neem. I should have added one of the acronyms we used when training soldiers - RTFI or RTFM. Read The Friggin' Instructions/Manual.
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Post by nana on Mar 11, 2020 17:06:47 GMT -5
I bet the language was a little saltier than that!π
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Post by mach12 on Mar 11, 2020 20:26:59 GMT -5
I bet the language was a little saltier than that!π That's a bet you'd friggin' win.
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Post by nana on Mar 12, 2020 17:20:42 GMT -5
No doubt!ππ
I will try the neem oil. I've heard of it, but never tried it before. I wonder if it would work on the scale type insects that are on my asters every year. Worth a try!
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Post by vaporvac on Mar 12, 2020 18:42:30 GMT -5
The label will tell you. I use horticultural oil for them as a dormant spray.
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