Saturday 29 January 2011

Aphids on my Komatsuna!

Aphids! they are back on my little garden. After I got rid of them last time with help from the ladybugs, I hoped they will stay away at least until the warm months, but no luck.

aphids-on-my-komatsuna

The komatsuna started turning orange


I had been noticing a couple of leafs on the komatsuna going brown and orange lately. Strange, but not that worrisome because the plants still looked healthy enough.

At first I thought they where just a bit dehydrated. . The wind usually takes away all the moisture on the upper planters and the days have been quite windy. So I just water them more and hope they will get better.

After a couple of days I noticed the leafs are still changing colors, so I blamed it on the cold. They are in the upper corner meaning they get extra wind and therefore cold. I wasn't worried because I have a lot of seedlings growing on the coldframe and also it will be time to change plants soon. I will have to harvest them anyways.

aphids-on-my-komatsuna-1

I wonder if I can still eat some after this, It still looks tasty


But then the other day, while I was sniping away some dead flower heads, I decided to take some komatsuna in to cook. There I found them. Aphids, a lot of them, going wild on the planter. Now I must get rid of them before they spread to all the other pots.

Lesson learned: I should have started paying a bit more attention from the beginning. I didn’t really check the plants until the end.

aphids-on-my-komatsuna-2

There are so many aphids in the komatsuna plants


Also, I found the guilty carrier this morning. I have been hearing some strange sounds on the outside lately but I wasn’t sure if it was just wind or what. Today I saw a big crow picking through the komatsuna. My guess is that the crow takes some leaves for making its nest and must have brought the aphids form some other place it visited.

Anyone with some recipe for getting rid of aphids?

34 comments:

  1. Fer; the only thing to do is to buy some proprietary bug-spray! I have tried all the environmentally-friendly things like soap solution, or garlic solution, but they don't seem to work. On a small area like yours maybe you could just squirt most of them off with a hand-held sprayer filled with lukewarm water?

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  2. Hi Fer!
    Try pepper solution and puts fresh orange peel among plants.

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  3. Hello fer and I so understand your feelings about the aphids .. I do constant battle with them some years they make me crazy ! LOL
    First I try the strong spray from my garden hose (which is something not recommended for you with your tiny placement ? ;-)
    There are many very safe home made sprays you can make with a bit of soap and vegetable oil(which helps the soap "stick" to the aphids and deter them) .. and over the counter "safe" organic soaps .. although I must confess i know nothing of Japanese products but I would imagine they would have a variety to choose from for veggie growers like yourself !
    Good luck with them .. and you are not the only one that sort of lingers with not really looking closely enough , soon enough .. we are all guilty of that at some point and time : )
    Joy

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  4. Pepper spray?Or put the pot in a very sunny spot.

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  5. I think that solution of vegetable oil, dish soap, garlic, red hot chillies and water will do the trick. I did to mine, and they are gone and those white mealy bugs just dropped off like dead flies. Though one of two will come back but just keep spraying and look more closely at your plants to spot them.

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  6. Fer, There is a recipe in Garden Walk Garden Talk's current post, In the Greenhouse with GWGT. What a small world. Carolyn

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  7. It always amazes me how aphids manage to get to my indoor plants! For manageable amounts I tend to be a wipe and squash girl. I have to use a piece of tissue as I couldn't squash with my bare hands!

    Try to get them early as aphids are born already able to reproduce and start to have babies a week after their own birth at a rate of about 100 a month! Each baby can also have 100 babies a month so it only takes one stray aphid to get onto your plant and start a plague!

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  8. I have had a look through your blog and am amazed at the places folks manage to garden.
    Well done!
    I wondered if you had ever seen this man's garden....as yours reminds me of his
    http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/growing-diary/

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  9. I have heard that if you use a dishsoap type spray that you should use a lemon one because that is what they don't like. I have never actually tried it though because all my aphids stick to eating the rose buds, sigh.

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  10. I have good luck with homemade soap sprays. I think dishwashing soap tends to work best (I use a natural variety).

    The other thing I do is transfer all the ladybugs I find to my infected plants. They usually clean up the problem within a day.

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  11. Sorry about your aphid problem. Last year they attacked my strawberries (http://tastytravels-holly.blogspot.com/2010/06/gardening-aphid-attack.html). I used ladybugs and spray. They eventually worked but I'm not sure which one. Later in the season I found them on my dill. Which is funny because I read somewhere that aphids stay away from dill. Hope you get them under control!

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  12. Ditto all the soap sprays. You can be vigilant forever and the moment you turn your back....

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  13. Yuk, we had that problem too. Try a soap water solution. We like Peppermint Castille soap because it's natural, and add to water and spray the plant down. The mint will kill the aphids.

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  14. Donna at Garden Walk Garden Talk has a recipe in her most recent post about her greenhouse. It may help.

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  15. I feel your dismay with the surprise discovery of aphids. This happen to me last year in the greenhouse I grow year-round in. I used a soap mix to get rid of them. NOW I apply some soap to my plants weekly so that doesn't happen again in the greenhouse.

    I love your blog!

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  16. Hi fer, Aphids are silent killers! Homemade pepper, chili and soap sprays never works for me! Store-bought organic spray never works either! Due to frustration, I tried the water-based aerosol spray and they worked, they died. Of course, I only spray on non edible plants! After that, make sure you clean the plant with lots of water and wipe them clean with a wet cloth. For the veggie and edible plants, I just cut away the deeply infested leaves and remove the aphids manually by using either wet cloth or slightly damp kitchen towels! This is really tedious work, but it is worth the effort! Make sure you clear off the top layer of the soil too, a few might drop onto it as you clean. Hope this helps. Good luck to you!

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  17. Yes, Patty, the moment you turn your back! Feeling the need to go check everything closely tomorrow morning! Best of luck Fer.

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  18. The monster in me takes the way of rubbing them off directly with my fingers... yakky, and it doesn't really work...

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  19. Aphids are my enemies and they usually strike during the rainy season.

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  20. I don't have any extra comments to the above. Aphids may be good because they attract beneficial bugs and birds. I squash them with or without gloves, or use a jet of water to dislodge them, or soapy water, or just leave them, they never seem to kill plants, they just don't look great. The bird would be eating the aphids, I would think, not bringing them. The other thing I do is build up the compost and water to strengthen the plants to resist the attack. If you cook the aphids would that count as extra protein?

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  21. Hi fer, just stopping by to let you know that I have an award for you. Please do stop by and pick it up when you can. Have a nice day!

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  22. Thank you all for your advice! I think I will harvest the rest of the komatsuna and start over that pot. Should be ok with some proper washing, if not is just extra protein like catmint said.

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  23. I usually hose/spray them off first. If that doesn't work, then diluted dish washing soap. Sorry to hear about your aphids. I also was not able to join your carnival because I was away and just got home this week. I will try to check it out as soon as I have caught up with backlog at work. -- Bom / Plant Chaser

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  24. My mother had a "green thumb" like you...me...I can't get a weed to grow.

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  25. Oh wow, that's interesting. I never would've thought of a bird carrying around a pest like an aphid before. Good luck getting rid of it.

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  26. There are some very good advice here for killing those aphids. They can become a big problem if not treated on time.
    I hope that next round of greens will be pest-free.

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  27. I think frost could cause yellow komatunas leaves.
    In Osaka we are facing severely cold weather as well as Tokyo where you live.

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  28. Well, you did it right with ladybugs. Lacewings serve for the same purpose. Try washing the plants in early stages. If there is a lot of aphids, try soap or oil home made sprays. Fertilize plants sparingly using slow release fertilizers to avoid too many new shoots because aphids love succulent new growth. Place yellow sticky plates to catch flying aphids.

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  29. When we had aphids in our large maple tree, we put a lot of ladybugs in the tree and it worked but it took a few years. When I have aphids on small trees or shrubs, I make a garlic shake. I put a lot of chopped garlic cloves in a bucket of water and let it stand a while. Then I water the plant with it. I Think it helps. But I don’t know why.

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  30. I tend to spray with soapy water or squash them (wearing gloves ugh!). You have to do it regularly though and some years it is a losing battle if their predators are not numerous enough. It may not be the Crow at fault - sometimes aphids are carried in air currents. They get everywhere, even inside my greenhouse and the house itself.

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  31. I have used a solution similar to "p3chandan" and it always appeared to work very well! Hope you find something that will work for you!

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  32. Thank you! So many great advices for taking care of aphids, I think I should collect them on a post.

    denise ~ garlics and most of the onion family has a chemical they don't like. they make great companion plants.

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  33. They are a nuisance Fer. I like to hose them off, the soapy solution works, but of course never do this when the sun is shining, leaves really will shrivel up. Companion planting also helps a lot, French marigolds help to keep the aphids away.

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  34. You could try planting spring onion, or garlic or some other onion-y plant next to them. This often works for keeping aphids away because they don't like the smell.
    If you don't want to grow from seed (because it takes too long) you can just get some ready to eat spring onions from a shop with the roots still on, and put them in a glass of water for one or two days until the roots recover, then put it straight in the ground next to your komatsuma, and water it with the water from the glass (because it will have a really strong onion smell by now). That should do the trick, plus you now have got a crop of spring onions too!
    Hope that is helpful!

    Peter

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