Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Aphid infestation on my Hoya! Help!, 0 by Anniesfollies

Anniesfollies wrote:
Help! Aphids invaded my Hoya last year (along with many other plants and trees in the garden) and are still here. They’re mostly on the flowers, which are numerous right now. I usually just spray aphids off with water, but with all the blooms I'm afraid I would spray them off, and because it’s not trellised out it would be impossible to get to more than the front. (I no longer use systemic insecticide as recent bee research is showing that 30+% of bees have these insecticides in their systems.) It’s an 18-20 year old Hoya carnosa and since we moved nine years ago it has been given away and returned, had numerous moves, inconsistent water, too much sun, and no fertilizer. Amazingly it has survived and in two weeks will be moved to a better place where it will be happier and can be displayed appropriately.
I was hoping to have the aphids gone by then so as not to have to deal with the sticky residue and ants. One friend has suggested Neem Oil. Any advice will be appreciated.


This message was edited Jul 4, 2011 2:55 PM