It's so bad that I dumped what I picked today that was going to be stirfried kale w/ almonds.
I got grossed out so bad, What shouldI do about it. I'm not one to put non organic stuff onthe greens, so what should I do, And don't tell me to wash them buggers off, cause If you could only see that back sides of those greens. It was like opening this closet door and this bad monster was back there scared the bajeebers out of me. LOL
kathy
Kale covered with aphids
Have you tried a strong jet of water followed by an insectifidal soap, like Safer's?
Also, is there a lot of ant activity around the aphids. The ants will farm the aphids by actually carrying them up to the plant.
I have too much kale out there, I'd have to turn each leaf over to spray it, cause spraying ontop of the leaf wouldn't help would it?
The aphids do seem to be only on the older leaves and not the young ones.
Wonder if a good frost would kill the aphids?
kathy_ann,
I feel for ya. Every last leafy green I grew last year was coated w/ grey aphids. Cabbages I could peel leaves off until I got to apid free cabbage but the mustard,turnips and lettuces were covered as well and the task was to duanting to even tackle. My son's iguana was pleased as punch to get bugs w/ his greens though.
P
LOL, well at least the little iguana was a happy camper LOL
kathy
I have this problem. Say I get rid of the infected plant and start fresh. What can I do to stop it from happening again?
That's a good question Cruzpuppies. I'm not sure of it , hopefully someone can come along.
Unless your willing to use liquid seven on them which I wasn't. I just tilled mine up.
I didn't get aphids on any of the other greens, the spinach and mustard and turnips were just fine, but the aphids were covered in them
A flock of ladybugs will help. Also a spray of diluted neem oil kills them dead, but doesn't hurt the beneficials.
I have some neem, but it was so difficult spraying the undersides of the leaves cause they weren't on the top, just the undersides. I'd have to lift each leaf over, basically, it was like a carpet under each leaf a thick carpet of aphids on each leaf. It was horrid. I'm not sure if i'll grow kale again because of that LOL
I just planted some spinach today. I don't have problems with bugs on the spinach
I've had aphids this bad. I just picked the new leaves which didn't have as many and washed 'em off. The rest of the plant got buried in the compost. But...
You could try a two-pronged approach: try to pick all the badly infected leaves and dispose of them. That gets rid of quite a few. For the rest - I know it's tedious - but a spray bottle full of water and maybe 1/2 tsp of dish soap will kill them (by drying them out). I know this works as I have used it before with success. You do have to get the undersides of the leaves - I find a yardstick helps push the leaves up so you can see.
You might have to spray every week for a while. Aphids reproduce a lot and quickly. In a few weeks the aphids should be greatly reduced and the kale should have new leaves. Make sure to water well (at the base only so as to not wash the soap off).
Yes, a good frost kills them and makes kale taste sweeter too!
I just tilled them under cause we planted the kale for a cover crop in the garden during the fall and winter months and it's a half acre LOL I thought i'd pick some to eat, but we decided not to since they were all loaded with aphids. Haven't had aphids again since then, but haven't planted kale either.
Yes, the aphids love the kale. Saw another thread, said to soak in very salted water & they will all die & float off. Artichoke & cardoon are lady bug breeding grounds & they eat the aphids....
I bought a 2 gallon pump sprayer at Lowe's for about 18.00 plus tax and now I can get under the leaves without having to turn them all over. I was using a hand spray bottle last year trying to kill a bunch of aphids and then the spider mites. The spray bottle hurt my hand and when turned the wrong way, quit spraying and it was not efficient enough to get underneath all those leaves. With the sprayer I bought, you just stick the wand into the leaves and give it a squirt and the liquid comes out in all directions.
I had a bunch of aphids and I used Stylet Oil in my sprayer. I had to give it a few of doses a few days apart, but they seem to be gone now. They fell off the plant the minute the spray hit them. There were so many of them it was working alive with them the first time, so many I couldn't even tell they were there. Ewwww! The 2nd spray there were not many and the 3rd time, there were none left at all.
This stuff is supposed to kill the spider mites which are my real bane in the hot dry summertime.
This message was edited Mar 8, 2009 1:13 AM