Watermelon Aphids

So, I just checked my watermelons and found the leaves of one plant all curled and once I looked closer I noticed there were tons of tiny black and brown bugs on them. I started pulling off leaves until I realized I'd have to pull them all off. I've looked it up on the internet, and it looks like watermelon aphids. They recommend insecticidal soap...I can't go buy any...any home remedies, or should I just pull the plant before they infest the rest of the plants?

Kristie

Safers is not that expensive and is available just about everywhere that has a garden center. An effective alternative is lye soap, but that is hard to find in todays world. If you can find a pure soap ( not a detergent) something like the old Ivory Snow and add a teaspon of lye to half gallon of water, that will work also. It is the lye that does them in. In non-organic arsenal, Malathion works well

Thanks farmerdill! I probably wouldn't be able to go get anything until tomorrow, will they infest everything by then?

Kristie

Once they get in noticable numbers, they can devastate a plant. Fortunately they don't move from plant to plant very fast, but they will get there in a matter of days.

There's quite a few, I'd noticed the leaves were curling for a few days, but never looked close enough to realize it was bugs. I may just pull the whole plant out...it's pretty infested. Thanks for the help!

Kristie

Hey Kristie,

Did you try just blasting them off with a hose? It can be pretty time consuming, but if you turn each leaf over and hit it with a blast of a hose with a pressure nozzle (or your thumb in it) it will wash them all off. I read that because Aphids suck from the plant like mosquito's do, physically removing them from the plant kills them as they're ripped out.

I had Aphids really bad on Fava Beans I grew this year and what I would do is pull off the parts of the plant that were the worst infected and then wash down areas that were partially infected. Worked pretty well and I got a partial crop. Some plants were a total loss so I pulled them and carried them into the woods.

Jeff

Well, I pulled the one that was really bad. I looked at the others and it appears they are getting them too. Maybe I will go out there and try squirting them off...or maybe get a rag and wipe them off?


Thanks for the help!

Kristie

Well, I did it. I gave myself a shower, flooded the garden, and sprayed those little aphids off my plants. It appeared to work....granted I sprayed myself more than the plants. Hopefully they don't come back...I doubt they will if they drown easily. :)

Kristie

Cool, I hope it worked. Aphids are a particularly evil little creature. I hope you got rid of them.

Down here in the south it's so hot and humid we're dealing with other things. I haven't seen an aphid for a nit now and I have 3 'Sugar Baby' Watermelons on the vine atm so I have high hopes for them.

Jeff

Mine are Sugar Babies as well. I've seen more pests in my garden this year than I ever have. I've hardly ever had a problem...I've had these aphids, and I've noticed various caterpillars milling around. I hope I don't have to keep killing things...lol. I suppose its either them or my veggies though. :) Thanks for the help Jeff.

Kristie

kls_01,

Farmerdill is right, but you have to wash those aphids off every other day with a water blast. Something that you should try is to buy some ladybugs and white dutch clover. The ladybugs will eat the aphids while the white dutch clover will encourage your ladybugs to stay in your garden. Plus, next year, the ladybugs will prevent your aphid problem from blooming.

For caterpillars, use BT. It's organic and non-toxic to humans. To prevent them from coming back, use a smarttrp. It uses pheromones to lure the moths that lay caterpiller eggs into the trap. Killing one moth, kills a producer of thousands of caterpillers. The trap is non-toxic to your veggies, too.

By the way, please answer my post "Best Tomato (s) for North Texas". Thanks.

7 in one dust youll be fine have a good day

Well, I just checked on my melons...no more aphids(I had to wash them off one more time) and I have a bunch of little melons starting. Anything else I need to know about how to take care of them?

Thanks!
Kristie

Well, another update. I few days ago my aphids were back. So, I looked it up on the internet, and found that a solution of 1 cup of alcohol(rubbing) to 4 cups of water is supposed to work. I mixed some up and sprayed all the leaves, and it got rid of most of them. I had to spray yesterday too...I'll see if any more are gone. If not, I also found that a cup of vegetable oil and 2(?) tablespoons of dishsoap that you then take a tablespoon(?) and mix it with water and spray that on the leaves...I haven't tried that because it said that oil can burn plants easily if its hot out...and its been hot out....

http://fransorin.com/gardening/azarticle.asp?Article=76

There's the link to the recipes since I've forgotten the measurments....