AAAH!! Aphids found on plants in greenhouse! HELP

Never had problems with bugs or disease and a whole tray of zinnias have aphids!!
Flowers are so healthy and beautiful this year, hate to see them infest everything? What to do?
I tried the dish soap thing, but don't think it worked?

You need to keep after them--they reproduce like crazy so if you don't repeat the treatment, they'll just come right back. If you have them outdoors you can also hose them off too.

Is there something other than dish soap that works?

I lived on a commune for awhile, and the "lords" of the place (because it wasn't REALLY a commune) were so adamantly organic that they let aphids plow through all of our greens and a lot of the tomatoes because it was "a part of the natural life cycle." Of course, we ended up having to buy our food from the grocery store...

I had my own little garden near my little house, and I opted to use "Safer Insecticidal Soap," which is entirely plant based, and works like a charm. I SOAKED my roses, tomatoes, and collards with it, and it worked. I had to do it for three days in a row. I then used the hose to wash the dead aphids away. I had to occasionally spray after that initial war, but it really did a good job of getting rid of them, AND I had roses to cut and tomatoes to eat and collards to enjoy. The best part is, you don't have to go to any sort of specialty store to buy it. I'm not sure where you live, but I've found it at Home Depot and places of that ilk.

Good luck! Aphids (quite literally) suck!!

-Kelsie


P.S.--You could also buy something like 10,000 ladybugs (for about 8 bucks, if I'm not mistaken) and turn them loose on your zinnias. :)

Diatomaceous Earth -its completely natural & works great!

You can buy insecticidal soap, I've had better luck with it than with dish soap (probably because the concentration is more optimized for killing...with dish soap my guess is you probably are diluting it more)

Join the club Flowerprinces, I am at the same state as you, this year/over winter has been a real trial with the aphids indoors, I have had my vac/ carpet cleaner out and sucked them from the air as I shook the plants, the shake sends them into the air, I have done like you did with the soap, no good, and now I am trying the crushed garlic trick to see if that will help, it is greenfly I have, and that brings out the ants as they are always around to feast off the sweat secretion from the greenfly, I have not been in the greenhouse so much as it has been so cold, but that has meant I have neglected my usual vigilance for any flying bugs, my own fault really, I have used the garlic method before, but that was when there was only one or two aphids and it works, but this time I have a real infestation, only a few plants so far, but they will move around as the temp warms up. let me know how you fare with whatever you find helps. Good luck, happy killing. WeeNel.

Is it true that once you knock aphids off with whatever (if the product doesnt kill) that you are actually breaking their mouthparts off, because they are actually buried in the plant material? That once they fall they will eventually die? Hope so because mine are multiplying faster than I can knock them off with water. I'll try that insecticial soap on my climbing roses also.

So, what is the "recipe" for dishsoap and water? Is it always Dawn dish soap or will any do? Will this work for white fly? Weenel, what is the garlic trick? Do all of these work outdoors also?
Thanks!

Any dish soap ought to work, I'd avoid the antibacterial ones because those have extra ingredients your plants don't need. Personally I use the insecticidal soaps since those were designed to use on plants, you know you're getting the right concentration to kill stuff, and there isn't any extra stuff in there like there might be even in regular dish soap.

I use Garlic and washing-up liquid it certainly keeps the trouble down,2 teaspoons of washing up liquid and a crushed Garlic clove in a liter(2 pints) of warm water,spray this mixture on the aphids twice a day and you should get rid of this monster problem in about a week ,afterwards chek to see if you have a few come back and repeat the spraying you will find you can keep it under control
Des

flowerprincess,

I agree that Safer's Soap and the regular diluted dish soap solution are effective ways of controlling pest insects, although I don't know that I'd use them on vegetables, but that is just me. On your flowers it should be just fine.

Anytime that you are spraying anything on the foliage of the plant, it should be done in early morning, because the hot afternoon sun can very easily cause leaf burn to freshly treated leaves.

If you are looking for an alternative Organic solution, you can always look into getting some beneficial insects. We have used aphedoletes before with success, although I think that sometimes they are most effectively used in greenhouse culture.

Don't forget that the presence of pests on plants (especially in large numbers) can often indicate that there is a problem with the plant. Weak plants are susceptible to pests such as aphids, and so you should try to correct the growing conditions of the plant if at all possible; (enough light, proper fertilization, root bound, stress, shock, etc.) Try to determine the possible reason that the plant may be under stress.

Good luck controlling those aphids,

-Plantenthusiast

Thanks, seems to have worked for now, I will spray them down again just in case. They were only on my zinnia seedlings and peppers, rest of the plants healthy and doing great!
I noticed I burned a few of the zinnia leaves , good to know to spray in morning.

Last year I got aphids on my watermelon plants. I used 3 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol. I just sprayed it on the plants(in the morning as was mentioned) and it worked quite well. You have to keep up with though, just like the soap. I believe you can also just dip q-tips in rubbing alcohol and rub on the little buggers.....but if you have a lot that may take awhile. Hope you get rid of them, they're horrible! Good luck!

I see I'm late in getting in on this. Buy live ladybugs and release them. I don't have a greenhouse, but when the aphids arrive in May I release ladybugs, they eat the aphids and their eggs, and then they take off to find new food sources. That's okay because the aphids aren't a problem for the rest of the season.

They'd be sort of captive in a greenhouse.