Aphids on my Salvia!This afternoon Yesterday (thanks for continuing to be crappy, LJ) while taking a break from poking with the DS Browser I went to water the plants. What did I find? Aphids all over the just-budded Salvia! These weren’t there yesterday, but had already seriously damaged one large stem (I figure they weakened it and the wind caused it to snap) so I wanted to do something about them.
A quick bit of research actually pointed me to a page on growing Salvia divinorum and specifically mentioned aphids andthe use of Pyrethrin-based insecticide for killing them. I decided to go with this, as it’s approved for use on food and can be applied the same day as harvest. I figured that this wasn’t too unfriendly to the environment, so I hurried out to Home Depot to find some.
I ended up picking up a bottle of Garden Safe-brand Houseplant & Garden Insect Spray, which contains 0.01% Pyrethrins and 1.00% Canola Oil, coming home, and soaking down the Salvia. I didn’t see any aphids on either the chilis or the rosemary (I figure they keep insects away themselves) nor elsewhere, so I only gave the other flowers a quick mist. Any ants hit with the stuff stopped pretty quickly.
Hopefully tomorrow today (thanks again, LJ) I won’t see any more aphids. If I do I’ve still got half a bottle of the spray left. I’d rather not use it, but I also don’t want my flowers to have their juices sucked until they die. :(
tomorrowtodayThanks. LJ is being a huge pain in the ass from home again.
I was planning on using a dish-soap solution for my rosebush to get rid of aphids. That’s what I was taught in my agriculture class nearly a decade ago… [That long ago already? Yeeesh]
I think you need to actually wash them off, though. I didn’t want to risk damaging the fragile stems. These plants are still pretty small.
Fancy that, I am working for the MSU agraculture college communications department and I am actually in the process of writing an article about plants that bring in bennificial insects. These little guys, like lady bugs and spiders, will kill pests and you wont have to depend on pesticides as much.
Here is the website I am writing about http://www.ipm.msu.edu/plants/home.htm
It will give you some helpful information, tell you the best plants to plant and such.
Sorry to hear the aphids decided to make a feast of your plant. I hope this helps out.
The problem is, being in a condo I don’t have room to plant anything more. Also, they just suddenly appeared overnight. :(
Well, maybe something to think about for next year or if you can, get a potted plant with the recomended guys in there. you might want to just check out the root website as well, they have got some pretty good resources as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth
This is something that my wife uses for bug control on her roses. Apparently, it is completely safe for everyone and anything (I really do brush my teeth with the stuff), unless you are a teeny tiny bug. At that level, a patch of it effectively becomes a field of razor wire. When a bug crosses it, whatever slivers make it to the other side aren’t much of a bug anymore.
And any leftovers you can use to make dynamite!
Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll look into picking some up tomorrow or Thursday. That’s a really good idea.
I think ladybugs will eat them, also.