OMG, do I have an aphid problem! I have the standard little green aphids on just a few of my roses, so I sprayed everyone with my Green Light Rose Defense II, which is supposed to be an organic insecticide/fungicide w/neem oil & other stuff. However, I have these icky dark green aphids that are only on my elderberries.. they're really really covered in these aphids. I was advised by my LGS to try this organic stuff that was peppermint & garlic.. didn't do squat.

Bleh! What exactly does everyone use for their aphid problems? I bought a bag of ladybugs, but they all flew away and didn't eat any of the dark green aphids. :(

I blast them off the buds with the jet attachment on my garden hose.

Don't they just come right back? I did that last year and they just kept coming back.. maybe it's because I have the mulch rather than other plants? Does this "neem oil" work on aphids? I see some people soaking everything in neem oil, but the one article here doesn't really explain why and what it's used for. The Green Light stuff has Pyrithin (sp?) or soemthing like that that states it's organic (like I care, I just would love to see my roses actually BLOOM this year and not get eaten by aphids!)

From everything I've heard, they're too stupid to get back up. Maybe you keep getting a new crop. If I see them on just one or two buds, I just squash them with my fingers because it isn't worth bringing the hose over to them.

I do the same thing, just jet them off with bursts of water from the end of my hose. Never had problems with them coming back up the bush, so thinking you must be getting new crops.

alan

Im just thankful I don't have aphids. In fact there is an abundance of lady bugs in my garden.

I've read somewhere, those lady bugs you purchase through mail order is no good because they will just eventually return to their original colony.

I've heard that too. They are shipped in a dormant state and when they wake up their instinct is to fly.

I've bought a few bags of lady bugs and noticed that they do immediately fly away.. hmm.. that sucks.

You can feel noble knowing you have benefited someone, somewhere.

I wash them off with soapy water and spray with neems oil with baking soda and dish soap. I make up a 1 qt spray bottle as directed with neems and add a spoon of baking soda and a squirt of dish soap - very accurate, I know. Baking soda is supposed to help with fungal diseases and the soap helps emulsify the oil and cling to the leaves. Neems can burn the leaves in hot weather, so be careful.

I use soapy water, too. Occasionally I will use Windex. It's easy to apply. The aphids die instantly. The plant gets a shot of nitrogen. And the leaves come out clean and free of streaks!

I never thought of that, Steve, and you're absolutely right: It's so much easier to apply. It's like using Pam to treat scale instead of mixing up batches of horticultural oil.

Steve812 said: And the leaves come out clean and free of streaks!

Aphids are back.. I think I'll go to the dollar store & pick up a couple of bottles of Windex & spray everyone down. I just went through a whole bottle of Bayer spraying every rose in the front.. and I have twice as many roses in back!

Someone told me once that if you squish them and rub the buds with the aphid goo it shall we say puts off others wanting to gorge there.