I spent about an hour this morning hand weeding.
A few days ago, I discovered some iris aphids on the leaves of my iris. They don't do much direct damage but can spread viruses. It took me a few days to locate my bottle of neem oil, but once I found it, I made up a couple of batches of "Cornell formula" and sprayed them all down with it. The problem seems to have been licked. The formula is also good for mites, and mildew preventive. I usually use it to prevent powdery mildew on my peonies. I didn't this year, and they are now a mess. It does work for that if used regularly.
Here's the formula for a 32 oz spray bottle, in case anyone wants it:
1-1/2 t neem oil
3/4 t baking soda
1 squirt (2 drops to 3/4 t) dish detergent
32 oz water (fill to the top).
If the aphids recurr, my next step will be to obtain green lacewing eggs. Or maybe I'll just respray with Cornell spray. I like that it has low toxicity to humans and generally doesn't kill predator insects.
