Has anyone successfully killed aphids in the house?

They are relentlessly killing my seedlings & if I don't figure this out soon I won't have a garden this year.

I'm about ready to toss every plant out in this below-freezing weather & give it up.

I have been killing mealies with a couple of drops of dawn dish soap in a squirt bottle full of water but my plants are more mature so I don't know how that will work on small seedlings. Do you know what the original source was?

Thank you for your reply.

I tried a couple of drops of dish soap in water & some of my plants (mainly my Ipomoea sp.) are ultra-sensitive to it.

I also tried neem oil with the same results. It acts like an herbicide

I've also been removing the aphids with painter's tape & have been spraying with Safer insecticidal soap for the past week or so.

I do not know the original source but I first noticed them on my Ipomoea carnea & Distimake tuberosus plants.

At this point, I'm spraying the pepper seedlings also because if I don't they'll be dead for sure.

I wake up every morning hoping the aphids will be gone but they still persist

how about 50/50 alcohol water spray?
I don't know if seedlings are more tender, but it works well on my bigger plants for other bugs.

Ladybugs eat aphids like a teenager at a taco buffet. But I don't know if you want to release them in your house. Ladybugs that is, not teenagers.

Yes. I had forgotten about the 50/50 alcohol water spray. I tried that while I was waiting for the insecticidal soap to get here.

I also tried diatomaceous earth though I really made a mess with that because I really don't have a way to apply it & ended up tossing it everywhere & not really effectively hitting the targets.

I'm so frustrated. I added a couple of drops of neem oil to the insecticidal soap hoping it will be just enough to kill the aphids without harming the plants.

I have a little sprayer from Sallys cosmetic supply store which makes a nice fine mist.
Not all neem is created equal.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/ne...

Henderman said: Ladybugs eat aphids like at teenager at a taco buffet.

Down here, the ladybugs come inside with the cooler autumn temps...
They seem to wake up and clean up the plants when needed...
And... then, some people vacuum the ladybugs as pests!

Allowing the anoles to remain indoors when they hitch a ride in the container plants works very well too.

With natural solutions, less human intervention is required...

Down here in the deep south, I often carry the plants outside for the days and weeks between frosts, and the outdoor ladybugs can clean everything up...

I bought a type of duster for diatomaceous earth similar to this one, I use it for wasps at times and it works great to spray the fine powder in specific spots, if something like this would help you.

You have any house spiders?

The Asian Beetles (multi-dot ladybugs) live under my siding and come in the house when the sun thaws them out. They take care of the aphids. Until the time the beetles completely decimate the aphids, I control them by putting the plants in the bathtub and spraying them with water. That is on my mature hibiscus plants. I don't know what I'd do with seedlings. My Mom used to put the infested plant in a plastic bag with those flykiller bars in there. That seemed to work without actually spraying anything on the plant.

antsinmypants said: Has anyone successfully killed aphids in the house?

Are you 100% sure they are aphids, and not one of the other insects/mites that bother indoor plants?

Just to be sure...

I do have house spiders & am being very careful in trying not to spray them. There are way too many aphids to just leave to the spiders.

I saw one of the spiders eagerly try to catch a little flying bug so I dropped an aphid in his web & he ran over to it & cut it loose so either they don't like aphids or it's one that's already been sprayed I guess.

Asian beetles used to come in the house in droves but I haven't seen any in at least 4 years now

Nancy, I have one of those poufy things somewhere but don't really want to use that because of the spiders & because my plants are set up in my bedroom & the diatomaceous earth is so messy.

I've never seen any kind of lizard here but if one got in the house my cats would eat it

I'm 100% sure they are aphids.

I've spent all day spraying each pepper plant with insecticidal soap with a few drops of neem oil added to it, then gently rubbing the soapy plants with my fingers & then spraying them with the water sprayer of my kitchen faucet & then moving them to the other side of the room.

I usually don't wash them afterward but I figured with so many coats of soap on them they might not be able to breathe very well & probably needed a break

The aphids are green & jelly-like

I've been checking my hummingbird tree every day & hadn't seen any aphids on it. Then this morning its leaves were covered in them

I use castille peppermint soap and water in my sprayer. Sometimes I also add neem. Seems to work here, but the one anomaly I had was it took a rust colored coleus and turned it olive for one season. It may take 2-3 applications before the beasts are gone.

antsinmypants said: I do have house spiders & am being very careful in trying not to spray them. There are way too many aphids to just leave to the spiders.

I saw one of the spiders eagerly try to catch a little flying bug

I've been checking my hummingbird tree every day & hadn't seen any aphids on it. Then this morning its leaves were covered in them

Almost sounded like a jumping spider, until you mentioned a web.

Sorry about the hummingbird tree... but that is typical of aphids, populations go nuts... and then crash.

You might look into making aphid soup in the blender, as that seems to be along your line of gardening approach...

The idea is to hurry the crash... Get some sick ones in the treatment, make them all sick... I don't garden that way, don't know whether it would work.

From your description, I'd have a hard time keeping any of these seedlings going...
I'm thinking more and more highly of your desire to toss them out into the snow...

Still... if you have spiders... and the spiders don't want the sprayed aphids, but do eat the live ones... I think I'd want to pursue that solution.

@stone
Funny you mention jumping spiders cause this spider jumps on his web like a maniac when I touch him to check that he's still alive

I don't understand what you mean by the way I garden & how you don't garden that way

It's too late to start more peppers from seed so pretty much my only choice is to 'keep these going' if I want peppers this year, & I do want peppers this year

antsinmypants said: I don't understand what you mean by the way I garden & how you don't garden that way

It's too late to start more peppers from seed so pretty much my only choice is to 'keep these going' if I want peppers this year, & I do want peppers this year

I was referring to all the effort treating the aphids...

Very rarely, I may spray a bit of water at them... but usually... just ignore, and wait on the wildlife.

My season is longer, and I have peppers from last year, but I can start pepper & tomato seed out in the garden and get results.

My pepper plants from last year have children coming up in the pots... Have been outdoors for a month+
My plants did have to come indoors for the week when we had that late freeze back a couple weeks ago... killed all the baby mulberry fruit, all the green strawberries and open flowers... all the pretty roses om my cherokee rose brambles....

Being further south allows me to garden differently...


jumping spider with fly.
I have to inspect carefully before swatting anything at my house... Those cute jumping spiders are about the same size as those awful flies coming from the factory broiler farm next door...

I've tried waiting out aphids and, in the absence of ladybugs, it doesn't work for me. They always get worse. Ladybugs will control minor/medium level infestations, but never completely eliminate them. Large infestations require direct action. I've found spraying them with the hose works best. Just blow them right off your plants. The L'bugs will get whatever you miss.

Hello Thea,

" Has anyone successfully killed aphids in the house? "

I have. There are a couple of products that are probably applicable to your indoor aphid situation. One is

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BLNVMS/

And the other is

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052K0V20/

Either product should kill your aphids. I have had good luck using Bayer Advanced products on my indoor zinnia seedlings. Systemic insecticides are absorbed by the plant and translocate everywhere in the plant, which makes them particularly effective.

Apparently Bayer Advanced is now Bio Advanced. Aphid populations can explode and suck a seedling dry in just a few days, which needless to say, kills the plant. Somewhere I heard that aphid females can give live birth to baby aphids, the females of which are already pregnant !!! That just seems wrong. Good luck in your battle against the aphids. You will need it.

ZM (Not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked.)