I’m with you in the old thread now. had green ones on the native plums this morning, first I’ve seen this year. last year they attacked my big plum tree, it was a plague of them.
I’ve got some mantis cases on the trees there and don’t want to hurt those, so I don’t want to spray. not too sure how to beat them back right away before they explode though.
aphids in the greenhouse this year, all on peppers and eggplant. did spray with sevin last month, it’s been long enough that I’m about to release ladybugs in there (just ordered some in with my nematodes for the year). hoping they can get a grip on them in the next week or so, since it’s a small area in there.
I did a dormant spray or two of the plum that was infested last year and the gooseberries. hope that keeps the worst away this spring
Hey if you want the best predator for aphids in a greenhouse try Aphidoletes aphidimyza
Also known as the aphid midge.
I used to have several greenhouses when commercially growimg peppers, eggplants but mostly tomatoes. When i first started the aphids moved in like the plague. I ordered a small dose of the midge and it completely cleaned them out. Never got aphids again. In fact what I failed to notice when i built this particular greenhouse was that the plum tree that i had gone out of my way to spare was infested with the critters and they had migrated into the greenhouse. Great thing about the midge was that they found their way out of the greenhouse to the plum tree and freed it from its aphid burden.
Dawn works but there is a trick. You have to put a ring of soap around the animal’s neck, to the skin and -then- get them wet and wash. The fleas try to get away from the water by going to the head and die trying to go through the soap. You also have to make sure to really get into their armpits and paws. Good hiding places.