Aphids? How to get rid of them?

rockm

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Ants are the scariest freaking things. In my area, if you are wounded and can't move, they will find you and end you.
yeah, at least I don't have fire ants, crazy ants, etc. up here (but knock wood, they're close). Fire ants are the WORST.
 

Cajunrider

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yeah, at least I don't have fire ants, crazy ants, etc. up here (but knock wood, they're close). Fire ants are the WORST.
Yep. I had one particular fire ant bite on my calf that just won't heal after 2 years. I have an appointment with a dermatologist to cut the bite area off so it can heal soon.
 

Kadebe

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All will be persistent pests with an apple bonsai--if you have ants on your crabapple, you have aphids and scale.
And strawberry.... if you have strawberry in your garden.... in no time the ants will colonize the plant
 

GGB

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Ants are the scariest freaking things. In my area, if you are wounded and can't move, they will find you and end you.
I guess that's the cost of living in paradise. I can watch those little guys for hours, they're harmless here. But in my area if you are wounded and can't move the temperature could end you haha
 

Cajunrider

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I guess that's the cost of living in paradise. I can watch those little guys for hours, they're harmless here. But in my area if you are wounded and can't move the temperature could end you haha
Don't tell this tropical boy that. I have to move to your area in a few years.
 
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ShadyStump

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Yesterday I discovered ants making themselves at home in my bay tree. Just the little sugar ants, not the big red ants we often have issues with around here.

I've successfully used tobacco tea on about everything. CAUTION: Using nicotine is essentially a carpet bombing operation. It works on anything with a nervousystem, even beneficial things like bees and ladybugs and earthworms. I recommend isolating the plant away from everything else when doing this. I've seen no evidence that it's harmful to microbial life.
Just a heaping spoonful of the cheapest tobacco you can find soaked overnight or steeped hot to a quart or so of water, add a few drops of alcohol to kill any virus or what not that could possibly be transferred to other plants, and a couple drops of dish soap as a surfactant. Strain it to get the chunks out- I use a coffee filter. Use a spray bottle to apply to the above ground parts of the plant, and then water the soil with it too to get anything that might be living in there.
I sometimes do it when my tropicals come in for the winter, and again before they go out in spring, and occasionally in between if I discover I missed something. I also toss a few cigarette butts in my rain barrels on occasion to keep mosquito larvae from thriving in them, or sprinkle just the straight dry tobacco on the top of the soil so it works there when I water.
 

Mellow Mullet

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This has been flagged as a possible carcinogenic. Why use stuff like that when a bit of soap or neem oil works as well?

I'm not too fussy about aphids, they always show up and I use soap when it gets too bad but often the hoverflies and lady bugs are already there when I spot the aphids and I'll leave them solve the issue.
Almost everything is a possible carcinogenic, especially if you feed it to rats that are bred to be predisposed to develop cancer. There is nothing wrong with the responsible use of chemicals. Read the lablel, follow the directions, don"t get it on you.
 

Mellow Mullet

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I use agent Orange the get rid of aphids actually
First, that is not funny, if that is what you were trying to be. My Dad, a Vietnam Vet, suffers daily from the exposure to Agent Orange. He is in his 80's.

Second, if you actually knew anything about Agent Orange, you would know that it is a herbicide, not an insecticide. it was used as a jungle defoliant during the war, not to help the locals out with an aphid problem.

Third, as you mentioned in an earlier post, YES, you should be avoiding harsh chemicals at all costs, if you don't know the difference.
 

szxnx

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Little update for everyone:
I left mine a few days ago, this morning there was only one tip still covered that I noticed while replacing a lady bug larvae from a sunflower.
Funny how this exact thing just happened to me. Checked it in the morning and two lady bug larvae were enjoying a feast last night it seems.

Nature has a great way of balancing things out
 

penumbra

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Ants are awesome. Much smarter than many people I have met. The live everywhere except Antarctica.
E.O. Wilson ( no longer with us) wrote extensively about them.
 

szxnx

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Ants are awesome. Much smarter than many people I have met. The live everywhere except Antarctica.
E.O. Wilson ( no longer with us) wrote extensively about them.
Another interesting things is how leaf cutter (iirc) ants farm fungus for food and use leaves as fertilizer. Incredible isn't it?
 

penumbra

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Another interesting things is how leaf cutter (iirc) ants farm fungus for food and use leaves as fertilizer. Incredible isn't it?
Literally volumes about ants most people don't know.
 

Cajunrider

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Literally volumes about ants most people don't know.
Yep. You don't know how huge an empire they have underground until you see a 25 ft long raft of them hanging together in the hurricane flood water or you see them marching along ịn 3-4 ft wide formation.
 
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