I broke the one cardinal rule that every gardener should live by...I invited the enemy into my home and it almost cost me dearly. On Sunday, I was dumbstruck to find that my artichoke, tomato and strawberry seedlings were infested with Aphids. Aphids? In March? In a basement? Immediately, I examined my newly purchased chrysanthemum tea plants more closely and noticed that a colony had been brewing for some time. I can't believe I hadn't noticed this sooner. The lesson to be learned here is, no matter how reputable the nursery, you must always quarantine your new plants until you are SURE they will not introduce a foreign pathogen or pest that will infect and potentially kill the rest of your houseplants.
I rushed over to our local home improvement center to pick up an insecticide and sprayer. I will admit that I was tempted to buy the politically incorrect stuff, but in the end, cooler heads prevailed and I decided to go with an organic solution. I had heard about Organocide (which is both an insecticide and fungicide) before but have never tried it. Any thoughts regarding this particular product?
I also decided to treat my Meyer lemon and Kaffir lime trees, both of which have had a lingering scale problem. As I diluted and sprayed the product, I couldn't help but notice that it smelled a lot like fish emulsion. Hopefully, my houseplants won't smell like this for too long.
Here, you can see the damage that has been done to one of my artichoke plants. My tomato plants looked particularly sorry after they had been treated, shocked by being outdoors and sprayed for the first time. Thankfully, they are beginning to bounce back. So far, the product seems to have worked its magic. I will have to pay close attention to my seedlings during the next few weeks to make sure the aphids do not return.
Ohh, owe! It's good that you're isolating them.
ReplyDeleteI've had issues with aphids on my Meyer, and the best thing I've found is a forceful spray. Not from a hose--too powerful, but from a small hand spray bottle.
I've used Organocide in the past on houseplants. I don't recall how effective it was, but I do recall the smell of the fish oil. I think it would be ok if you keep them outside for a while after the last spray...
Keep us posted!
Hopefully the spray will do the trick and your plants will bounce back and carry on without skipping a beat.
ReplyDeleteI hope your plants pull out of it Thomas....I had some aphids that I believe hatched from some potting soil that was purchased a while back....luckily I caught it before there was complete destruction...Have you ever tried using Neem oil?
ReplyDeleteYou have a series of bad luck incidents, as I see: storm that destroyed your hoops, rats, now this... did I forget anything?
ReplyDeleteI hope your plants fully recover, both from aphids and from spraying.
Ooh dear - I hope the organicide sorts the aphids out Thomas!
ReplyDelete(Apologies for not being around much these past few weeks - life got a little bit hectic and something had to give!)
Oh no! At least you caught them now. I hope the spray works.
ReplyDeleteThat stinks, I hope the one spray took care of it and all is well again. My citrus has scale too, houseplants are difficult to care for IMO, I do much better out in the garden!
ReplyDeleteWell, that just sucks! Good job catching it and getting them treated right away, let us know how that product works. So far it seems I have evaded the dreaded fungus gnats that come with late-stage seed flats, I have been trying to keep the seedlings much drier this year, but last year I had good luck with "Indoor Pharm" organic spray on them if you ever run into that problem. Maybe you can consider this good luck in that nature is running you through all the bad experiences the first year so you can get it out of the way!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to send my in house ladybugs to you. There's not much for them right now. Good thing you caught that! I was thinking about trying an organic pesticide as well. But of course, there'll be the clash of the genereations with my mom saying "We have Sevin. Just use that." Sevin just scares me. Perhaps it has something to do with wearing a mask while spreading it.
ReplyDeleteThat's awful. I'll be interested to know if the spray did the trick.
ReplyDeleteI hope they don't come back again. Isolation really is the key for such things. Though I never order garden plants until they can get into the garden. I don't like bringing them into the house. It is too much work to care for them. My seedlings are work enough. I hope your tomatoes recover well.
ReplyDeleteOh yuck, those little boogers do seem to find a way to get to our tender young babies. I've found them in some of my pepper seedlings, but they are outside where you might expect to find a few bugs. Fortunately I found them early so that I could just brush them off. I've not heard of Organocide before but it sounds pretty benign, other than the odor of fish oil.
ReplyDeleteOrganicide is good, Thomas. I have used it for fruit trees on terraces at bud break, reapplying after the fruit has set, after having it recommended to me by a fruit nursery on Long Island.
ReplyDeleteAphids are easy to manage. Insecticidal soap spray takes care of them easily.
ReplyDeleteI agree with EG, aphids really are not a problem. You can even spray with water, a few drops of dish soap and cooking oil. That's what I spray with. Scale on the other hand can be a little tougher to control. Best to wipe them suckers off with q-tips and rubbing alcohol.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've never quarantined my houseplants before. . .but I think I will in the future!
ReplyDeleteOh, Thomas, I'm so sorry this happened to you. :( Crossing my fingers that all those dearly loved seedlings survive and go on to thrive. (Perhaps they'll even be stronger for it!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning, I didn't checked the chrysanthemum when they arrived, I left them in the house for couple days and then planted them outside. After reading your post I went outside to check for aphids, sure enough there were lots of them, I cut off all the infected stems and sprayed the plants with insecticide soap, hopefully that will do it. All my indoor seedlings and plants seem to be OK at this time.
ReplyDeleteI hope pf read this post, she bought from the same vendor.
I HATE aphids. You better make sure to protect your citrus. They're some of my favourite plant updates!
ReplyDelete