I gag. Aphids to me are one of the most disgusting creatures alive, second only to the more disgusting cockroach. They hang out in huge groups on plants' stems and leaves literally sucking the life out of them to the point you would never even think of wanting to eat that plant. Lest you think, "That picture looks awfully similar to the whitefly picture." The main differences are, 1: they're bigger, about 3mm each 2: they're green (or sometimes black) 3: they're plump little pests 4: they don't fly.
Naturally, my next thoughts were how best to kill every single last one of these aphids. For me, serious pesticides are out because I plan to eat this plant. Even Neem oil which is pretty organic (it has medicinal uses) which I love in small doses is not something I really want to douse my plant in -- some sources mention studies that show that at least one of the component chemicals can in large doses cause temporary infertility. Yikes.
Fortunately, there are some easy organic home remedies that you can make yourself in no time at all -- garlic oil spray, tomato leaf spray, dish soap + water spray... the list goes on (here and here are a couple sources). After looking at a couple sources, I decided to combine components of several for what I hope will be maximal killing effectiveness.
Michelle's modified aphid spray
You will need:
3-4 garlic cloves
A small handful of tomato leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons oil
500mL water
A spray bottle
Cut the garlic into a few smaller pieces. Put the garlic and the cayenne pepper in the water and bring to boil. Then toss in your tomato leaves. Continue to boil for a few minutes and then lower the heat and let it all simmer together for another 20-30 minutes. Let cool. Remove the garlic and leaves, then add your oil. Your aphid spray is complete.
Simmering aphid killing spray |
Die, assholes |
On the upside, I harvested my first herb crop of the year... it is quite beautiful. (Nevermind that I spent about 35 minutes de-pesting my parsley with a leaf by leaf examination. *sigh*)
Beautiful herbs! |
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