Quote:
Originally Posted by Barb_FL
I don't have any aphids on my tomato or pepper plants; all grown in earth boxes or root pouches. I use the Seabright yellow sticky cards on every plant. (Brand is very important as others are death traps to good things like lizards)
I think a healthy mature plant should be able to resist aphids.
Since early 2017 season (drought) I do get the Tomato Russet Mites (only seen larvae and moving larvae this year, none of the ugly adults. I am struggling with that with my latest test adding neem meal to the mix and top dressing the mature plants in root pouches with the neem meal. No adverse side effects.
You might want to get a little scope to see if there is anything you are missing.
I use this one; it is good/cheap: https://www.amazon.com/Carson-MicroBrite-60x-120x-Microscope-MM-300/dp/B00LAX52IQ/ref=sr_1_2?
ie=UTF8&qid=1520555740&sr=8-2&keywords=magnifying+scope
When I'm at the end of the lifespan of cucumber plants, I get tons of aphid eggs. I pull the plant b/c it isn't worth the hassle treating it. |
What do the yellow sticky cards do? I saw them at Ace but thought they were for houseflies. I just sprayed all the plants again and noticed something that looked like spider web around the base of the stem on a bell pepper that wasn't there earlier today. I'm assuming that's from mites. Also, under a watermelon seedling leaf there was a tiny black caterpillar with red/orange on it. I picked it off and lost it before I could take a pic. I'm going to have to look up what that was. I was doing so well being big free until today hahah. I wish I was on this forum when I decided to start gardening in December. Everything is potted in miracle gro natures care organic and natural potting mix. I blame all my problems on it. I've had major drainage issues, fungus gnats galore, and now probably mites. My other choice was standard MG mix, so it's all I had at the time. A few weeks back I dug everything up, laid out the mix to dry on giant garbage bags, amended it with tons of perlite and put the plants back in. It was a lot of work and that stuff isn't cheap. Next year I'll know better and either mix my own or get something like pro-mix. I'm just thankful my plants are growing well.