Little green bugs on pea plants
13.9 years ago aphids, ladybugs, organic, peas
It is fairly uncommon for me to see these little green bugs on my peas. In case you didn’t guess these are pea aphids, which suck juices from the plant leaves ad spread disease between plants. This is a rare occurrence because normally it is warmer and drier this time of year and we would have our annual ladybug release to take care of these little pests. If the weather holds up we should have good enough weather to do the ladybug release next weekend.
In the meantime I have resorted to to using some organic pesticide solution to deter these pests until the weather gets better. This will not stop the aphids, but hopefully slow the down a little, though when it comes to organic solutions you can not compete with ladybugs which each one can eat up to 5000 aphids/mites in their lifetime. Come next weekend there will be an aphid massacre in the garden. [evil laugh]
Tags: aphids, little green bugs
13.9 years ago
Aphids are really a problem in the garden because they can terribly ruin your crop. I agree that nothing beats an organic pest solution in the case of an “aphids attack”. Once the solution starts working, those aphids will be sorry that they visited your pea plants. :))
13.9 years ago
Ragnar, not the right season but I like the method of using pepper spray. It is like I am helping the plant fight its battle for it 🙂
humic_acid, can’t wait for those lady bugs to show up
13.9 years ago
This is just a random source, but stinging nettle spray will help you, too.
http://www.pan-uk.org/Projects/Local/alt~dir/aphids.htm
Prepare for an organic stink over this week, but the tea is a fertilizer, too. We grow some stinging nettle is our allotment garden, they attract aphids and our hope is that attracts their predators, who will take over right in time to help all the other plants to stay free of harmful infestations.
Good luck to you, soap is known to help anyway!
13.9 years ago
I have had problems with these little guys on occasion. They sometimes are actually herded like sheep by ants who drink the nectar that the aphids bodies emit.
13.9 years ago
Forsythkid, that is a good point. If you start seeing some ant activity on your plants, that is a good time to start keeping an eye out for aphids shortly after…
13.9 years ago
Love the evil laugh, the true sign of a dedicated gardener….
13.9 years ago
Got to have the evil laugh 🙂
13.8 years ago
[…] asking if I would like some samples and given I used the last of my insecticidal soap protecting my peas from aphids I graciously agreed. Expecting to get a couple bottles to try out I was definitely surprised […]