Pest Patrol

I have a problem with aphids indoors, ever year. They simply adore brugs, and will quickly jump to the tomatoes and peppers and set up shop there. I haven't found any way of eradicating them, but I do manage to control them with a pretty simple solution of dish soap, alcohol and water. Smaller plants get baths in the kitchen sink or the bath tub, the larger 5-6 footers get spot treatments. I spray the soapy water all over the leaves, letting them stand for about 10 minutes, then shower them off, using my fingers to remove bugs from the stems. I also try to keep my brugs fairly defoliated over the winter, to eliminate some of the aphid habitat. But now that the light levels are finally picking up, the brugs are starting to wake up, and I don't want to keep stripping the leaves off. I've even got a flower open on a noid white, and buds forming on a peach Candida, which I know I should be picking off, but this time of year, I'll take what I can get in the way of flowers.

Ain't she purty? And she smells as good as she looks.

Once everything goes outside, the aphids sees to melt away. I will blast the plants with the hose a few times when they first go outside, but after that, Mother Nature sends in her garden helpers, and the problem seems to just go away. I don't use chemicals in my garden (unless you classify beer as a chemical), so that may be beneficial to the insects that help control aphids and other pests, such as ladybugs. I have used beer as bait for the slugs who like to eat my hostas, but in the last few years I haven't bothered, because they don't seem to be doing as much damage anymore. I'm not sure why that is.

Potato beetles are another problem particular to my brugs. I guess because they are in the Solanaceae family, they are very attractive to a potato beetle. It's odd, because I've never caught the beetle on potatoes or tomatoes, only my brugs. They don't do to much damage, because I'm pretty quick to spot them and their bright orange eggs. They are dispatched immediately in the same soapy water that the Lily beetle takes its swan dive in.

And that is another garden pest that I really can't stand. Those things are pretty as adults, but absolutely gross as larvae. They literally cover themselves in their own excrement, therefore have very few (if any) predators. I don't have a lot of lillies, but the ones I do get attacked every year. I wear plastic surgical gloves for their removal. Adults get tossed into a soapy bucket of water, along with the larvae, which are scraped off with sticks. Even with gloves on, I can't bring myself to touch them.

There are many other pests in the garden. This is just a short list for tonight. And I will admit, I am selective about what I consider a pest. I've found the beautiful green and white striped yellow dotted caterpillars of the Black SwallowTails devouring my dills. I decided I don't like dill that much, and if I need it, I can always buy some or grow some more. So I let them be.
I like to think I make Karma smile sometimes!!