Help! Aphids on my chilli seedlings
Hey everyone,
i woke this morning to see a few aphids on my jalapeno seedlings and a few white pests actually on the soil... although these looked dead!
is there anything i can use on these to kill off the aphids that doesn't involve chemicals? i don't really want to be using anything like that as i'm trying to be as natural with the growing process as possible. i do have some natural pest spray with pyrethrum in it but didn't know if that's ok for seedlings and edibles:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0031RG7NS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01
just wondered if anyone can share any more natural tricks and tips?
i used tomato leaves crushed up and steeped for a couple of days last year to kill off black fly on my tomatoes and that worked a treat (but no leaves ready this year yet!!) so anything like that would be ideal!
thanks in advance!
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if there are only a few, squish them , if there are more, add a little washing up liquid to some water and spray with one of those little bottle sprayers.
I noticed loads on a geranium seedling today! I assume they'll spread if I don't get them under control
i was doing pretty well squishing them once or twice a day but some are hard to get at because the larvae gets laid right in the fold of the new leaves.
i've just released a dozen ladybirds into my outbuilding where the seedlings are and they are going to town hunting them down and munching at them! it's satisfying to watch

Don't have many ladybirds here sadly. Maybe I need to build them a hotel to encourage them!
In our old house there were swarms and swarms of them in Summer, we were next to a railway, although I don't know if that was relevant!
Going to try Hosta's spray.
A garlic or chilli spray will knock over the aphids. You have to hit them with it, there is no residual effect. There are recipes for both all over the internet. It won't hurt the seedlings provided you spray sensibly.
just seen this about using leaves:
These are the three most favoured plants to use:
Tomato Leaves: Boil up a pot of leaves covered with water. Let cool and seep for several hours at least, then pour or spray over plant where you see insects or caterpillars.
Rhubarb Leaves: Rhubarb leaves are semi-poisonous to us, and a tea brewed from rhubarb leaves poisons smaller pests, such as aphids, mites, white fly, and some caterpillar varieties.
Pour boiling water over crushed rhubarb leaves then leave to soak for several days. Strain, add a good squirt of detergent and dilute enough so that it looks like weak tea then spray over pest infested plants. Repeat every 10 days or so.
Wormwood leaves: As for tomato or rhubarb leaves.
I've pre-ordered some ladybird larvae for delivery in May - I didn't have many around last year at all
my ladybirds are working hard at the moment and the aphid population is going down so i'm not going to put any spray on right now, i don't want to harm them!
i even caught 2 of them at it yesterday so might have some larvae of my own soon!
i'm going to put up some ladybird hotels soon in the hope they'll be around for a while
I'm waiting for a new sprayer so I can try the soap one (chicken pox quarantine!), in the meantime I've sprayed my poor geranium seedling with an aloe vera moisturiser spray.
It's organic, mostly water, but it has calandula and stuff in it, so I thought I'd give it a go! It forms oily beads on the leaves and stems, it's certainly easier to pick the aphids off. Just need to monitor the plant and make sure doesn't harm it.
It will be fine. You only need to be careful of spraying when direct, hot sun is around. Which probably isn't the case just yet.