Friday, April 10, 2009

Bug On Bug



Losing the Battle of the Aphids. They are infesting all of the brassicas in the garden, especially the brussels sprouts. My Dr. Bronners soap mixture works for a day or so, and then a new mass appears from nowhere. We bought some ladybugs, hoping that they'll do the trick. We released them at night, after watering the area, and by morning, they were gorging themselves and mating. Three or four days of free meals and lodging later, all of those little moochers are gone, except for a few stragglers, leaving behind a billion uneaten aphids.

The thing is, I don't even LIKE brussels sprouts all that much...they're good enough, but what a bunch of work.

I am going to figure this out. I read that Diatomaceous Earth works in severe cases. I'm off to the front yard to try it...it worked so well in controlling the Sow Bug Infestation last winter, so we'll see what happens with the aphids.

XXO
Yvette

PS. Bitchin' Ladybug photo by Antje Schulte

1 comment:

Jacey said...

I've been doing some reading on companion planting and I just read that sunflowers help. I guess ants herd the aphids onto the sunflowers or something. That just seems too easy to me though...