Need help with Aphids in NJ home garden

[NJGardenGirl]

I too had a terrible tomato season in NJ the summer of 2009 as others have. I thought it was because of the rain at first, but we soon discovered we had aphids. Maybe they are brought on by too much moisture, but either way we had a bad infestation and I'm hoping someone can give me advice on how to get rid of those nasty aphids this coming spring season.

We have 2 separate vegetable gardens, they are separate but not too far apart. One is on the side of the house and the other at the back of the house. There is about 8 - 10 feet of separation.

Anyway, Garden #1 had a variety of tomatoes, and a variety of sweet and hot peppers. All were infested with aphids I think noticed them after the terrible June rain last year. We discovered it in late June or early July I think. We tried everything to save the crops. We used a pesticide 2 times initially and they were still there, then we moved on to daily sprays underneath the leaves of the plants of dilluted Dawn soap, cause we didn't want to keep spraying them with chemicals. It became too much to handle and then we started spraying every other day, then down to about once a week. Still aphids! yuck!

Garden #2 had pickles, radishes, green beans and brussel sprouts. We had an abundant supply of pickles, some green beans, swiss chard and radishes were harvested as well (thank God we got something out of the garden), but by Mid August the aphids spread to this garden and we just ended up pulling everything out.

We are so afraid of what is going to happen this year. Can you give me any recommendation on how to treat the soil before we plant our plants this season. Everything we did last year did not seem to help. It was disgusting! We planned on switching the plants from one garden to the other, ie putting the tomatoes and peppers in Garden #2 instead of #1 and vice versa. I'd hate to spend all the time growing and having the same problem. Do aphids live in the dirt over winter? Please help on how to get rid of these nasty little bugs!

[Ferris1]

Hi,
Sorry about the late reply as I haven't been checking this forum as often as I should have. Also sorry to hear about your aphid problems. But don't get
discouraged. Last year was not the best gardening year because of the cool spring temperatures and way too much rain in June. Even experienced farmers that grow vegetables for a living had a rough season.

Aphids are a very common insect in our area and can be troublesome if their populations get out of control. The adults pierce leaves and suck and feed on
the young tender growth of plants, causing the growth to pucker, get distorted which results in the decline of the whole plant. Most of the time, there are
many beneficial predator insects such as lady bugs and praying mantis which keep aphid populations under control so that you don't get the type of damage that you experienced this past season.

Preventative pesticide sprays won't work because aphids don't live or overwinter in your garden soil. All of the adults aphids die with the onset of cold
weather, but they do lay eggs on tree, shrub and plant braches which will survive the winter. The eggs hatch with the warmer temperatures in spring and
their life cycle begins again. The hatched adults move to the new, tender leaf growth as it appears and multiply very quickly as the weather gets warmer.
If you have ever parked your car under a tree and found "tree sap on your windshield", this is not sap directly from the tree but is actually the sticky
excrement dropped from the thousands of aphids feeding on the tree leaves above your car. As the populations grow, they then morph into a version with wings which are then capable of flying to other plants such as those in your vegetable garden.

So, what can you do for your garden? First, make sure that you are correctly identifying the right insect. If you are not sure, just google "aphid jpegs" and you will find many pictures of all the different kinds and colors of aphids. If you are still not sure, you can always bring in a sample in a sealed baggie to our East Brunswick store and I will identify it for you. If you do have any standing dead plants or plant refuse in the garden, get rid of them before spring just to make sure that there are no overwintering eggs that may hatch.

Scout for aphids on your vegetable plants as the weather warms up and you start to get a lot of new growth on your plants. Outbreaks usually start on the newest, most tender growth at the growing tips. If you notice an infestation, usually the best practice is to blast them off the plants with a strong spray
of water from your hose. This usually knocks most of them off, and they generally don't find their way back up the plant. In a normal season, this is
usually good enough as eventually the good beneficial predator insects will keep the aphid populations under control.

However, if a pesticide is needed, make sure that you use something labeled for the vegetables that you are growing and that it will control aphids. Sometimes soapy water and insecticidal soap will work but you have to use them frequently, and they will often burn leaves in hot, sunny weather. Try using summer horticultural oil if you want to control the aphids organically. Use "Sevin" or "cyfluthrin" (available under many brand names) if you need to try something stronger. Whatever you use, you must spray at 5 to 7 day intervals for a 2 to 3 week interval in order to brake the aphid's life cycle.

Hopefully you won't have aphids as a problem this coming year, but if you do you can always contact me here at this forum or just call me or drop in at our
garden center in East Brunswick. Fresh samples always help. Good Luck!

Mike Rutkowski
Ferris Farms Inc
690 Cranbury Rd
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Ferris1@comcast.net
Store Phone (732) 254-8019