How to Get Rid of APHIDS 

I saw my neighbors out looking at something intently. I went out and they were killing these black and orange bugs. I got out my phone and looked them up. I ran back outside and said” wait don’t kill anymore of those bugs. They are ladybugs. We got a good laugh and stood around watching these larvae turn into ladybugs. We had thousands of them in our little area. It was awesome.

These were great tips that I appreciate. As my Mom and sister are great gardeners I am just now learning at 66yrs of age. You and Kevin at epic are my go to knowledge gardeners!! Thanks!!!

I'm hooked on your videos Brian. You are a terrific teacher, very clear and comprehensive. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Digging in my garden I thought I hit a utility cable. Big orange size of a hose. Pulled it up and followed it 30 feet to it's mama Milkweed. Keep it in a container and don't let the seeds escape. Very invasive

You don't have to apologize, I hate those jerks too. Thanks for sharing!

Third year with an above ground garden. I more less had to take over this year due to my wife not getting around so good at our age. But I mostly am growing purple hull peas that climb a fence at the edge of the above ground set up. This year I have had so much fun weeding and watering almost daily and have been rewarded with beautiful plants. The best of all three years by far but also the most time we've spent working on it. Last year a terrible year for aphids and ants. This year not so much until yesterday. Suddenly in just one section of the garden I noticed some aphids and quite a few not to have noticed up until then. Knowing some of the properties of Dawn dishwashing soap, I mixed a few drops in water and have a spray bottle probably about 8 ounce, not too big, I sprayed just the stems they were on. Today they were dead, but some of the leaves that got some over spray had brown spots that was a bit like clay. Two or three were curled, but over all not a great deal of damage. Don't know if this is a cure or not, but for the first wave it seemed to get most of them. I used seven dust on the ant dwellings last year and no where near the same problem this year. That stuff got rid of them last year in one dusting. Did not dust the garden bed, just a little on the surrounding area. No dusting this year and only once last year. Will be keeping close watch though because other than that we sure have a beautiful pea patch this year! Can't wait to see the peas come in. Getting close! At 77 after years on the road doing music, I'm retired and learning to garden! Fun!! Still do music on my youtube channel though. An old road dog can never quit lol! I just found your channel and love your approach. New sub.

I needed this video 7 days ago. BUT, GREAT CONTENT AND IDEAS. I am currently dealing with the biggest aphid infestation that I have ever had. 1. On an established apricot tree right next and above a newly built raised garden with new compost. (Nitrogen content probably very high) 2. Aphids on the tree, tomatoes, lettuces, chard and squash. 3. Preasure washing twice a day this week. 4. Spot treated this area of my total garden. 5. Seeing natural ladybugs and ladybugs larvae now too. 6. Trimmed about 50 new growth little branches out of the apricot tree. It has taken all week to start seeing significant reduction in aphid population (until this morning) 7. It is nice to see that I am doing many of the right things already. Maybe there is a light at the end of this tunnel. AND BTW ... great presentation. 🙂🙃🙂😉

This was so helpful!!! Thank you. Aphids were my worst nightmare last growing season. I better go and plant some traps!

Thank you, it’s good to see you again!

Dill is also a great aphid attracter,last year we had a huge aphid attack and I noticed that they really hit the dill hard and not as much on my tomato plants. A good water hose is also my big gun. I totally agree with you when you mention creating a garden friendly to lady bugs. In the fall in my area,I intentionally leave a lot of ground cover.(leaves etc.) so lady bugs can over winter.

I'm just starting with gardening and I've been surfing through YT to find a site like this. While there are many, I think I've find my primary learning site. This is going to be a process and I'm ready for the journey. TIA

Love that you give a full Explanations. Thank you.

Aphids the bane of any garden. I had them bad last year on my fire bush and it never bloomed the entire season. I’m ready for them this year. Great information.

Ants herd aphids like cattle! 🤯 Woah! Fascinating!

Brian-You are a phenomenal teacher. I always learn something valuable and I hope it's all in your book. Thank You.

Wow Brian, ants farming aphids? I did not know that! I can always come to your channel and learn something new... THANKS🐜🐜🐜🐜🤠 🌻

Glad you mentioned the potential harm to beneficial bugs 🐝🐞 by organic and chemical sprays. Good to have all the information when making choices.

This was a terrific video, a lot of great information. I coordinate a Victory garden for our local food bank and we are constantly battling Mother nature . We keep it organic , thank you for all the great tips . I use them in my home garden as well. Great results! AM Moore

I just found your channel and you are my favorite for everything garden related by far! Thank you!

Excellent! I needed this information right now.

I planted Morning Glory by my mounds (watermelon, pumpkin, cucumbers), Marigolds within my kale, radish rows, and Alyssum within my potatoes and tomatoes and Bunchung Oinions bordering my tomatoes as well. The Alyssum I planned from watching your videos, the others I had on hand from last year, I hope my companion planting is successful, 1st year I ever attempted this.

Had this happen with my Brussels this winter. And you are right about the ants as well and they can sure destroy young plants fast. Thanks for the tips on how to control them.

Thank you for all the important info. Much well appreciated

Very helpful and educational, thank you.

Most helpfully video I've seen! Thank you soo much!😁👍💚

Very informative. Thank you!

Incredibly helpful. THANK YOU.

People: if you can afford it Cover your susceptible plants with light row cover! You can even just cover the broccoli head. Avoid the aphids in the first place because aphids lay LOTS of eggs! When I was studying botany and entomology I had to make an insect collection (where you pin them in place and I.D. them). Well, I had collected an aphid in a glass vial and put the stopper in. The next day when I went to work with it there was a mess of baby aphids in there with her!! Also: check your plants every day and go out with masking tape. Wrap tape, sticky side out, around your hand and press down on any aphids you see. I checked this morning and found one plant (still in the nursery pot) with one stem with aphids. In no time that would have been an infestation. A new aphid becomes a reproducing adult in ONE week!

Good information. Just what I needed. Thank you.

Excellent advice! Literally, everything you said explained why I have such a bad aphid problem.

Thanks for the great advise Brian.

WOW! Thank you for this information! I've been watching your other videos as well, and the tips are so helpful! I've been having a terrible time with Earwigs, ants and aphids but now I have some great information to battle these pests and hopefully save my garden.

Thank you for this! Great video, very informative!

Thanks man, your advice and tips are really helpful. Gods bless

Thanks for the ladybug info! I was about to purchase some!

Great video, honest words, thank you.

Aphids are a plague here in NC. You are so right about the milkweed being a great trap crop! It gets covered with aphids, but they mostly leave my veggies alone. I am definitely going to try the diatomaceous earth spray to get the particles on the underside of leaves. (I grow in the winter here, and need a remedy when milkweed is dormant.) Will definitely plant more milkweed in other areas in my yard now that you pointed out how great it is for managing aphids (tons of pollinators love it, too). For me, the milkweed will be easier because it is a perennial that is almost maintenance free, other than having to pull unwanted weeds. Thank you and keep up the great videos!

I have never succeeded in growing broccoli because of aphids. Still trying! Thanks for the tips!

Brian I came back to comment today because your advice to remove the sacrificial plant actually worked! I am now, like, 95% aphid free. Thank you. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I should remove the brassica...

We learned about that in our science with my kiddos. Very interesting!

This year I continued my tradition of planting my peppers indoors and way too early (Maybe next year I will remember to wait to plant as I have finally started a journal). Aside from outgrowing their space and my needing to buy more lighting, everything was going well until a friend gifted me a plant. By the time I figured out it had aphids, they were everywhere and all of my starts were infected. I spritzed with water, I ran them under water, I used detergent washes and they just kept multiplying! I finally freaked out and released ladybugs into my basement's grow room! I turned off all the lighting except for the grow lights above the plants. They did an excellent job taking care of the aphids for the 2 weeks before I started hardening them off outside. I collected the stragglers that jumped ship during the move (hundreds of them) and placed them on my lettuce plants outside. Many are still there and today I found several larva. My take is that they don't always fly off (although I have had that experience the last time I purchased them about a decade ago). I had no idea they were wild caught. That is concerning. I still think they have a place in the knock back of aphids. They worked well for me this spring. Hopefully next year I will plant later and be more vigilant about accepting gifts from well meaning friends.

Always such helpful information, and I love the bits of humor too. 😁

Thanks for those great tips!

To spread the DE i use a plastic soda bottle i drilled small holes in the lid and fill with DE. Than walk around garden squeezing bottle where needed for those dastardly critters. Must reapply after rain.

Brian, thank you for such great and informative videos!! I would like to contribute a little by sharing my experience attracting ladybugs. About 4 yrs ago I planted two Rose of Sharon bushes. And oh surprise, two seasons ago I noticed the black and orange bugs and found out they were ladybugs in the works 😉!! I am glad I looked them up before spraying the bushes with neem oil. It has been a great way to have lots of ladybugs right in my yard! Love them! At the beginning of spring they get covered with ladybug eggs. I also make sure I don't rake the fall leaves that fall from my trees that fall around the bushes so I can provide shelter for the ladybugs during the winter. The Rose of Sharon flowers are just too gorgeous not to have in your yard and the hummingbirds, bees and all kinds of beneficial insects love it. But do watch out for the Japanese beetles... I do have to keep up with those pesty things each year.

Aphid overtook most of my peppers few ago, now they are after my lettuce. Definitely want to get rid of them!!

Great advice Brian, especially about buying ladybirds! Another way to attract natives is to provide them with a home too 👍🏼

Very educational, thank you !

Excellent! Thank you so much. 🌻🐝

Very great video! Thank you!

I had no idea about the ladybug parasite. Thanks for the heads up. So far this year I’ve only seen one ladybug enter my grow space. 😔

Enjoy your channel immensely. I do not have a problem with aphids and I believe because my brassicas are put in the ground in the fall, zone 9b. If a plant is still in the garden in spring, yes it will be attacked by aphids. I take a container with DE out in the garden all the time. It works great on ants that set up housekeeping where I want to plant. Sprinkle over the nest and wait 15 min and they are gone. We have earwigs in artichokes, what a pain. I pick a 5 gallon bucket of harvest ready chokes, fill with water and set in a wide open space. The blue martins love escaping earwigs...

Very helpful! Thanks!

Awesome information thank you!!

I had no idea you could mix the DM with water and then when it dries it works! Thank you bc trying to get the powder under the leaves is hard!

Great info! Thank you!!!

I have had great success with releasing Lady Bugs. I currently have a TON of Lady Bugs who have chosen to set up camp in my Garden!

Good planting thanks for the info.

Fantastic suggestions Thank you so much

Many properties surrounding my house have out of control “sticky Willy” weeds that invade my space and is EXHAUSTING to try to pull them all, but I try. Continuing this over this past weekend, I noticed they are starting to flower and the top couple of segments are COATED in a thick layer of little black seedy bugs. Even though I pulled and bagged as many as I could, I’m still scared of how many I missed and the tons that might be in the messes on the adjacent properties. Thanks so much for this video. I hope this weekend will not be too late to find and plant alliums.

Thank you for wonderful info and explaining the negative aspects of "safe" methods. I have had really good results with nasturtiums

I have used a small paint brush to manually dislodge the aphids from my milkweed because I didn’t want to accidentally injure/maim/kill the Monarch caterpillars that were growing. Strong stream of water would have also knocked off the caterpillars, so manual I had to do. A good tip on using a suspension of the diatomaceous earth. Will use that on my roses. Was sprinkling and dusting to get even coverage with limited success. Great tips!

I've got 36 nasturtium seedlings under the growlights. Jewel mix, Alaska mix, Double Cherry, and Tall Vining Mix. Still way too cold here to plant anything out. Will plant out my brassica seedlings next weekend. They're tough but I'll still cover them for a bit. We can get frost into the first week of June. Didn't know about the D-earth spray trick! Thanks!

Thanks for the teaching,Sir

Just harvesting turnip greens for the first time. Ughhhh!!!! Aphid infestation was so gross! I have another little batch of seedlings coming up and I'm going to use your tips to keep them healthy. Thank you for all the informational videos Brian!!! Yours is my favorite channel!!! Keep up the good work!

Excellent presentation 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I used to have a terrible problem with ants and aphids. The aphids would destroy my trophy flowers every year. I tried shooting the aphids off with water they were not phased. Then a friend suggested that I mix up 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and spray that all over the pant paying attention and getting the underside the leaves as well as the top of the leaves. I did this to my Peony plants which are always covered with ants and in one day my ants and aphids were gone. I probably sprayed one more time a week later for good measure but I never saw another aphid and the ants did not come back to the peonys either. Peonys are known to always be covered in ants and for 20 years without fail mine had aunt's but no more, this vinegar treatment is amazing.

Your like the iron man of gardening and we all know how cool that is !

Thanks for the info on DE spray! Gonna try it. You are the best!

This video is probably one of the best I have watched so far. I was thinking of buying some ladybugs/ladybirds. But even though i was thinking about it,I would have looked into it. But what you said in simple terms,without all the reading I would have had to do,is right. You don't know where they come from. Also are we really helping the environment by doing that. The right thing to do would be to attract them. Honestly thankyou with all of my heart for this video. I love how simple you kept it. You got straight to the point. I am definitely subscribing. Can't wait to watch more of your video's. Have a blessed day & takecare..

Great tips!!! 😊

Excellent! Thank you so much. Aphids demolished my cucumbers last year.

I have never seen a lady bug larva, but now I know what to look for. Learn something new everyday! Let's get those crazy aphids!!!

I have a wild hop plant (humulus lupus) in my garden about 5 meters from my chili pepper grow house and my tomatoes, it attracts most of the aphids but it can handle it. Barely have aphids on other plants. Also lady bugs like to lay their eggs on the hop plant, so when I get a few aphids in the green house I pick 5-10 larvae from the hop plant and put them on the infected peppers and there are no aphids left the next day.. the larvae will stay on the plant as long as there is food. Actually works surprisingly well and I don't need to spray anything. Also, thanks for great educational videos!

Great tips!! Thank you!! I can’t do traditional gardening any more, but, I think I can adapt some of them to my indoor/outdoor hydroponic garden. I’m in a battle right now (no more foreign plants inside) so it’s outside & I have already done most of your suggestions. I put some honey out & they seemed to like it, but I’m going to try a pot of nasturtiums in the room. Praying I finally get rid of them since they keep coming back🤦🏻‍♀️

I put DT in a large holed salt shaker last year and it worked like a charm. Like you said though, wear a mask, it is a very fine powder and could irritate the eyes, nose and throat. I absolutely love the tips on the Nasturtium, Chives and onions. I grew onions last year and Nasturtium. That helped me a ton more than I realized. I will be getting some of that put back in the bed this year especially since I could not locate onion slips this year. Thank you!

I enjoyed your presentation 🙂

Great video. I battled aphids on my cucumber plants last year and the plants ended up dying. Trying trap crops this year!

Yyyyyep. Sure did write ALL that down. I love 💘 we live so close to one another. Everytime I have an issue starting. So do you. Then you make video on it! 😆

Loved this video! Subscribed.

I’ve never had aphids. This year they are all over my roses and rose of sharons

I often find aphids on some of our lupines usually near the end of thier flowering. I also find japanese beetles on 5 leafed Virginia creeper..I let them eat it... It seems to keep them off our roses, other plants.

Got it! Thanks.

Happy gardening.

I just found aphids on a brand new plant! Thank you for the advice. Hopefully my poor succulent will make it!

NO!!! There is none more annoying than APHIDS!!!!! Thanks for the tips!! 👩🏽‍🌾🙏🏽💝

Great video!!!!!

Good idea thank you.

That Nasturtium tip!! 😘👌

Thanks for very informative and practical methods to be able to kill aphids . I've had such a bad season for my tomatoes and I hope be able to get rid of aphids very soon.

Excellent !

Thank you for the DE tip in water. I have been sprinkling it on and they won’t die!!

Thank you. Definitely subbing.

And skin in redheads I did learn some new info.

What kind of sprayer do you like?

I am taking all your advice.

Very helpful

Good tips

Aphids yearly attack our 100-foot Tulip Tree. The sap (honey dew) rains down, carried on the breeze, on the lawn (adversely affects the grass), patio furniture (sticky), and passing people (annoying). A side issue is that the Tulip Tree canopy is too high for spraying or hosing down, but planting sacrificial plants can decoy attract the aphids away. Thank you for your video.

I'm a new subscriber, love your videos. I'm in FL, zone 9b-10a. Know I'll learn so much from your videos.