I have several stands of Autumn Joy Sedum. It is a lovely and carefree perennial that blooms late in the summer and early fall. Starting out a beautiful blush pink the flowers gradually turn a vibrant rusty red color.
My only complaint with the plant is that aphids seem to love it. Nothing else in my garden is usually troubled with aphids except this.
When weeding this bed I took a couple pieces of this plant and potted it up for a girlfriend that had requested a start of it after seeing mine in full bloom..
When I went to water it the other day I found aphids. I knew if these little starts had it the parent plant had it. Sure enough they were there hiding under the leaves. Black aphids!
It was time to make a concoction, I took a cup of my homegrown garlic minced up and put it in a half gallon jar of water. Then I let it sit for about 3 days. Boy was it powerful smelling.
Then I strained the garlic out and put the garlic water in a 5 gallon sprayer .
I added enough water to make about 2 gallons of spray. Then added about 1 Tablespoon of liquid soap. I buy the cheap WalMart Liquid Soap in the giant container for about $3.50 and it last me for years. This is all I use it for is bug sprays. After you add the soap mix well by shaking or with a wooden spoon.
I sprayed this on both the large Autumn Joy Sedum in my flower bed, the surrounding plants and mulch and the young plants I started in pots. What was left over I sprayed along my front porch to discourage bugs along the house and especially around both screen doors. I'll wait about a week and see if they are gone if not I'll spray it again until they are under control. Everything on the porch smells of garlic but look on the bright side...we shouldn't have any vampires!
What do you do for aphids?
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
We had one horse that would graze garlic. Never had a tick on him.
ReplyDeleteI have a little problem with aphids. However, the ladybugs always took care of it. This year, I don't have hardly any ladybugs but I have these other bugs that look like brown squared ladybugs and they have been devouring the aphids. At first I thought they were eating my plants but then I noticed they were munching on the aphids. I don't know what they are but they are welcome here!
ReplyDeleteOh my I need some of those bugs : )
DeleteThanks for the tip - you should write a book!
ReplyDeleteCQ, Hi there! Now I've heard of soap and water mixture before but never with garlic. I like this idea, the entire area must smell wonderful. Do you think this would work for cats (not my cats, they are a neighbors that live a distance away) that like flower gardens? I've been using moth balls and red pepper flakes. My husband had just recently placed chicken wire in my flower beds.
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of garlic.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post, CQ! I have bookmarked it. I had a ton of aphids in my garden last year. Will try this, this year. :o)
Sandy, orange peel is supposed to work for cats. I will have to try the garlic spray for my roses.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it would work with the worms that get on my collards?
ReplyDeleteI have found the easiest solution to the worms on my collards and kale is just to check them every morning and pick them off. It's the little white mods that lay their eggs on our greens which turned into those little worms. I'm sure if you have found their way into my morning smoothies smoothie but I figure it just adds a little protein to my smoothie
DeleteMy Sedum always gets aphids! Never quite knew what to do, I pulled them out because I was frustrated, but they came back and are too pretty to pull out again! Thanks for the advice...I just wonder, would that concoction work on, maybe mosquitos? (they are like tiny vampires!)
ReplyDeletekim http://whitebarnbasics.blogspot.com/
For the collards you can do this and add some cayenne pepper to it. Spray the front and back of the leaves. is tedious and the moth will still lay the eggs but the grubs don't do very well. i go out and pick the eggs off mine when i see them.
ReplyDeleteMix equal parts of egg shells, coffee grounds, and banana peel in a blender with some water and a then add about a tablespoon of cheap soap. Pour it around the base of the plant or trees and this should make the little boogers drop off, and the eggs tha hatch will do the same, before they get far enough to lay any more eggs.
ReplyDeleteSeems every year I get aphids on my Burning bush.....tried just using dish soap and water, well I didn't have aphids anymore and I didn't have any leaves left on the bush either!!! Maybe too much soap....but I will try the garlic this year and see if that helps ,....Ill go easy on the soap...lol
ReplyDeleteI read recently that ants carry newly hatched aphids to host plants to get the honeydew they excrete. When you get rid of the aphids the ants move on to find food elsewhere. Any sort of insect killer/deterent you use will also do to the good insects.
ReplyDelete