Welcome to the aphid buffet!
Alright yall, it’s been over a week since I released the ladybugs into the canopy and even though they are eating the bugs as fast as they can, it’s just not fast enough.
I mean, the good news is that the ladybugs have plenty to eat and are still in the raised beds regardless of me unzipping it for a few days. Things were doing alright when I left for my daughters T-ball tournament last Saturday but when I got home the situation had escalated.
So cut to yesterday when I went to the store to get some proper bug spray, I remembered what some of the gardeny Facebook groups had suggested for aphids. I had already tried the soap spray and such but I hadn’t given nuln neem oil a try. I bought a handle of the stuff and it included some fungicide which at this point I would probably need. It came with a little sprayer nozzle which made it easy to mist everything well.
Spraying it clearly didn’t hurt the pea plants, and according to the directions I can harvest/salvage a few of the pods tomorrow if I wanted, but I might do another pass near the stems where they were building an army of Uruk-hai. The ladybugs are still going strong so it didn’t kill them! But they are eating as fast as they can.
My tomatoes are doing their best, considering the peas are starting to intrude on them, but I’m seeing flowers which is why I’ve left the canopy folded up so they can get pollinated and any other critters can come in and feast on the dead aphid buffet.
Meanwhile, in the front yard I’m going to have pumpkins. No, I didn’t plant these – it was most likely a squirrel who stuffed a seed under this wooden pot. They are doing great so I’ve turned on the front sprinklers to auto spray early in the morning. It’s always the stuff you don’t mean to plant that thrives on it’s own with no issues but I might snag a trellis from the back yard to give it something to curl around.