Aphids Hate This Kitchen Staple

I had so much trouble with aphids! The tomato and cucumber plants I grew from seed all died because it was so hard to control aphid infestation. I used to spray Neem oil (with baking soda and Castile soap), but that didn't solve the issue. 

Aphids started to eat my prized gumamela plants. I consistently sprayed the plants with Neem oil two to three times a week. I also removed the aphids with cotton buds, but they kept coming back. I kept researching on a better way to keep them out and chanced upon a site that said pests hate garlic. 

I had been using garlic for my orchids and thought it might work as a pesticide for my gumamela and petunia plants. Aphids love them both. After physically removing aphids from the plants, I sprayed garlic under the leaves and stems. I did this consistently for two weeks and noticed that the aphids did not come back anymore. I now just do it once a week to make sure they don't come back. 

To make garlic spray, I just add two to three cloves of peeled garlic to a liter of water. I like re-using the bottles of Wendy's iced tea. It's perfect to re-use for your garden. I use the same bottle to collect rice water whenever Miggy cooks rice. You can leave the garlic in the bottle for a day or two before you use it. The water gets more pungent after using the garlic a few times. The used garlic doesn't go to waste, since I put it at the foot of our bamboo plants when it's time to change it. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Aphids Ate My Sili Plants

Aphids are incorrigible. They infested my sili plants after they finished off my tomato plants. I just trimmed the plants last week and they're all over it again. At this point there's no turning back, I'll have to lay the sili plants to rest. Such a bummer since they started to flower again. 

Well, on the bright side I learned that you can use free sili that comes with your delivery meal. Just take out the seeds and dry them out before planting. That's what I did and they started flowering after two months. It would have started to form into fruit already if not for the aphid invasion. 

Dealing with aphids has been very challenging. It's not enough to remove them physically and spray neem oil. You also have to deal with the ants because they are besties. We got pest control to help middle of last year because of the higad. The service effectively rid of invasive ants and the aphids were gone for a couple of months. I guess the spray is all gone now because it's been raining. 

I've decided to pause my veggie planting for now. The conditions of my garden have not been feasible for growing. I'll just wait for things to be cleaned up after renovations and then I'll think about what to do next. In the meantime, I'll focus on keeping my new plants alive (it's not looking good). 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Plantita Saturdays: Aphids Killed My Tomato Plants

My tomato plants were producing a lot of flowers the past two months. Unfortunately we got a deluge of ants again and I started to see aphids on the the stems. The best way to control it is to remove the pest with earbuds dabbed in alcohol. I did that, but it didn't take long before they overwhelmed the plant. 

It was impossible to save the plant already, so I got my scissors and cut the plant to pieces (so it would fit the trash can). I think the deterioration started when the eggplant was attacked by white flies. Apparently those insects are related to aphids. 

Aphids love tomato plants and eggplant. I have had no success with the tomatoes and eggplants I planted this year. We had a lot of ants in the property when we moved in. We should have gotten pest control to help earlier to help with the infestation. 

I've paused planting anything new for now since there's a lot of movement in the house. The dust coming from the renovation has affected the plants too. It's been hard to find a spot where they won't be disturbed. I'll have to do some clean up in the next few days. :)

#BeKind #StaySafe