Aphids are attacking our pepper

[Corzhens]

Just a few days ago I had commented about garden pests and had mentioned that our pepper is fruting heavily and mainly because it is free from pests, particularly the dreaded aphids. Last Saturday, I noticed that the few remaining fruits. What happened? And that's when I discovered the aphids resting under the leaves. The infestation is heavy and I'm not sure if we can still fight the aphids.

We sprayed the entire pepper plant with a mixture of water and liquid dish washing soap. After 5 minutes of letting the bubbles stay in the leaves, we rinsed it off with water. The plant is now clean but not sure if the aphids would be back.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

good job with the liquid dish washing soap. For next year you may want to get some lady bugs in, they eat aphids and or praying mantis.

 

[CanadianLori]

I used the dishwashing soap method this spring. It worked for about 2 days. I took advice from one of the more experienced gardeners here and bought neem oil. This is the real deal. It works. Yes, you have to apply it more than once but it works and it is a natural pesticide made from the oil of neem seeds.

 

[Corzhens]

This morning, I saw some aphids again in the pepper leaves, underneath were white eggs of aphids. I asked our housemaid to spray it again with liquid dishwashing soap. Maybe I need to try that neem oil as per the experience of @CanadianLori because the aphids this season is terrible, they seem to keep coming back. It's not easy to spray underneath the leaves because you have to hold the branches.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Wait a minute, you have a Housemaid.