If the aphids aren't attacking your peas, I think you can afford to be lax about doing anything about them. If you want to get rid of some of them, just spray the underside of the vetch with water -- that kills some of them.

Some people claim that marigolds sowed near plants that aphids like are an aphid-repellent. I don't know that from experience but I've surrounded my bell pepper plants with marigolds to see if it helps keep them away -- for some reason in early Spring they seem to love the pepper plants in containers on my deck. In the meantime, I'm spraying the undersides with water periodically.

Thanks Anney.
I have several theories going on this one.

I am even thinking that killing some of them might not be the best thing I could do.

Your peppers might give me some clues. Do you fertilize your peppers specially or give them a really rich medium? Is this a period of fast or slower growth for them in Georgia?

I have some marigolds just starting up. Maybe I can move their pots over there just in case. Thanks.

TG

No, the peppers aren't fertilized specially though the container soil is adequately fertilized for them right now. It's hard for me to tell if they grow fast or slow since they develop rather slowly! But the new growth is what's affected most. The leaves are slightly disfigured and it's happened every year I've grown them.

What are your theories? One that comes up for me is that vetch must be a good trap crop for them since they seem to prefer it!

yep leave well enough alone, ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship so if the aphids appear on your plants then you move the ants on and hose the aphids off and the problem will be controlled.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Interesting timing....over coffee this morning a co-worker described how his family controlled aphids when he was growing up on a more-or-less organic farm. He said they would collect some of aphids and put them in a blender with water and some garlic cloves. They waited a while with the aphids in the water because they supposedly secrete some kind of alarm pheromone when stressed. Then they'd blend up the whole mess, strain it, and spray it on their veggies. He used to work in natural products chemistry, so he might actually know something about the pheromone thing, but I'm not sure about blending bugs in my Margarita maker!

Chuck

Anney. I am probably going to leave them alone. My theory is that the vetch is just chock full of nitrogen. The vetch is already in really good soil, and it produces its own nitro, so... I think that fertilizer attracts aphids, strangely enough. Yes the vetch is acting as a trap crop, and if I cut it down, they might look around for something better.

Anney, if you plant those peppers among a bunch of other plants, I bet you can avoid your aphid problem. Just a guess.

On the other hand, if I leave them, they will reproduce anyway. Will the ladybugs catch up? Maybe I should wait and see. I have seen ladybug larvae too, which deters me from disturbing things.

Gardenlen's strategy sounds good. Chuck has an idea if they ever do turn on me, I guess. This all seems to be a vindication of so many things I have read and believed... that these things happen in the garden for a reason. Why the vetch? Where are the ants? Why the ladybugs? Why not the peas? The answers are all there if I just stop to look.

I had an outbreak of aphids on my peas last year and it got bad enough that I was seriously thinking of going for the pesticide. When I saw a few ladybugs I decided to give it some time. It took a few weeks (and during this time some of the pea plants were stressed) but once the population of lady bug larva got going, the aphids did not stand a chance.

Steve

It's not the aphids on my veggies but they decimate my lupines.. I have tried the water bit and it does not work as the infestation is that severe and I have tried all the natural sprays and concoctions to no avail, even used chemicals as a last resort, but I will try that aphid/garlic recipe mentioned... I know they are over wintering in the soil but I do not want to have to saturate the soil with harsh chemicals..

mscratch

You reminded me. One year aphids were all over my rosebushes so I concocted a garlic spray to get rid of them. They did fall down dead, but there was another unexpected effect. The soil was very rich and filled with earthworms. As the garlic water dripped on the soil, the earthworms literally came boiling out of the soil trying to get away from it. I don't know if they survived the inadvertent dousing or not but I decided that if the aphids came back I'd make sure none of the spray ended up on the soil again.

Yeah! Score 1 ladybugs! :)

I am extremely interested in this situation. Not a single aphid is getting on to the peas. This has gone on for over a week now, probably much longer, and I am content to let it play out. I might as well say that I am not interested in using pesticides. My gut feeling is that my garden is in balance, and that if I had not allowed the weed to flourish, I would be crying over my peas by now

That's wonderful. I may try growing some vetch for that purpose -- as an incubator for predators and trap for pests. What kind of vetch is it? Crown vetch grows well around these parts.

I've had very good luck with some weeds keeping pests under control:

Leafminers: Velvetleaf. They absolutely adore this stuff. If there's velvetleaf around, they won't hit anything else, but your velvetleaf will be riddled with leafminer tracks.

Japanese beetles: Lady's Thumb smartweed. For years, this was my most despised weed, as not only was it an aggressive reseeder, but nothing ever seemed to eat it. That is, until Japanese beetles found my garden. They only ever eat the Lady's Thumb; I've never found them on anything else.

If anyone knows of any good trap plants for leafhoppers or squash bugs, I'm all ears. :)

It is hairy, I think. It is putting out little pea pods of its own. Bizarre. I did not know it existed until about 4 years ago. Now I see it everywhere. I am not so sure that the variety of plant is so important. It is a legume in rich soil that naturally occurred. Aphids seem to prefer it to my snow peas and what.. pod peas?? Here they call them snack peas.

For different reasons, I am at a huge disadvantage in getting uncommon plants like those you mentioned. I had difficulty finding comfrey and Jerusalem artichokes, for instance. Found borage for the first time last summer. It promptly died.

I do have a trap plant for you in fact, but I cannot give you the name. It is a weed that is being chomped to lace by leaf eating black larvae of some bug (resemble ladybug larvae, but not). Two feet away, I have some beautiful untouched lettuce. This is occurring all over my garden. My mother in law gives me a hard time for growing this thing on my paths, but it does the job. Good luck with this description. Grows to 2 feet. Large (six inch to one foot long) oblong leaves resembling avocado leaf shape growing singularly on long (one foot) red and green stalks. Growth pattern and overall plant shape similar to Russian comfrey. Stalk color is like rhubarb. Leaves can be eaten as a salad veg, but only if you are really hungry.

I have grown radishes and let them go to seed to deter squash bugs. Heard it works. Cannot say myself.

The only depressing pest problem I have ever had was slugs. That unfortunate episode is probably over for good. My garden is full of predators. This aphid thing, as you can tell, is not a menace to me. It might be. I promise to let you know if it blows up.

Um. I should say UH OH.
What about overwintering? Not too excited about that. Did not know about that.
This complicates matters.
The vetch is pretty well surrounding a cherry tree that the family likes. Maybe it would be prudent to just cut the vetch and move it to my compost pile? Or to some area out of the garden?
I mean, I am a true believer and all that, but if every aphid went after the cherry tree... and vetch season is almost over, so... I think I hear a clock ticking.

Well, had the old man picked me up a pint of Neem yesterday.. it's pricey but as it can be used on a variety trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, etc. I will give it a try.

I use a few different organic Neem Oil based products (GardenSafe). They work ok for small amounts of aphids, but the concentration of Neem Oil in them mush not be strong enough for a good amount of aphids.

Ok, I have a trap crop to add. DILL. Definitely an aphid trap crop. I planted some from transplants this year. Within 3 weeks it's covered in what I believe are the pale green peach aphid.

Onion chives for me attracted some sort of small black aphid like bug last year. Infested them time and again all last summer. Year before that and this year, I grew garlic chives. Not one bug.

I've sprayed my dill, but only to keep it alive so it continues to be a trap crop. Once a plant is this infested, I can no longer consider eating any part of it. Even if I cleared up the infestation entirely - . Too much bug. (never did get a single chive last year.)But I'm told that Dill is also a trap crop for tomato horn worms. So maybe if I keep it alive, it'll be a two-fer. :o)

Sweet...good to know. I don't care if my Dill gets overrun by them, as long as they stay the he** away from my peppers! =)

I bought a Dirt Devil Hand Detailer vacuum from Walmart Online for $19.99 last week and it works great for sucking the aphids off the plants without damaging them.
I tried soaps and stuff but leaves suffered so I decided to try this...works great. (this vacuum is for cleaning computer keyboards but It is too weak to do that well- which makes it perfect for pulling aphids off of my blossoms without damaging them.
After I vacuum them off I just pop out the little filter and dump on the concrete and bug-spray them bye-bye.