The aphids have been bad this year for me. I also had them on my eggplants. Blast them with water or spray them with insecticidal soap (it'll take a day or two, but they'll be dead, dried husks).

Yes. It looks like the fat ones have been bitten by a parasitic insect and they will die soon. I would just squish the other ones with my fingers.

alittle dish liquid and water, does the trick for me every time.

Will any dish soap do? Or is there a certain kind how much do you use in the mix? Can i use it on all my plants? I found them today on my tomatoes.

What I did to get rid of my infestation (and it was pretty bad, the underside of most of my leaves were covered in them) was get a spray bottle and use a ratio of 1 teaspoon of Dawn (I have the unconcentrated kind, but I don't think it really matters) per gallon of water.. Then I sprayed entire plants surface, make sure to get under the leaves as that's where most of them hang out. Let it set for an hour or two (I only let it sit an hour.. You don't want to leave it on too long or it can damage the plant too) and then rinse very thoroughly with just clean water from the water hose. I have one of those water wands with all the different attachments, the 'shower' setting does a nice job. Try to do this later in the evening or earlier in the morning. I'm not sure if if the sun beating down on a plant coated in soapy water would be a good or bad thing, but better safe than sorry.

Took 2 treatments, but aphids are gone now. Wear gloves when you spray.. You end up doing a lot of spraying and I got a blister on my thumb from it.. lol Also may want to spray it on a test leaf first and let it sit for an hour. If the leaf shows no damage you're good to go.

This post was edited by IAmSupernova on Sun, Jun 9, 13 at 12:48

Yes, any kind of dish soap works, it doesn't have to be DAwn.

I use the Trader Joe's kind, or anything from the natural food store, whatever I currently have for dishes.

IAmSupernova - I would be interested in a controlled experiment to see if the hose alone would have done the job. How about some research next time the aphids strike :-)?

Those few can easily just be squished and removed by hand. That way there is no risk to the plants as there can be when any spray is used.

Dave

Did try with just the hose originally, the next day they were back just as strong as they were. First soap treatment pretty much obliterated them, second was just because I apparently missed some and they were starting to multiply again. Since then I've watched carefully but haven't really seen them return.