Hi organic_lazygardener,
With a moniker like "organic", your best bet is to put up a "natural wood/popsicle stick sign, that says "No Aphids allowed", that'll probably do the trick ;-)

Buy a pesticide. Several brands work well to control aphids, including Bayer Advanced, Bonide All Seasons and Bonide Bio-Neem. These products are available in spray bottle and concentrate form.

Mix the pesticide in the sprayer. Follow the directions on the bottle to determine the correct ration of pesticide to water.

Spray the infested plants. Spray the underside of the leaves, the stems and any new growth. If any other plants show signs of aphids, spray these as well.

Repeat if necessary. Most aphid infestations only last about a month, making repeated spraying unnecessary.

Wow, attacking someone for their screen name? That was really rude.

There are plenty of organic ways to kill aphids. Try spraying the plants with a soap solution. There are organic insecticidal soaps, but regular soapy water might work too. The soap washes off the bug's protective waxy coating and makes them dry out.

If your plants can take it, you can also try just blasting the plants with a strong jet of water. Aphids don't hold on very tight and will get washed away.

But really, spraying broad-spectrum insecticides all over everything is probably a bad idea. It will kill off all your ladybugs, lacewings, and other beneficial insects. If you encourage healthy populations of these insects, they will keep the aphids under control for you. I have plenty of ladybugs, and they keep the aphid population down low enough that they don't hurt the plants.

Also, maybe try asking your question in the organic forum where people are less likely to be such jerks about organic pest control.

Zone 9 seems so far away from me I can't quite wrap my head around what flowers would be easily available this time of the year for you. But basically, rather than worrying about aphids coming back, what you might want to do is contract your aphid control job out. :-) To do that in my garden, I have lots of the types of flowers that attract the beneficials in a perennial bed nearby. And I put pots of annuals at the ends of my veggie rows. So maybe try doing a search on plants that attract ladybugs, etc and stick out some pots of those with your fall veggies.

FWIW, I've never done chemicals. I don't even like to use neem, though I'll use Bt and suchlike. I figure it's better for me & my yard (heck, we have a well!) to not use chemicals. It's also lazier, in a way. I would be planting flowers & herbs, anyway. Why not multi-task them?

I wouldn't necessarily suggest buying ladybugs. If there's not enough of a food source, they'll just leave. Better to attract them so they'll hang out and be ready to work when you need them.

I like tha water jet Idea and have also use the insectsidal soap both have worked well for us. Directing this coment to JH we have gardened for 40 years and used to be like you, spray it with junk if its got bugs. The last 5 or 6 years we have gone organic. the good bugs have come back as well as the earth worms we no longer till and use very heavy amounts of compost. We have near no problems with bugs now and I'm sure we are getting a better quality product. Don't knock it if you have not tried it. Squash bugs have nearly caused me to spray the junk again but I have chosen not to plant squash instead.

For my Fall tomato garden I am experimenting with a few of these "passive" Aphid / Whitefly sticky traps:

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My only concern is that they might snag Beneficials as well, but so far the bees have avoided getting stuck:

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I just hang them about 6 feet apart:

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About $3.00 (each pack has two traps) at Hydro Shops.

Raybo

Hey Raybo,
did you plant another crop of tomatoes?
when?
i saw one of your postings several weeks ago....seems like you were hit with psylids,(sp) but also that your tomatoes, like everyone else's, weren't doing as well this year.
(you posted some pics with lots of yellowing leaves.)

just curious, if and when you did a second crop?
and how long you think it will last?