The pests you have eating the insides of the Swiss chard leaves, are called leaf miners. They were horrible on my spinach and Swiss chard last year, so I didn't grow either one of them this time. There are some tips for controlling them at the link below.

I've read about a hundred times on various GW forums to just hit the aphids with a strong blast from the hose. This has never worked for me. Mine must hang on really well, because any blast strong enough to have any effect on them would be fatal to the plants. I've also heard you can put a few drops of dishwashing soap in water in a spray bottle, but that didn't work for me either. Maybe someone else will come along and give you other organic options for the aphid control.

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help,
Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Leaf miners

Re aphids, I have pretty good luck with soap (not detergent), at 1 tablespoon in a gallon, sprayed on the leaves in the evening so the sun won't burn them up. Spray it on so its dripping off the plant. Worked pretty well with spider mites as well.

Thank you for your help! I will try the detergent and see how it works. By detergent, do you mean Dr. Bronners or dishsoap or laundry soap? And, does it work as a preventative measure?

Insecticidal soap is rather expensive but it works for me on aphids. If you'd like a lower cost alternative - I've used 3 tablespoons of Palmolive Green dish soap for every gallon of water as an aphid spray. It worked very well and didn't cause damage to leaves.

The soap dehydrates soft-bodied bugs - like aphids. Dry evening air can be a "killer" for the pests.

You can rinse the plants the following morning with clean water and should, especially with that much Palmolive on 'em. Another little tip: put the water in the sprayer first, then the soap.

digitS'

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Pest Controls

I like Dr. Bronners, myself. I believe that aphids should smell fresh and minty.

Steve, do you also use the left over spray for the dishes? Line 'em up out on the lawn? :->

Hi Danielle,

When I find aphids or mites on veggies, I use the Palmolive green dishwashing soap method! I just fill something like a Windex bottle with water, put a big squeeze of Palmolive in the water, put the top on and shake it up well, and spray away. Soap water will only kill the insects that it directly hits, so you need to be sure to get all parts of the plantÂincluding the undersides of the leaves and down into the newest growth. Absolutely, positively donÂt do it when the sun is shining on anything, and itÂs best to be sure it will be completely dry for some time before itÂs in the sun again. Late in the day when the plants wonÂt be in the sun again till the following morning is good. And if youÂre using a strong solution and really saturating the plants, itÂs not a bad idea to wash them down with the hose before they get into the sun again. The solution will kill whatever itÂs going to kill in a couple hours, and after that itÂs not going to do anything more anyway. I accidentally put too much soap in the bottle one time this spring when I was spraying my kohlrabis, and the leaves all turned brown and died (it was aphids!), so be careful to not get carried away like I did! I donÂt measure the soapÂI just squeeze! But I think you could very safely put a tablespoonful in a quart of water. IÂm sure I had more than that in the bottle when I damaged the plants!

For plants that are really totally covered with aphids, like cole crops can often become, it may be too late to do anything but pick them and see what you can salvage. The best time to try to treat plants with soap solution is as soon as you see any insects at all. Watch the plants you have left, even looking with a magnifying glass if necessary, and if youÂre seeing any aphids at all, get them right away.

And if leaf miners is what you have on the beets and chard, I had them on my beet leaves this spring and early summer, and I just kept picking off the leaves that were affected, and then spraying with the soap solution. With both the beets and the chard you can pick off almost all the leaves without hurting them. Since thereÂs not much left of the summer, I think IÂd just pick off the affected leaves and not even mess with the soap water anymore this year. IÂm not even positive how much the soap spray helped with the leaf minersÂsince theyÂre inside of the leaf! I think removing the bad leaves was the most effective treatment!

Good luck! I hope you get to eat your crops rather than the aphids,
Skybird