DOLPHINE – posted 31 March 2004 13:09
THESE ARE KILLING MY SHRUBS AND TURNING THE LEAVES BLACK – HELP ???
Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 04 April 2004 13:35
Hose them off with water every day.
My situation seems to be different from everyone else but I have not had more than a dozen aphids since Feb of 2001. That was the day I started using ordinary corn meal as a fertilizer. Now nobody else I know using corn meal reports this kind of result, but that is the only difference in what I used to do and what I do now.
One thing you could try is spraying every 2 weeks with a mix of 2 ounces of molasses and 2 ounces of liquid seaweed in a gallon of water. I mix in much smaller quantities because it gets a bacterial film (scum) in the bottle if you don’t spray it all out. This mix seems to stimulate the plant itself to protect itself from sucking insects. It works great for spider mites and less great for other insects.
ted – posted 04 April 2004 16:35
oh great, now corn meal is an insecticide, too…
jr – posted 04 April 2004 19:31
Dolphine, don’t mind that fool. The black stuff on your leaves is sooty mold, which feeds on a honeydew like substance the aphids secrete. Spraying molasses on the leaves would only exacerbate it. As an alleged organic guru, I am surprised that Dchall neglected to advise you to spray your aphids with horticultural oil. It clogs their breathing holes and suffocates them, and is perfectly safe for a homeowner to use.
lawn supervisor – posted 26 April 2004 17:45
JR is exactly correct completly without question horticultural oil to suffocate then when the aphids are gone water will remove sooty mold great answer jr