But please "don't" do this! Like last year, aphids invaded the sunroom where all my precious seedlings start life. Once noticed, I started spraying with Pyrethrin. It beat them back for awhile, but they returned. So I got the brilliant idea to take a cotton swab to all the leaves in the hopes of crushing or removing them. Here is the result of that unfortunate effort:
I shortly realized that what I had done was damage the tender leaf cells. Almost all the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers started wilting. What is worst is the growing tips appear to be compromised on many plants.
Some may recover, but are starting life at a disadvantage. Of course there's no time to start new ones, so that means finding a garden center that stocks something more interesting than the typical Early Girl, Jet Star, and Big Boy varieties.
Gardening is hard!
Thanks for reading, and thanks to Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday, and also providing so many other interesting and informative posts.
Oh, that's so distressing! I suppose it's another one of those gardening lessons that one won't soon forget. Fingers crossed that most of your seedlings survive or, at least, you are able to find some adequate replacements.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret. Time will tell.
DeleteYikes! Hope you can find replacements.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike. I'll find something I'm sure.
DeleteOops! Another learning experience. I've had plenty of those. Those asparagus are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle. At this point in my life I don't want any more of these "learning experiences!"
DeleteHow lovely to have asparagus in the garden!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning about cotton swabs
Happy Gardening!
Thank you, Lea.
DeleteOh no, that's terrible! Hopefully they'll surprise you and bounce back. Although, our garden centers are starting to stock Cherokee Purple and such regularly.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Phuong. Hoping I don't really need to buy seedlings, but pretty sure I will have to.
DeleteOoh, I feel your pain with the aphids. I had a bad outbreak here this year. I sprayed pyrethin too, and some of my plants wound up looking like yours. I think the aphids just suck the life right out of those tender new leaves. I started feeding mine fish emulsion and many came out of it. I hope yours do too!
ReplyDeleteI started feeding with fish emulsion too, but you really shouldn't do that more than once a week, right?
DeleteOnce a week is what I usually do, if it's full strength.
Delete