A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Red aphids have invaded!

I went out to take a look at my garden this morning to see how it was doing after all of the rain the NE has been getting and I noticed red aphids on my tomato plants. What is a safe way to get rid of them? I read lady bugs but that it takes a little while for the lady bugs to establish. Any suggestions?

Repeating sprays of neem oil will help your infestation. It only kills on the day of spraying so needs to be done daily for a while.

When is the best time to spray this oil on the plants? Where do they sell neem oil?

Neem oil should be available at your Home Depot or Lowes or maybe a nursery nearby. It will have directions on it for spraying and best times of day.

I didn't find Neem Oil at Lowe's. I ended up with another organic insecticidal soap that I found at a little privately owned hardware store. I've sprayed it once and not in the heat of the day. I'll check on them again tomorrow.

I got green aphids late in the seasn last year and never successfully got rid of them...I hope they are gone now. I did treat the soil with Neem oil several times this spring before I planted, but I ended up getting the Neem oil on-line, but I do live in a small town. I didn't realize the Neem oil had to be sprayed every day, now I know if they come back I'll spray every day. Good Luck with them