One Small Victory

Since my last post I have been fighting the great aphid war, and I have definitely won this battle, at least.  I settled on Terro to kill the ants that protect and herd the aphids.  Two applications of a few drops on a couple of blocks of wood daily has had a dramatic effect.  Very few ants are left on the plants in the garden. Here is a picture of some of the remaining ones ones having a nice, sweet bedtime snack.

 I also used a double barreled approach on the aphids themselves: insecticidal soap in the morning and water in the evening (or vice-versa, it doesn't matter).  The insecticidal soap is a home-brew concoction made of approximately one pint of water, one teaspoon of Dawn dish washing liquid, and a half teaspoon of vegetable oil in a spray bottle.  The proportions are very flexible - no need to actually measure anything.  I drenched the plants with this liquid, being sure to get under the leaves.  You have to actually get the little buggers wet for this to be effective, since it works by coating them and cutting off their air supply.  Then in the evening I came back and hosed off the aphids with a strong stream of water.  (Turn the hose on slow and put your thumb over the end to get a nice spray.)  This knocks most of the bugs off the plants and makes them very discouraged.  There is nothing so pitiful as a soapy, drenched, depressed aphid.  Anyway, gradually, after a period of a week they have all given up and gone elsewhere.  Hurray!  The black-eyed peas are looking a lot better now, even putting out a few blossoms, finally.

And one last note, here is a picture of the summer squash that I planted this week.  They have already germinated and seem to be OK with the summer heat (about 105 today).