How to effectively deal with aphids on peppers in the greenhouse and in the open field?

Aphids on peppers in the greenhouse and in the open field quickly form huge colonies, causing significant damage to plantings. It is better to initially focus your efforts on preventing the appearance of a pest than to fight it for a long time and persistently. When plantings are infected, it is easier to deal with aphids at the earliest stages.

Aphid species

Scientists have described about 4000 species of aphids. Most of them do not differ in selectivity in terms of the choice of food source and attack all plants in a row.

The body of the pest is round or oval, reaching several millimeters in length. Garden aphids are larger than domestic aphids, living on indoor flowers. The color of insects, as a rule, coincides with the color of the plants on which they parasitize.

Aphids happen:

• green,
• black,
• red,
• pink,
• transparent.

Her body is covered with growths and hairs. There is no mouth as such. Instead, there is a proboscis, which serves as a tool for obtaining food. With them, the aphid pierces the leaf shell and begins to suck out the plant juices. The parasite has three pairs of small legs, actively crawls and can jump. Some individuals have wings.

Varieties of aphids parasitizing in summer cottages:

• potato;
• mealy;
• cabbage;
• cherry;
• apple;
• carrot;
• pea;
• tobacco;
• sheet;
• root.

The insect is widespread, migrates easily. Several species of aphids can parasitize peppers at once.

The inevitable companions of aphids are ants that feed on its sticky secretions (honeydew). It is necessary to fight simultaneously with those and other insects. Single measures will be ineffective.

Signs of infection

Aphids often attack bell peppers, as their leaves are juicy and have thin covers. Aphid infestation can be suspected by the appearance of ants scurrying up and down the bushes. The aphid itself takes refuge on the lower surface of the leaves; insect larvae and eggs are also noticeable there.

The following symptoms appear on plants attacked by aphids:

• leaves are covered with whitish spots;
• traces of honeydew appear on various parts of the plants;
• without treatment, the foliage begins to dry and fall off;
• the growth of pepper slows down (this is striking on young plants);
• the flowers fall off without setting the fruit.

Infected young shoots fall ill with a fungus and become deformed. If you do not take measures, the yield of pepper will decrease significantly. Plants can even die, especially if affected early in their development.

The higher the air temperature, the faster aphids multiply. During the summer, the female is able to reproduce up to 10 new generations. If not taken care of, the site will be attacked by thousands of pests.

Greenhouse conditions are favorable for the insect's life. Greenhouse owners need to be especially attentive to their plantings. It is better to study the information in advance to understand what to do to save your landings.

Preventive actions

To reduce the risk of the appearance and active reproduction of aphids to a minimum, you need to take care of the implementation of a number of preventive measures:

• be sure to dress the seeds before sowing;
• create optimal conditions for growing seedlings;
• plant onions, garlic, herbs nearby with pepper;
• observe the correct watering regime.

The soil in the garden bed and greenhouse soil must be disinfected. For this purpose, it is spilled with boiling water or a solution of potassium permanganate, treated with bleach, lime, caustic soda.At the beginning and at the end of the season, it is advisable to fumigate the greenhouse with a sulfur stick, and in the process of growing pepper, dust the ground with ash.

To prevent the appearance of aphids, it is imperative to fight ants, and also to lure forest birds to the territory of the summer cottage, equipping a comfortable environment for the birds.

Ladybugs, hoverflies, wasps and some other insects willingly eat aphids. They flock to the smell of lavender, mint, basil, calendula - these plants should be planted on the site.

What methods should be used to fight?

If aphids attack peppers, they quickly weaken, look depressed. First of all, you need to strengthen the immunity of plants by feeding them with fertilizers. Further methods of struggle depend on where exactly the infection occurred.

Before processing the peppers, you need to tear off the leaves with the largest accumulation of aphids and burn them.

It is better to process seedlings in the apartment and plants with fruits with safe products prepared according to folk recipes. For peppers in the garden before flowering, chemicals will be most effective. Both treatments can be used in the greenhouse.

Using folk remedies

The use of products prepared according to folk recipes makes the fight against aphids safe for humans. Peppers can be sprayed with such formulations at any stage of development. It is better to start acting as soon as the suspicion of the presence of parasites has been confirmed, in this case their number will not increase exponentially.

Means used to destroy and repel aphids are usually found in every home:

• Ammonia. To prepare the composition, take 2 tbsp. l. ammonia and 1 tbsp. l. liquid soap on a bucket of water. The ingredients are thoroughly mixed. The resulting solution must be sprinkled with peppers several times with a break of one week.
• Sunflower oil. Add 1 glass of oil to a bucket of water, mix the composition before use. The resulting oil solution is rubbed with pepper leaves. If there are a lot of plants, they can be treated with a spray bottle.
• Hydrogen peroxide. A mixture of 2 tbsp will help to remove aphids on peppers. l. peroxide, 2 tbsp. l. alcohol, 1 tbsp. l. dishwashing liquid and 0.9 l of water. The resulting solution will need to spray the bushes 4-5 times every 5-7 days.
• Baking soda. A soda solution will help save plants from aphids if the pests have not yet had time to settle on all the bushes. The remedy will give a deterrent effect. To prepare the composition in 1 liter of water, dissolve 1 tbsp. l. soda and 30 g of grated laundry soap. Apply every 5 days until insects disappear.

You can do with one laundry soap, preparing a solution of 100 g of soap shavings and 10 liters of water.

It is necessary to process with folk remedies not only the bushes, but also the land under them. The resulting film will prevent parasites from piercing the leaves.

You can also get rid of aphids with plant-based infusions. There are many such recipes:

• Bitter pepper. Fresh pods (100 g) are chopped with a knife, filled with water at room temperature and allowed to brew for 24 hours. Strain before use. Apply 2-3 times with an interval of 5-7 days.
• Mustard. Dry mustard powder (30 g) is poured into 400 ml of water and left for 3 days at room temperature. Then the volume is brought up to 10 liters and used as directed. It will take 3-4 treatments, they need to be carried out weekly.
• Sorrel. Plant roots in the amount of 400 g need to be poured with 10 liters of boiling water and left for several hours to obtain infusion. Strain before use. Spray the pepper several times with a break of 4-5 days.
• Dandelion greens. The leaves and stems of the plant must be crushed. 500 g of raw materials are consumed per 10 liters of water. The product should be infused for 2-3 hours. The infusion is filtered before use. Processed intermittently until insects disappear.
• Yarrow. The green parts of the plant in the amount of 800 g are crushed and poured with 2 liters of hot water.After 2 hours, the volume of the infusion is brought to 10 liters and used for weekly processing of plantings for a month.

Repeated treatments are needed in order to kill new generations of aphids that have emerged from the eggs. Folk remedies are detrimental only to adult insects.

Spraying should be carried out in dry, cloudy and calm weather.

Industrial insecticide application

Chemicals are the last hope of summer residents to defeat aphids.

Chemical treatments should not be carried out later than 3 weeks before harvest, otherwise the vegetables will become unsafe. If pepper is to be sprayed in the greenhouse, the work should be done with the door open.

Modern insecticides act very powerfully; with a slight infection, you can get rid of aphids after the first treatment. If re-spraying is necessary, it is recommended to replace the drug: insects can develop immunity to chemicals.

Purchased aphid remedies are divided into groups depending on the main active ingredient in the composition. Preparations can be made on the basis of organophosphorus compounds, pyrethroids, neonicotinoids.

If aphids appear on the pepper in whole colonies, it is recommended to use the following insecticides:

• "Aktara";
• "Arrivo";
• "Decis";
• Inta-Vir;
• Actellik;
• "Fufanon";
• Tanrek;
• "Spark";
• Fury;
• "Alatar";
• "Karbofos".

Biologicals are safe for the environment, beneficial insects and humans, but they are no less effective. Insecticides of this series include:

• "Gamair",
• "Akarin",
• Fitoverm-M,
• "Aktofit",
• "Phytocid-r".

When processing peppers, some biological products not only destroy pests and their eggs, but also serve as top dressing, making plants more hardy.

Do not exceed the dosage of drugs, the fight against aphids should be carried out strictly according to the instructions. The composition must be used immediately after preparation - as a rule, during storage, the solution loses its insecticidal properties.

When choosing a product, you need to pay attention to whether it is suitable for processing vegetable crops.

You can remove aphids on pepper by systematically treating plantings with suitable means, the list of which is very wide. To prevent pest attacks, it is enough to follow the rules of agricultural technology and maintain the site in a tidy condition. It will not be possible to completely eradicate insects, but it is quite possible to take their numbers under control.