Many times aphids are just a nuisance and do no damage to a plant but a large infestation can injure your plants. This season they were fond of inhabiting pepper plants so what do you do about aphids?
Here are a few options:
- Spray the plants with soapy water every few days, especially on the underside of the leaves. One tablespoon of dish soap or castile soap per gallon of water is enough.
- Spray with dish soap plus cayenne pepper and/or neem oil. Neem oil sprays are available at most garden centers.
- Knock them off by hand or a hose and remove the older leaves.
- Put beneficial insects like ladybugs or green lacewings on the plants.
- Grow companion plants like marigolds, garlic, and catnip with the pepper plants.
There’s lots of information online about aphid control. Here’s a good article that specifically talks about peppers.
https://peppergeek.com/aphids-on-pepper-plants/
Here’s a more detailed article about aphids and aphid control.
