aphids sucking the fun out of gardening

When I decided that I'd start a garden on the balcony that I would not have to deal with pests that many gardeners have to deal with. I was wrong. I had wrote about the gross infestation of black cherry aphids on my strawberry plants, which I resolved with an organic insecticide. I had little annoying winged insects too but I thought nothing much about them. They didn't seem to be causing any damage to the plants.

Then recently, I discovered aphids (the green kind) spread through out the balcony garden. I was annoyed and upset because I was wasting time battling these annoying green pests instead of spending quality time with the plants. I sprayed the plants with the organic insecticide and for good measure, I also bought a container of ladybugs. Most of the lady bugs have either left or died the next day. There were some that were crawling around or hanging out. Hopefully, they have eaten whatever aphids that remained and laid eggs around. Upon releasing the ladybugs, I couldn't help but notice that many ladybugs were getting it on with each other.

Dealing with the aphids not only annoyed me but it was taking the fun out of gardening for me. I can deal with toiling out on the balcony on a hot and sunny day but seeing aphids sucking the juices of my plants is upsetting. And trying to rid them drains my energy and enthusiasm. It bothered me that my plants were being attacked by aphids. The balcony is high up; where are these damn aphids coming from? There is a possibility that they may have come from the plants I purchased from the greenmarket.

I did a bit of investigation to understand where these damn pests come from, and found a website that explained this. Reading the report made me feel a little better because at least I now understand how the aphids get around.

Luckily, the damage seems to be minimal as I caught them before they really spread and multiplied although they may return and infest again... :(

what are these black little things on my strawberry plant?

I was checking and pruning the plants this weekend. Everything looked fine and healthy. I noticed some brown leaves on the strawberry plants and began to clip them off. As I pushed aside the ribbed green foliage, I noticed little black specks on the stems. At first I thought it was bits of soil that got stuck on the fuzzy stems but at closer inspection, they were moving! I was grossed out by this discovery and checked the other pockets and noticed there were similar black specks on the fuzzy stems!

I immediately sprayed the strawberry plants down with an organic insecticide soap by Safer Brands. I sprayed directly at the infected areas as well as the tops and bottoms of the leaves. I checked the other strawberry jar planter, which didn't look like it was infested. I moved it to the other side of the balcony. I proceeded to spray the tomato plants that are placed near the strawberry plants just in case. Again, I sprayed the tops and bottoms of the plants.

Annoyed by the discovery of the tiny black infestation, I wanted to find out what I was dealing with. I eventually found someone else who had the same problem, and explained what the black bugs are - black cherry aphids! I was horrified...

We had a bad experience with aphids a while ago when we attempted to grow tomatoes on the balcony. Though I found a home remedy of mixing dish soap and water, the grossness of having to deal with the pests put us off from balcony gardening for a few years.

The organic insecticide soap seemed to have did the trick though for good measure, i'm also going to get some and release live ladybugs. Ladybugs are a safe solution to ridding gardens of pests such as aphids. The larvae and adult ladybugs eat aphids and other soft body bugs. Stay tuned to see how things are resolved...