Neem Oil for Aphids

[Bmouthboyo]

I have Aphids all over my little chilli plants with lots of ants protecting them.

I hear that Neem oil is one of the best ways to rid them, is this true? And if so anyone know where I can buy here in Bangkok? The Thai spelling for it etc?

Cheers

[noahvail]

Don't know about Neem oil, but here's a trick I learned in New Zealand when aphids infested my roses. Drop a few cigarettes into a glass of water, and let it steep for a day or too. Transfer the brown liquid to a spray bottle, and give them a fine mist. Don't know why it works, but it does. After the aphids are gone, just rinse down your chilli plants.

[BrianDouglas]

I recently had the same problem with my Habaneros here in Phuket....one of the blogs I checked offered a simple solution...dish soap mixed with water shot from a spray bottle, making sure to cover all leaves( both sides) and stems thoroughly, let sit for about 20 minutes then fully rinse with clean water.

Worked great but has to be repeated for a few days in a row as the initial soaping will only kill the live ones and not the eggs they've already produced.

The eggs hatch in about 3-4 days hence the need for repeated apps. Good luck !

[Bmouthboyo]

Sounds great that is actually what I at trying now, thanks.

On a side note are you using the standard Thai soil you get at those little plant sellers about? Or something imported? I never know when to start adding nutrients, or how much.

[BrianDouglas]

Yes the usual roadside garden center stuff, as for fertilizer, again following some good blogs, I use bat guano ( one cup soaked in a gallon of water for 24 hours, pour off the water for fertilizer and discard the leftover s**t....important not to get the leftover shit in the fertilizer water when you separate...burns the plants right out.

Following the experts, I fertilize only occasionally, maybe once a month or 3 weeks but about once a week I give them an exfoliar spray of two tablespoons epsom salts to one liter of water, shake well and mist the entire plant.

Soil mix seems to be important and I am using 2 parts soil, one part peat moss, one part sand with lots of drainage at the bottom of the pots....I also throw in a handful of worm castings to enrich the soil initially

I'm really new to pepper growing and just doing on a small scale and had a few failures but once I started following some tips i started getting pretty decent results.

After I built the recycled greenhouse from an old laundry rack and some recycled pvc the results were great !