How to get rid of aphids indoors?

Question

Somehow aphids got onto my Tai pepper plants indoors and for a while i have been pinching them but they seem to come back with a vengeance! I'm curious what you can do to get rid of aphids on indoor plants; and I'm not looking for the lady bug answer but if it comes down to it i may just have to. Any ideas? On a side note, I did try guinea pig flea spray on a plant that did not look like it was going to make it, and it ended up working but I have since moved and no longer have the spray and I don't remember the brand.

Answer 1

If your Thai pepper plant is small, take it into the shower, hold it upside down and use a strong water spray to rinse off the little boogers.  Do this a few times until all bugs are off, then use a mister with insecticidal soap to finish off any remnants.  It sounds as if you have the pepper aphid.

Answer 2

Aphids are one of the commonest and most troublesome of all garden insects, attacking a large number of garden plants such as the rose, many trees and vegetables. Greenfly and blackfly are aphids and they suck the sap of the plant. They are particularly attracted to young tender shoots. This causes the shoots and leaves to become distorted. It is unlikely to kill the plant, but it can seriously weaken it.

Other friendly ways of controlling aphids include rubbing them off with your fingers, spray them off with water and the use of insecticidal soap (a potassium-salt soap available at most garden centres). Many people have success by spraying weekly with very diluted washing up liquid - about one teaspoon of Fairy Liquid to a couple of litres of water.

Aphids breathe through their skin. Spraying with diluted washing up liquid clogs up their skin and causes them to literally suffocate. Their brains are unable to detect pain according to the majority of research, so don't worry unduly about any pain this may cause!

Answer 3

Here's what you do.  This will not only get rid of the bugs, but cleans the leaves, fertilizes, provides nitrogen, and lots of good stuff.

Take a spray bottle like you would buy at the store, regular size (you can wash out a bottle you have around the house, but it needs to be a circular tube-type of bottle, not one of those flat ones that many sprays come in. That's so the proportions are correct. If you use a flat one, cut the measurements in half).

To the empty bottle, add:

     2 drops dishwashing liquid

     1 oz. ammonia

     1 oz. tobacco juice (make it by soaking a cigarette, or cigar butt, or chewing tobacco in water overnight)

     1 oz. urine (Thats right. Pee in a cup)  

Spray liberally on the plant everyday.  No need to wait for bugs in the future. Keep it around and spray your indoor plants frequently.  The plants love it!  They'll be lean, mean, clean and green.  You'll see.  They'll perk up almost immediately. My plants never have bugs. On the few occasions when my friends have gotten infestations on their plants, I gave them this recipe and they are amazed. Believe me, it works.

Note to Yeahright:  "Those are soooo stupid advices?"  You can't even construct a simple sentence and you expect us to believe you are a professional gardener?  What? Did your neighbor give you 5 bucks to water her plants while she was on vacation? Answer the question (if you must) but don't insult others.

Answer 4

those are soooo stupid advices. and weird. anyway, i am a gardener, i know how to get rid of stuff outdoors, so getting rid of bugs inside is like a piece of cake for me. u didn't write what size is your plant. it would be really really nice if u could dip it in a big dish filled with 2% dish washer liquid and vodka. for 1 l of water u take 20 ml of dish wash and 20 ml of vodka. i would put some of it aside into a spray bottle for later use. u put it in a wide bowl and just bathe the upper part of your plant in it. u might as well help to wash those bugs off plant. then at the end u spray plant with the same solution. in a week u spray plant again. vodka helps to kill bugs and makes plants stronger. i suggest even when u get rid of bugs spray ypur plants with 1% vodka solution - gets absorbed into leaves and makes it more resistant to deseases and bugs