I’m having an aphid battle and wanted to share my gains and maybe get some other good advice.
Aphids came in with Fox Farms Happy Frog soil. (Not uncommon to happen I hear)
Lady at the grow store sold me SNS 209 (rosemary oil) which did not work then she sold me Mammoth (thyme oil) also useless. So I was literally hand crushing every aphid I could find but it was a time consuming daily battle. (Note my infestations were not severe but bad enough to be worried.)
Then I read about D-Limonene (orange oil) which I made myself by cutting all the white flesh from the backs of about 6 oranges worth of peels boiled rapidly in a quart of water for 5 min and then let sit for a day.
The orange oil kills them dead. I watched them croak under my jewelers loop so I know it works, but have been hesitant to douse the plant with it because it seems too acidic (test it on the lowest leaves first.) So I spray each aphid as I find them. This is working and i have minimal aphids now but they are not gone, so I ordered a quart of food grade D-Limonene which uses about 1 tbsp per gallon of h2o. I hope when it arrives I can soak the plants in orange oil without burning any leaves and be done with these buggers for good!
I welcome any advice! I wish there were a tent fogger that would fog away any pests and dissipate through my charcoal filter. Is there?