Aphid Attacks

It is November in Iceland.

This line above was going to be the start of a fresh blog entry a few days ago, with the following line 'and to my joy and amazement my tender fruiting plants are flowering again.' My aubergine and sweet pepper plants were blooming flowers and teasing that a very late second crop was on its way.




BUT, the inexorable but, last weekend I scurried over for my daily check of the plants and made a loud noise akin to that a makes cat when you accidentally stand on its tail. Literally overnight and out from, it seemed, nowhere - my plants were covered, absolutely swarming in aphids. Three different types of aphids - or quite possibly 3 different life stages of the same aphid.

The leaves of my aubergines were dense with green bodies and eggs. My peppers were infested with some white flies. In a panic I checked over my chilies which thankfully seemed to have escaped the attack as had my tomatoes.

In retrospect I wish I had photographed the enemy to properly identify them, but the overwhelming concern was to get rid of them. I tried google image searching aphids just now and only managed to make my skin crawl.

It pleases me to report that I am now aphid free. My actions were fairly brutal but I knew that if I was to successfully overwinter these plants I had to be vigorous. First I removed the most affected leaves and flowers and threw them away in a sealed bag. I literally stripped the plants. After that I manually squished any remaining bugs every morning and evening in addition to spraying the plants with my own home made bug spray. This contains a large amount of crushed garlic and washing up liquid. My living room smelt of fresh garlic and cleanliness which was actually not a terrible thing. The garlic burns (and does burn the plants leaves a little) and the soap disintegrates the aphids bodies. Lovely.



The tomato plants were sacrificed in the clear out. They didn't appear to be infected but I decided to reduce the risk and of all my tender crops, these are the easiest to raise here in Iceland. It was a shame however as I am still eating fruit from them. The remaining green fruit from the plants has been ripened on a windowsill with a long stalk attached. They will be eaten before the week is out. Sad, but to still be eating tomatoes in mid November shows it has certainly not been a bad season. Let's see if I manage to extend it next year.