Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999 15:16:05 -0600 From: Calvin Donaghey <gdonaghey@bitstreet.com> Subject: Re: [CH] Aphids HELP!!!! Debra, Whatever you end up using, add a few garlic gelcaps to the mix (dissolved, of course) and the little varmits won't be so eager to come back. I have a friend who boils a quart of water with a package of unsweetened chewing tobacco shredded up in it in a coffee can and adds the water to his soap mix. I have used it when I had a bad infestation of mites, and although it didn't completely stop the mites, it did stop the aphids (smells like burned hairballs, though). It sounds as if your plants may be young, in which case I recommend washing them off by hand with mild soap mix. If the soap is too concentrated, the sun might burn young plants. Good Luck. Calvin Nicotine solutions are deadly to mammals, too. That's using a cannon to kill a fly, actually. You can blast aphids off plants with a jet of water. Most don't fly, and die trying to climb back to their posts. If you use nicotine, you endanger humans (I think that stuff can be absorbed through the skin), and kill all of the beneficial insects who stand ready to help you. Gardening without beneficials is a pain in the ......Margaret L