Aphids too stubborn for Sevin or Otho Max?

[Steve Foss]

Aphids have invaded our lupine flowers. I've always had good luck controlling aphids with a wide spectrum insecticide such as Sevin or Otho Max, both of which specify aphids as one species they control. But these aphids come back within a couple days of spraying. The blooms are finished anyway by now, because they bloom early in June and then are done, but I still don't want those aphids sucking the vital juices out of the plants. They don't hit any of our other plants, just the lupines, which tells me they REALLY like lupines.

I spray thoroughly, BTW, both from above and below.

What are your thoughts?

[Dotch]

Most aphids are fairly specific as to which plants or families of plants they enjoy feeding on. Sevin outlived its effectiveness on aphids in ag applications a few decades ago and am guessing the Ortho Max you're using contains acetamiprid, one of the neonicotinoids. If so, would suggest looking at trying a product containing one of the sythetic pyrethroids something like bifenthrin, permethrin, lambda cyhalothrin or cyfluthrin. Normally these have good residual and are what we're using for control of most aphids at this point. The neonicotinoids have value but generally when used as seed applied treatments as they are systemic in that situation. Their value as a postemerge spray has been questioned by some as the product satisfaction survey on Ortho's own HSOforum might suggest. They have low human toxicity but if they don't control the target organism well, what's the point?

I had a nasty infestation of some type of aphid on the petunia planters here at work last year and as an added bonus, two spotted spider mites to go with them. The petunias looked terrible and I was embarassed. Went to the local hardware store and found an Ortho Home Defense product containing bifenthrin, the same active ingredient in Capture which we use to control spider mite and soybean aphids. I had nothing to lose and sprayed the planters. Within a week they rebounded and 2 weeks later they looked great again. They remained free of aphids and spider mite until late November temps finally did the petunias in.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Dotch.

Hmmmm, kinda disheartening to know that I'm old enough that my go-to insecticide has outlived its usefulness for some pests. Guess the aphids must have built up an immunity over time, or was Sevin never very effective against them?

On the Ortho Max, Acetameprid is the active ingredient, and aphids are specifically listed. I'll do some searching to find out which insecticides sold in the typical home improvement or garden/nursery stores contain synthetic pyrethroids.

Edit: Search completed. One of Ortho's products (Home Defense Max) contains a synthetic pyrethroid, as does the good old standby Raid. I was holding a spray bottle of Ortho Home Defense Max in the garden store not 2 hours ago, so I'll swing in tomorrow and pick it up. I am not a big fan of chemical insecticide/herbicide, preferring organic methods where possible. I did spend several years applying chemicals (in non agricultural applications) to lawns/gardens/trees/ditches for a living, and came to dislike it. Some of those chemicals (Tordon, for example), are NASTY! That being said, sometimes ya gotta trot out a nuke to do the job.

[Dotch]

No problem Steve. I can empathize with where you're coming from. I'm not a proponent of any one method of control but rather try to integrate those that fit the situation. I too have had lots of exposure to some real "nasties" including things like parathion, carbofuran, terbufos, aldicarb, and phorate amongst others. I think we rely too frequently on chemicals instead of using a little preventative maintenance so their use could be minimized or avoided altogether in some instances. Sevin's biggest downfall was residual. It washes off too easily, breaks down pretty quickly for a carbamate and attempts to get it to stick around better as in the XLR formulation were only modestly successful. Aphids are some unique insects, full of little tricks and games. Young soybean aphids for instance are initially deposited by winged adults, are born pregnant, have several generations of young inside them and can double their population every 2 - 3 days rendering a short residual product pretty ineffective. If it makes you feel better though, I still use Sevin at home as part of the control strategy for pests such as cucumber beetles and rootworm beetles. Whether it's weeds, insects or diseases, rather than rely on one family of chemistry, it's wise to keep pests off balance by mixing up families and modes of action.

[Steve Foss]

Dotch, thanks for the help on aphids. Didn't know a lot of what you said.

The Home Defense Max killed the lil suckers dead.