2007-05-10 - 7:11 a.m.

...APHIDS...

I'm up this morning to race off to Penninsula U today, to visit with a researcher I haven't seen in six months since he moved home to Heidi-land and had a baby. He is visiting for two weeks, and is such a keener that he made sure that I would come out for a visit. Nice guy - works hard, thinks a lot, is friendly to everyone as far as I can see - deserves success. Actually, I think that he wants me to do some analyses for him...but hell, out here I don't really have any collaborators yet, so I'll jump.

It's a gorgeous, peaceful, wonderful morning. Beautiful morning sun, singing Spring birds, and APHIDS.

My hard-working alpine strawberries are coated in white sticky foam. I looked more closely and saw that, yes, I have aphids. ick. I've never had to kill aphids before. (or rather, I should say that I've never killed them before - I've just let the plants die). Anyway, now I want them OFF the plants, especially before they spread to the other strawberries and the raspberries and infect them with viruses (I've been websurfing, see, and I know that these darned little guys are a primary source of alpine strawberry virus!).

If anyone has a good yet wholesome recipe for Aphid Death, please send it my way. On the web I found a witches' brew involving minced garlic, canola oil, castille soap, and water....But I have to be careful because this stuff is deadly to the 'good' insects, too, AND I have to find a source of Dr. Bronners soap. FAST. Sigh. I guess this shouldn't be too tough, given that I live on Organic Drive in Organic City. (I hope.)