My 2013 crop has been hanging from the rafters in a shed since harvest. I just finished boxing it for long term storage and cleaned out the storage space for the coming crop.
I noticed that many of the leaves harvested in late August had significant populations of aphid corpses. Not the earliest harvests, not the Sept harvests. Tiny, they did not appear large enough for adults. I vacuumed them off as best I could.
I had aphids on the live plants in July and early August; eradicated them with soap solution. They were localized mostly on the tender new growth at the tops of the plants. I don't recall seeing any on the bottom 3/4 of the plants. I have had plants covered from top to bottom in years past, suggesting that they start at the succulent top growth and spread downward as populations increase, but better scouting has caught them sooner.
I started priming lower leaves in early August, and continued upward as the leaves ripened, finishing in late Sept last year. I saw no sign of aphids as I harvested. They might have been there and I missed them, but the infested leaves came from the mid levels of the plants, not the tops which had been attacked and cleaned up.
My assumption at this point is that the adults came into the storage shed and laid eggs on the freshly harvested leaves; the buggers hatched and survived until the leaves dried out.
Has anyone else been attacked this way?
I noticed that many of the leaves harvested in late August had significant populations of aphid corpses. Not the earliest harvests, not the Sept harvests. Tiny, they did not appear large enough for adults. I vacuumed them off as best I could.
I had aphids on the live plants in July and early August; eradicated them with soap solution. They were localized mostly on the tender new growth at the tops of the plants. I don't recall seeing any on the bottom 3/4 of the plants. I have had plants covered from top to bottom in years past, suggesting that they start at the succulent top growth and spread downward as populations increase, but better scouting has caught them sooner.
I started priming lower leaves in early August, and continued upward as the leaves ripened, finishing in late Sept last year. I saw no sign of aphids as I harvested. They might have been there and I missed them, but the infested leaves came from the mid levels of the plants, not the tops which had been attacked and cleaned up.
My assumption at this point is that the adults came into the storage shed and laid eggs on the freshly harvested leaves; the buggers hatched and survived until the leaves dried out.
Has anyone else been attacked this way?
