Originally published at: Aphids on my backyard tomatoes | Boing Boing
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Neem oil, also known as margosa oil, is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem (Azadirachta indica), a tree which is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics. … Azadirachtin is the most well known and studied triterpenoid in neem oil. Nimbin is another triterpenoid which has been credited with some of neem oil’s properties as an antiseptic, antifungal, antipyretic and antihistamine.
ah just look at that sucker (azadirachtin), look at it. now that’s one sexy organic molecule! (set that IUPAC name to music: dimethyl (2aR,2a1R,3S,4S,4aR,5S,7aS,8S,10R,10aS)-10-(acetyloxy)-3,5-dihydroxy-4-[(1aR,2S,3aS,6aS,7S,7aS)-6a-hydroxy-7a-methyl-3a,6a,7,7a-tetrahydro-2,7-methanofuro[2,3-b]oxireno[2,3-e]oxepin-1a(2H)-yl]-4-methyl-8-{[(2E)-2-methylbut-2-enoyl]oxy}octahydro-1H,7H-naphtho[1,8-bc:4,4a-c′]difuran-5,10a(8H)-dicarboxylate)
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came here to say neem oil is your friend, and then saw you were already on board. i just sprayed neem on all our roses and our apple tree yesterday. love that stuff!
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I was working in a biochem lab, and came across an article about the neem tree, it’s biochemistry and it’s uses. I worked next to a postdoc from India, and asked if it was common where he was from. His eyes lit up
“Yes! She is a goddess!”
Which was not the answer I was expecting, but thought it was cool.
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We had some tomato plant-killing monsters a couple years back. This lovely specimen is called the Hornworm, I believe.
So, I just did a little googling, and apparently, the rice-lice structures on the hornworm are parasitic wasp eggs. So this one was in for a pretty horrific end, being eaten from the inside and all that.
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Not that apex. Those are wasp eggs on it’s back, who will be chowing down on it once they hatch.
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I see you knew that before I did, I just came back from the edit to find your comment. 
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The moths that survive to adulthood are badass, they fly like hummingbirds.
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You will find that you can actually hire praying mantises to police your garden.
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I read too fast and thought it said “bloody orange tree” for a second. Like, what did it do to you? /s
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The first year we planted our garden hornworms annihilated our tomatoes. I think we harvested three tomatoes off of twelve plants (!).
The second year, we had hornworms again, then mysteriously, the destruction stopped. And there were a bunch of ‘em covered in cocoons. We’ve now achieved equilibrium, and the tomato harvest is fantastic!
For aphids, I usually plant sacrificial cabbages. The aphids, and the other bugs, like them better than my “real” crops. This year I’ve decided to try nasturtiums instead of cabbage. I read they are attractive to pests, who then leave the other crops alone. We’ll see.
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I don’t have any aphids on my tomatoes. I did let some of my lettuce go to seed and there were a few on the stalks. The hummingbirds and verdin enjoyed eating them though so I didn’t bother trying to get rid of them. I harvested a bunch of seeds and left the rest for sparrows and finches. They were happy.
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Sorry about your plants, but aphids are really cool.
Some pea aphid species alternate between all female, asexual generations and dimorphic sexual generations. See males (of most aphid species) have wings and fly away, so by producing a whole generation of asexual, wingless females that produce identical clones it guarantees all of them will stay and eat the plant host until its all gone. And then the next generation will grow wings and fly away to look for new plants.
Remember, when your garden gets devoured you can just embrace that now you’re growing insects to study.
2 identical* twin sister aphids, both clones of an asexual mother
*genetically identical, obviously some huge phenotypic differences
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You could also try interplanting French marigolds (aphids don’t like the smell I’m told) and sacrificial calendula.
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