I was shocked today to find masses of aphids on the underside of our soon-to-be-eaten mustard greens. I was harvesting a bag full for our dinner when I discovered the intruders. Never before have I encountered aphids on brassica of any kind and am curious as to why this year is the first year to have this problem. Could the tendergreen mustard be particularly susceptible to this pest? I did find the following information on Floridata
In cold weather mustard greens have almost no pests, but warmer weather will bring on the aphids and cabbage worms. Mustard greens grow so fast, though, you can usually harvest plenty before the bugs make them too unsightly to be appetizing. If you do have aphids (usually on the underside of the leaves), just wash them off under the cold water tap before cooking.
This was my exact problem. Due to the large amount of leaves I had to clean, I pulled out the trusty produce wash and soaped up my already organic veggies. I figured if insecticidal soaps kill aphids on the plant, I could surely rid my food of them in almost the same way! My plan worked beautifully, I only wish I hadn’t seen the vast quantities of aphids that washed from the leaves.
Ah well, better in the drain than in my belly…
Posted by Ira on November 24, 2008 at 9:04 pm
A low cost, green eco friendly, healthy natural way to deal with aphids is to make a homemade liquid from soapberry which grows on the Chinaberry tree and has been used for thousands of years. It works very effectively.