05/27/2026
TL;DR
We discovered aphids on our peppers and some other crops in our greenhouses this past weekend. We sprayed with an organic-approved insecticidal soap which decimated the aphid population. We will be introducing beneficial insects (lady beetles and green lacewings larvae) later today to hunt survivors. Plants are healthy and happy, and we are happy to be open again!
Honesty, integrity, and transparency are foundations of the organic principles to which we subscribe, and that’s why we wanted to share more about the reasons we closed this past Sunday, and what our organic pest control plan includes.
More details here:
After discovering aphids in our greenhouses on Sunday morning, we made the decision to close for the day. We took that time to do a thorough inspection of our plants and assess our options for organic pest control.
While we periodically introduce beneficial insects into our greenhouses to prevent pest outbreaks, we also keep a couple of pesticides on hand for emergency cases. This was one of those cases. (The beneficials we have previously introduced target many pests, but not aphids. Lesson learned!)
We sprayed all our plants with KOPA insecticidal soap which kills aphids (and other soft-bodied insects) on contact. The insecticidal soap is a “contact pesticide” and has no residual or systemic effects, which means once the spray has dried, it has no lingering toxicity. In terms of health concerns, this should allay any fears: the pre-harvest interval (or PHI for those in the biz) for KOPA is 0 days, which is another way of saying it can be used on crops up to and even on the day of harvest without health concerns.
After spraying on Sunday, we could observe MANY more dead aphids than live ones. Yesterday evening, we did a second spray application on the most affected plants (peppers and eggplants), and could only observe a few live aphids this morning. (Directly spraying aphids that hide out on the undersides of leaves is difficult when you have thousands of closely packed plants.)
On Monday, we called about 5 different beneficial insect suppliers to see who could ship aphid predators to us soonest. The result: we have thousands of lady beetle larvae and green lacewing larvae, two natural aphid predators, arriving later today. The two predators insects will be distributed throughout our greenhouses as another measure to kill remaining aphids and prevent further outbreaks, without resorting to another spray application.
If we were not so concerned about environmental and health impacts, and weren’t certified organic, we would have had many other harsher chemicals available to use. Many such chemicals have residual effects and are toxic to a much broader range of lifeforms. Our goal as organic growers isn’t for our greenhouse to be a sterile environment with zero insects. That’s not a realistic or a healthy outcome. As much as possible, our goal is to have our greenhouse be a healthy, complex ecosystem filled with a diversity of species which naturally keep each other in check.
That said, there are times when intervention is required to protect our crops, and in those cases we do what is needed in the least harsh manner possible.
Thank you for reading, thanks you for your ongoing support, and we look forward to seeing you in the greenhouse again!
The Slow Roots Team
