Aphids eating broccoli - is spraying my only option?

[hjrowan]

Hello all

I've had issues with aphids eating my broccoli for a few weeks. I've tried spraying them off with water and picking them off by hand but it's tricky because they're right down in the center of the plant where you'd expect the crown to start appearing.

At this point (about 10 days from first frost) I don't even know whether they're worth saving as I'm not sure whether the plants will fruit or not. This is my first time with a Fall garden and other stuff seems to be struggling too - probably because of a very rainy, cool period we've had recently. Sigh.

Any aphid-fighting tips out there? I've got some "organic" pesticide which I'll use as a last resort. Thanks!

[Momma Moo Martin]

Now, I am far from being an expert at gardening but I have heard that ladybugs love to snack on aphids. You can promote ladybugs in the garden by putting a "Ladybug House" or two in your garden. Here's a website showing a LadyBug House - http://www.instructables.com/id/Ladybug-House/ - I hope this helps.

[FreeRangeMama]

Some ideas:
http://municipal.cleannorth.org/help...esticides.html

http://cawdrec.com/?p=59

[dmpmercury]

We put a little bit of dish soap and mixed it with water and sprayed them when we had apids on rasberries and it took care of them.

[changingseasons]

I wonder if that's whats eating up my broccoli too.... I have all sorts of wildlife/disease trying to destroy my fall garden. Powdery mildew on my zucchini and pumpkin... Squirrels and rabbits digging and munching... Leaf miners have completely destroyed most of my chard and spinach, but it's something else eating up my bok choy and broccoli. This is my first fall garden too, so I'm also wondering if it will be worth putting in the effort to battle all these things.

Any other Seattle-ites with fall gardens know if we might still get broccoli this year?