Aphid control - found a method I havent heard of before

[crichmond]

I bought an e-book all about aubergines and in it, it says:

Aphids can be deterred by dropping banana peels around the base of the plants, it also has the old one of soap spray but also says mint tea spray is effective.

I havent tried the banana skins or the mint tea spray, but I am wondering if anyone else on here has.

[areia]

never heard of the bananna one would of throught as it was rotting it would just attract fruit flies,
mint tea i tried it on my basil and corri once as they were covered didnt really work for me im afraid washed them off but they came back, but then there hundreds of blighters on my herbs, mint is suppose to deter flies i just dont know which flies they are ment to deter

[marialittlebzz]

My peppermint was completely invaded by leafhopper last year...as the rest of the garden!
Truly think this kind of organic control works in a already balanced environment, so companion planting and increasing the variety of plants is the first thing to do, me think!!
Have no problems this year with any pests, even snails! well it's just starting though...

[momol]

I had peppermint covered by aphid last year, didn't spray them with soap water as there was a lady bug feasting. The same experience goes with garlic chives, coriander and fennel, I have seen aphid attacking them before.
I have seen some aphid on my pear tree last month and this morning, saw a CABBAGE WHITE ! Not a very good news for my brassicas I am afraid, will have to set up their netting pretty soon. The good news is I saw lots of bees and wasp visiting our garden .

[Polly Fouracre]

Half a bucket of stinging nettles,three cloves of garlic(crushed lightly). Fill bucket with water,leave for a couple of days and swish over plants with a large paint-brush. Smell dreadful but is very effective,especially on blackfly.

[HeyWayne]

Soap and banana skins sounds like a Laurel & Hardy repellent.

[Cutecumber]

Never heard of the banana thing - I wonder what the theory is?

I discovered a large population of aphid on my strawberries a the weekend - too many to squash - so I resorted to a ready mixed organic oil/ soap spray. I have used them in the past but wasn't impressed but this seems to have worked really well. No doubt I'll have to keep on top of them, but it's still a help.

It's called SB Plant Invigorator... expensive but it is well diluted for use.

[vicky]

Some of the 'older' people I work for put banana skins round their roses but when I asked they say it's a fertilizer (potassium?), never noticed any difference in aphid populations on those ones...