I have a few non-prime spots open in my strawberry tower, and I didn't want to put really good expensive strawberries in there because they'd either die or produce badly anyways. Now I'm not sure if it was a good idea, but I saw some half-off strawberry plants at the nursery yesterday and they didn't look too bad, so I picked them up.
I was 100% prepared for them to be infested with something, so I chopped off all dodgy looking leaves and all flowers right away and am keeping them quarantined inside for at least 1-2 weeks (all my other strawberries are outside on my balcony). I rinsed them off very thoroughly, first with running tap water then with slightly soapy water from a squirt bottle. the plan is to do that twice a day until I see no more bugs.
Here's all the bug varieties I found before rinsing this morning:
My guess is that it's just green aphids? Although that fat round fella from the first picture and the white guys from the last picture are throwing me for a loop, so I'm not 100% sure.
Do you think rinsing twice a day will be good enough to get rid of them?
All aphids.
Go hunting outside, or to your local nursery (even big box stores may have them) and get some Ladybugs! Let them loose on your plants and get these cleaned up.
You honestly just need some "strong" food safe soap. Mix in a spray bottle at slightly stronger than the recommended solution. Insects stay wet through a small film of natural oils on the outside of their carapace. Remove the oil, and the insect dies in about 5 minutes for large ones like roaches. Aphids and spider mites just dehydrate within 30 seconds. Even bedbugs don't stand a chance, as long as you clean your entire house multiple times a week for a few months. The rest of your brew is good for eating, I wouldn't waste it on pests.