Aphids

Back in April I bought a hibiscus tree that stands about 4.5 feet tall at Sam's Club. It was only $15.99, so I figured if I killed it while trying to emerge my inner green thumb, it wouldn't be a huge loss. Since April it's died and came back to life a few times, but I found out if I give it lots of water and lots of sunlight, just like the instructions say, it doesn't die! So since I had that revelation, I've coddled the blooming red hibiscus and made sure to prune off the dead leaves, give it plenty of water and keep it in the sunroom. The only thing that might have done harm in the sunroom, is the cholrine filled air from the hot tub in the room. Seemed to handle it just fine. I hadn't watered the plant since Friday because I was just so danged busy with working 30 hours on fri-sat-sun. Today I went to give it some water, and discovered some nasty green aphids covering two of my emerging buds. I put some dawn dish soap in a bottle and mixed it with water and was going to spray it on hibiscus. I dicded that maybe I should educate my self a bit, since my inner greenthumb has not fully emerged. I googled, "aphids on hibisucs" One website told me I needed to go find some imidacloprid and then get into my plant's roots before the aphids would settle in with their nasty black mold. Other sites told me chemical sprays can be harmful to hibiscuses. Then, there was this ingenious site that told me all I needed to do was give my hibiscus a shower. Well duh. Of course I should have thought of this. So I hauled the hibiscus out of the sunroom, set it in the front yard and sprayed it inside and out. Then I took the buds, held them in my hand and put the pressure washer setting on the hose and sprayed those little aphid buggers right off the buds. Hopefully this works for a little bit. I hope the hibiscus can make the move and survive in the new house!