Julian

Just a question. So far no BBTV, but I see aphids here and there. Those of you who have been BBTV free, do you ever see aphids? I know not all aphids carry but??? There are a several people growing in my neighborhood, some a few houses away, but I don't see any BBTV. Do you see aphids at all? Yug? Cheson 74? We live on the same island.

cheson74

Yes aphids are always a chore. You'll also will notice lots of ants. I've seen some plants in this area with BBV. We try to educate the owners on proper disposal of the plants and that has helped keep BBV under control.

I try to keep my plants as healthy as possible and utilize cinnamon, chili peppers and baking soda to ward off the ants.

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Julian

Thank you. I have been trying to take care of the ants. I got my sugar and borax mix going. So have you actually found some on your banana?

I have only seen a few aphids on my bananas. Found a bunch on my little dwarf orange starter. They seem to really prefer that to the banana.

robguz24

I think there are different aphids on different plants. I see them all the time on my bananas on the Big Island. I check them daily and the past 3 months they have gotten bad. They've improved as it has gotten cooler and I have been spraying them with soapy water. They are most concentrated on the cigar leaf. No BBTV where I live. Never seen a BBTV infected plant here, but we are very rural and far from banana farms. Kona is a different story. Oahu is apparently much worse. There are other bananas in my neighborhood and most don't tend to them at all, so if (when) it does come, we're all screwed. I'm in a 100"+ rain per year area, so I don't know if that encourages or discourages aphids and thus BBTV.

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My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

Magilla Gorilla

Aloha from the Kona side,
We had a BBTV plant a few miles from me. I spoke with the homeowner and helped them remove and destroy it. I have over 100 potted banana plants and have seen aphids. Like Rob, I spray with soapy water every few weeks. Its easy to control pests while they are potted. It will be a different story once they all go into the ground.

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Andrew

Yug

I see aphids, but I've had no BBTV as of yet (knocks on wood ), but I've seen others in the near area that have had it. I recently read that even heliconia plants will support the same type of aphid as the BBTV vector. This concerns me because some of the growers around me do have heliconias. I don't know if the heliconias show symptoms or not. If not, they could be a source of infection for the aphids to carry around, and no one would even know it. ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!

Julian

Okay, this gives me hope. I thought my nanas were screwed. It sucks that we have this virus in Hawaii.

Julian

Awesome of you for doing that. Mahalo and Aloha