Ladybug

At times this spring I wondered if I should buy some predators such as ladybugs or lacewings to go after the aphids that were infesting the peppers, sunflowers and others. Internet research indicates they are most effective in closed systems such as commercial greenhouses, but maybe not so much in a small private greenhouse that has the windows open. The beneficials can just fly away after you release them.

But they will come around on their own if they find something to eat. They aren't in the huge numbers than if you release them, but the natural method is more sustainable. And cheaper. I saw this one on one of the sunflowers in the grow bag.

Two days later: The sunflower head in the above image looks spent. All of the heads on the three Teddy Bear plants in the grow bag looked that way, and most of the leaves looked diseased. I didn't see a path forward to better blooms so I chopped the plants in the bed, leaving just a few green onions that have been living in the shadows for months. The Teddy Bears in the planting bed look much better and I'm harvesting blooms from them. The one Teddy Bear plant outside at the house also doesn't look great, somewhere in between the two groups at the greenhouse. There is one conventional sunflower at the house that is about to bloom its one bloom.