HELP! Aphids at harvest - how to proceed?

[WizardsNThings]

Per the attached photo, found some aphids on the bottom of a couple leaves when trimming. I had already done most of the plant hung it up. Should I toss these branches? I already trimmed the bud and hung it up before seeing the forum was back up. I could go grab those recent buds and toss them out.

[Tersky]

Man that sucks! Depending on where you are drying, have you thought of using ladybugs? maybe only a handfull would do if you are indoors if you are drying in an enclosed space? Or put the infested branches in an enclosed space to dry with some ladybugs? Just spitballing...

[WizardsNThings]

Not possible. I'm just gonna toss those branches and hope it's fine. It's probably half an ounce but not worth losing the other 4 or 5 ounces

[OlderNOTwiser]

I was just searching for "aphids" and it looks like we're in similar straights. I, too, found them a few days ago. I harvested a few branches but most of my plant is still not ready (frost tomorrow morning). I don't think I'm too bad since I've been able to wipe them off of the leaves for the most part. I guess the question is still whether we can just enjoy our harvest and pretend we're under FDA guidelines for how many bug parts we're allowed to ingest. I have one semi sunny day tomorrow after the frost and then right back to rain again. I may be forced to just chop and settle with whatever I get and get on with the indoor grow.

[WizardsNThings]

Yeah it's been getting below frost now and I had bud rot that was spreading despite me trying to remove it so I chopped it down. I ended up rinsing all of my stuff that was hanging to dry. It took a while and felt really weird dunking in water (one bucket with a bit of hydrogen peroxide with a few gallons water, then rinse in plain water) but they seem to be drying alright now. I shook them good, and have had a fan on for a few hours just to remove the heavy moisture. Hopefully all ends up well. I just wasn't sure if they would like infest and ruin it? Or just die off. A friend told me afterward they aren't interested in dry plant material so maybe it was unnecessary.

[WizardsNThings]

I ended up washing all the buds by dunking in water w/ lemon and hydrogen peroxide, then dunking in a clean water bucket, then hanging again. It was a ton of work but no aphids now. Humidity was still high though 69-71% so just bought a dehumidifier to bring it back down.