I would say most of my tubers have sprouted sometime in the last 2 or so weeks (8b). Today I noticed they have several green aphids down low at the base of the sprout right at the level of where the sprout is poking above the soil. So more on the stem looking part of the tuber sprout vs the leafs of the tuber sprout. Some of the tuber sprouts have only been above the ground 2 days and already aphids have moved in! I wasn’t expecting this. I have a 20 inch raised bed currently no other plants or weeds surrounding it. It’s just a mix of dirt and gravel surrounding the raised bed. However there was TONS of weeds in this area before I pulled them all up. The border of my lawn is only about 2.5 feel from one side of my raised bed. I have the raised bed filled with a garden soil blend I got from a local landscaping company.

As of now I have been picking the aphids off. I’m thinking of spraying them with soapy water. I have looked up other aphid treatments like neem oil, predatory bugs to eat them, plants to repel them, sticky blue and yellow cards, trap plants. Haven’t tried any of those other methods yet.

Earlier this season I potted up some of my seedlings (non dahlias). I filled these 4 inch pots with the same soil I used in my raised garden beds (the landscape supply company’s garden soil).I had these potted up seedlings inside under the grow lights. One day while watering I saw tiny whiteish/tan bugs crawling when I was watering them. I took them outside since I didn’t know what those bugs were but didn’t want to risk having those bugs move onto other seedlings. I only saw these bugs on the plants that were potted up with that garden soil. No bugs on my seeds that were still in seed starting mix or root riot cubes. Maybe I am connecting unrelated events, but part of me is wondering if the heat from the grow light hatched some baby aphids from the garden soil and if my current garden soil is infested with aphids

Questions:

In the future there is anything I can do to try to prevent or reduce the aphids eggs from potentially being in my soil? Or is that impossible/not something to be concerned about?

Any other advice for dealing with aphids in this very early stage ? Is there some method that would work more effectively or have a better impact on getting rid of aphids NOW vs when the plants are large/later in the season? As in are some methods better working for low level or beginning stages of aphid infestation ?

Are aphids known to come after the tuber sprouts asap like this? I have heard “watch out for slugs” related to tuber sprouts but haven’t been warned about the aphids yet. Do aphids really move in this fast ? 2 weeks-2 days post a tuber sprouting up?

I have used soapy water on adult plants to try to kill aphids is this okay to use on the brand new tuber sprouts?

Sorry for so many questions. I recently learned how aphids can spread plant viruses and so I’m extra afraid of aphids coming for my dahlias and aphids having a whole underground empire in my raised beds. This is my first year being intentional and learning more about how to grow dahlia’s vs winging it so maybe I’m worried over nothing. I never thought about aphids or checked for aphids before so maybe ignorance is/was bliss 😅 I just want to be proactive for keeping my plants healthy.