My project for last fall was to set up some grow lights in the kitchen in an attempt to have fresh greens through the winter. I had some success with it, however, I brought in some pepper plants at the end of the season which I potted up and put under lights, but there were aphids and spider mites on them, and shortly afterwards all my lettuce, parsley, spinach etc that was off to a great start got wiped out by aphids. It took a bunch of trial and error all winter to find out which types of vegetables have the most resistance. I've tried spraying the aphids repeatedly with soapy water and neem, it beats them back but doesn't kill them. Tomato and pepper seedlings, spinach and all cole crops (kale, broccoli raab, collards, arugula etc) were particularly affected by the aphids. They suck all the juices out of the leaves and the plants soon die. Some things were a little tougher - parsley, winter density romaine lettuce, scallions. I found that by keeping the parsley picked very aggresively I could keep ahead of the aphids. I haven't seen any spider mites in a while. At any rate, the winter crops were pretty sparse. I wasn't happy I couldn't raise the tomatoes and peppers inside. For once I had enough light but the aphids had other ideas. I'm also using my indoor plant lights for starting seeds for the outdoor garden. I have to time it correctly, as soon as the little seedlings have 4 leaves, they have to go outside, it has to be warm enough for that variety. After about 3-4 weeks of growth, I can see aphids starting to gather.
The picture is of a bunch of seedlings ready to transplant to the garden, romaine lettuce, sage, lavender, beets, escarole.
