Well I should have known things were going too well! Having my morning coffee in the green house, I noticed two lady bugs. My first thought was that’s nice to see them until I started wondering what they were eating? Sure enough I looked at the mature lettuce and I had the start of an aphid infestation! At first I was devastated, six mature heads were removed to the outside compost, fourteen smaller heads were moved outside and put in trays and rinsed with the garden hose. These same lettuce plant have been outside in the rain (raining for the last three days) and have washed off all the aphids, the outside temp is around 40 F and that also has helped. The rain and cool temp has not hurt the lettuce plants.
My plan is buy/grow some flowers that the aphids really like, to attract the aphids, and then remove and kill all the aphids in a remote location. I have read that (1 cup veg. oil 2 cups water and 2 tab. Soap) sprayed on a plant will kill the aphids w/o other chemicals. I also hope to buy and release other good bugs to eat the bad bugs. The floor in the green house is rock and dirt, no screens, two weeks of 70 degree weather, and now cold and rain, has weeds growing inside around the edges of the plastic I put down, no wonder the aphids liked my lettuce. The aphids only went after the mature lettuce, no problem w/ all the other vegetables.
If anyone has any other ideas on how to combat aphids w/o chemicals please let me know!