Insect pests (like aphids) are always frustrating to find on your plants. I’ve dealt with aphids many times before but I still never like to find them again. Inevitably I do. Aphids are one of the most common insect pests in every garden. If you garden you will eventually find them on one of your plants. I’ve had them on plants like spirea, hostas, asclepias (butterfly weed), and now my ornamental peppers. The good news is that aphids rarely do serious damage to your plants if you take care of them and that aphids are easy to remove!
Use Soapy Water to Remove Aphids
The solution for removing the aphids is simple and non-toxic which is great if you have children or pets around. Soapy water! We have a spray bottle that we keep in the kitchen for cleaning up with a little bit of dish soap and a lotta bit of water. (For a more precise measurements try about 3 drops of dish soap in a full bottle of water) I just take the bottle and spray my plant away making sure to cover each leaf thoroughly top and underside.
Monitor and Retreat Plants as Needed
The aphids will come back! In a few days the aphids will return (not the same ones – the offspring) and I spray again. Aphids have this crazy characteristic of producing live young without mating which means the eggs are already about to hatch inside the stem mother so their return is pretty much assured. Nature is wild! It will take at least 2 treatments to break the aphid cycle but may take more. Just routinely monitor your plants for the infestation. On larger trees or more wild areas it isn’t even necessary to treat unless it becomes a problem. The sugary honeydew can be a food source for various creatures.
Ants are Aphid Farmers
This spring when you start to see ants mysteriously exploring your plants check closely because they may be stealthily transporting aphids to your plants! Ants treat aphids like livestock. The ants eat the leftover honeydew (sugary secretions the aphids leave) and in turn protect the aphids from predators. If you have a large number of ants near a plant check the plant over and see if there are aphids under the leaves or along the stems.
If you don’t have a spray bottle you can take a soapy solution on a paper towel and wipe out those aphids. This may in fact be more effective since you would be removing the dead bodies of the aphids and the baby aphids would not be able to return to that plant.
5 Easy Ways to Deal with Aphids
- Homemade Soap Solution
- Neem oil
- Insecticidal soap
- Hard spray from a garden hose
- Hand remove with sticky tape (loop packing tape or duct tape around your hand -sticky side out – and dab the aphids, this can be kind of fun!)
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Great Dave…just when we are all dreaming of nice full flowers in the garden you just have to bring this up…and my guara was just smothered in aphids this last summer, seriously, if you bumped into a branch your arm would be covered in them..
Always like your practical comments. Here with all the snow again today, gardening is only a thought! Can not wait for Spring. If you would like to see the recent snow photos go to; gardensatwaterseast.blogspot.com/ You can see what I have to deal with for now. Beautiful but I am ready to get into the dirt again. Jack