What are aphids?
Aphids are tiny little sucking insects 1-4 mm long, that feed on the sap of the new shoots of your vegetables, your dinner and create a delicious nectar called honeydew. They come in a range of colours, from black to brown, grey and even white (woolly aphids). They are a symbiotic pest friend of ants, as their favourite food of all time is the secreted sweet stuff the aphids expel, gross huh. If you find one you will generally find the other.
If you have an aphid problem is a sure guess you started with an ant problem. This can be easily avoided with sticky stripping at the base of trees.
What damage do they do?
The will stunt growth by robbing your plants of their vital nutrients. They can cause deformed growth, cause flowers and fruit to drop prematurely and heavy infestations can even kill.
When will I see them?
They are most active in Autumn and Spring.
Please take the following steps:
1- Identify the weakest plant for a trap crop. This trap crop is to be left infected, the idea of this is to bring in the natural predators, in this case lady bugs and lace wasps. This way you are allowing mother nature to be able to fix herself, creating a self-managing sustainable eco system.
2- Wash off/Dislodge aphids with a hose or your hand.
3- Spray all other infected plants (leaving the trap plant) with pure 100% neem oil, or dust the infected plants with Diatomaceous Earth (ED will work for caterpillars as well) Garlic and Chilli Sprays are also reported to be very effective.
4- Keep us your regular foliar fertilizer at least once a month, Infestations and infections are just a sign of a weak or stressed plant (not unlike us humans) Keep up the plants health and they will have a better chance of defence.
5- Apply Tomato Leaf Tea- This is the only thing that will repel aphids and not their predator’s lady bugs!
6- Repeat weekly until under control.
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Happy Gardening!
