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Live Plants
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Aphids
- Greenfly, Blackfly etc. - Plant Pest
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Aphids
picture used permission of
User:Lviatour - published
under
GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 |
Natural
Pest Control - Aphid Treatments Just Aphid Killer - Lacewings
£19.99
Signs - Usually thought
of as greenfly, but can be black, yellow, pink, greyish-white and brown. About 2mm
long when fully grown, roundish.
Damage - Heavy infestations
can reduce the vigour of a plant and leave it vulnerable to attack by other pests
and diseases. Frequently spread virus diseases as they move from one infected plant
to another. They also spread virus diseases, these are usually characterised by
irregular yellow patches on the leaves which may be wrinkled but otherwise alive.
Treatment - There
are a myriad ways of dealing with aphids of various types. They fall into four categories:
- Encourage natural predators
- Biological control
- Traditional organic remedies
- Chemical remedies
Encourage natural
predators
  Such
as ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies, by planting nectar-rich flowering plants
which attract them, such as buddleia, calendula, sedum, stocks, sweet William and
wallflowers.
If you grow a patch of nettles somewhere in the garden,
this will encourage aphids and their predators. Cut back the nettles when aphids
appear in other parts of your garden to encourage the predators to seek them out.
Lacewing houses can be bought to put up in the garden so they have a shelter
for the winter.
Biological control
 Similar
to encouraging natural predators, but giving them a helping hand by
introducing them as well as just hoping that they will happen along
of their own accord.
Biological control of a pest relies on
introducing a predator species so "fighting nature with nature", if
chosen carefully, the predator will stop damage to your plants without
damaging the environment. Such biological controls are safe for the
user, children and pets. They will not harm other beneficial garden
insects and are biodegradable.
They do rely on the predator always having
some food though, or they will die out, so like other organic practices
it is a question of maintaining a small population of pests to allow
the predators to be ready for them, in this case though the balance
is skewed away from the problem.
In the case of aphids, there are several
predators available
 Natural
Pest Control - Aphid Treatments Just Aphid Killer - Lacewings
£19.99
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Traditional organic
remedies
Companion planting - Plant garlic cloves (just one or two) among rose bushes.
An infusion of garlic crushed into water and sprayed on the aphids will also help
remove them. Many herbs, such as hyssop, sage, dill, lavender and thyme discourage
aphids if planted near to susceptible plants.
Nasturtiums prevent woolly aphids infesting apple trees if planted at the
base (probably more so if encouraged to grow up the tree). If you have all of the
nasturtiums eaten by cabbage white caterpillars, just think of the butterflies you're
helping to grow.
Nettle spray. The common stinging nettle is a discerning
plant that requires high levels of nitrogen in the soil to grow well, using the
leaves in sprays of several kinds. As well as using nettles as an activator on the
compost heap the organic gardener can use them as a liquid manure and as an aphicide
- to kill aphids (greenfly).
Gather 224g (l/21b) young nettles and soak in a bucket of water for a week. Strain
and use undiluted as a control of aphids on roses and celery leaf miner. Add the
mushy nettles to the compost heap.
Rhubarb spray.
The oxalic acid in rhubarb leaves is
a safe control agent for aphids, particularly those on roses. Cut 450g (1lb) rhubarb
leaves, place in an old saucepan (the oxalic acid may damage one that you still
use) with 1.1 litres (2pt) water and boil for half an hour, topping up as necessary.
When cool, add 1 dessertspoon of soap flakes dissolved in 275ml (1/2pt) warm water.
This acts as the wetting agent when added to the strained rhubarb liquid. Stir the
mixture thoroughly and use undiluted as a spray.
Rhubarb soap - shred a couple of pounds of rhubarb leaves into a couple
of pints of water and boil for half an hour (don't use your best pan, these leaves
contain oxalic acid and whereas it might be ok, I wouldn't risk the cooks wrath!).
Strain the liquid, mix in two ounces of soap dissolved in another pint of water.
Spray only healthy plants as prevention and affected plants to help get rid of infestations.
Elder spray.
This kills aphids, small caterpillars and is useful as a fungicide for mildew and
blackspot on roses. The toxic agent is hydro-cyanic acid, so in preparing the spray
use an old saucepan.
Gather 450g (1 lb) leaves and young stems of elder prefer-ably in spring when the
sap is rising. Place in the saucepan and add 3.3 litres (6pt) water. Boil for half
an hour, topping up as necessary. Strain through old tights and use the liquid cold
and undiluted. It will keep for three months if bottled tightly while still hot.
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Insect deterrents
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Plants
  Citron scents are particularly effective at deterring 'midges'; hence
the recent rise in popularity of citronella - fragranced garden candles.
Try growing plants with citrus-scented foliage,
such as
Geranium macrorrhizum
and
lemon balm. Another option is lemon verbena, which has wonderfully
aromatic foliage - not fully hardy though, so best to grow
it in a pot so that it can be brought into the greenhouse or conservatory
to over winter.
Other aromatic herbs have insect-repellent properties -
Lavender has been used for this purpose for centuries, either in dried or
fresh form.
Mints can also help to repel aphids - spearmint or peppermint
can be grown near roses to deter these pests. |
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Chemical
insecticides
   If
your
plants get a heavy infestation, then I think it's acceptable to use
a chemical insecticide as a "smart missile" just on that particular
plant. I resort to this when
the aphids build up under cover on my favourite plum tree, or other plant/s.
Don't overdo
it and spray too often and don't spray the whole garden "just-in-case".
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Reasons to like
aphids
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- Early in the season only females are produced
so that when one or two have found a nice tender stem, they can
multiply most rapidly to take best advantage of this. Males aren't
required at all, a process known as "parthenogenesis" or virgin
birth.
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- During parthenogenesis the baby aphids are born
already pregnant, so grandma has daughter and granddaughter at the
same time.
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- Later in the season, the aphids start to produce
males so that they can leave and breed with other females, so spreading
the gene pool around and introducing much needed variety to what
would become a vulnerable monoculture with narrow genetic diversity.
We wouldn't want them dying out after all.
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- Aphids have very narrow proboscis's (probosci
?) that can penetrate one single phloem tube that carries sugars
and other goodies around the plant. In this way, waste is kept minimized
and the aphids are fed under pressure - they don't even have to
suck!
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- The sticky "honeydew"
that many aphids secrete are plant juices that are surplus to needs.
Aphids have only one source of food and that has relatively too
many dissolved sugars and not enough other things - specifically
amino acids - so the poor old aphid has to drink more sap that it
wants, and dump some of the sugars to make sure it has enough amino
acids. The discarded honeydew can make your car sticky and also
allow fungus to take hold on plants as it gives the leaves a nice
sugary coating to get the spores started.
I
know it's not a reason to like aphids, but maybe by first understanding
them....
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