APHIDS

Does anyone out there have a home recipe to fight these nasty little things??? I was gone a week and just came back today to find them all over my roses....

Deann

Hi Deann,

I learned that aphids can't exist without ants. They are partners in crime. The ants actually carry the aphids up the plant to the leaves where they suck the life of them. The ants then suck the sweet sticky stuff off the aphids. If you get rid of the ants then you won't have the aphids. When my tri colored beech tree had the wooly aphids I put ant traps at the base of the tree. I then put little push in the ground fencing around the tree to keep the dogs off the traps. I know your dogs are big so that probably won't work. I do spray my whole yard inside the fence and around the base of the house twice a year with a product that kills lots of bugs. I forget the name but I get it at Walmart and it attaches to your garden house. We spray in early spring and again in the fall. It gets rid of the ants and fleas and a lot of other undesirables. It isn't very organic though but we're not eating our grass. It's OK for the dogs as long as you don't let them out till it dries up. I just know you have to get rid of the ants or you'll keep getting the aphids. Our sol tends to be sandy which translates to tons of ants. Aphids are inevitable I guess. You could invite a lot of ladybugs over to live with you. They like aphids.

Sorry, wish I were more help. Good luck.

Brenda

A good strong spray witht he water hose should get rid of most of them. Then spray your plants with a solution of 1T baking soda in a gallon of water to which you add1 t. mild liquid dish soap and 1 T cooking oil. Mix this all together and spray your plants with it. Do not spray if the temps are over 80*.

i sprayed mine with the water hose like dorothian said-seems to have worked!~

Thanks guys......going out now to declare war....

Deann

Aphids - Natural Citrus Homemade Spray Kills Aphids

8 Ways To Get Rid Of Aphids
Aphids are very small pear-shaped creatures that appear in great numbers on the rose cane tips in May and early June. Getting rid of aphids, those tiny creatures who love to suck the juice out of growing tips and leaves on your roses or other tender plants and ruin your flower gardening efforts, is a must.

While sometimes the young have a pink cast or the off one is black, the majority are a lime green. They multiply extremely rapidly, suddenly appearing in such great numbers that it seems as if a huge migration has arrived overnight. I

Aphids colonizing a plant cause the leaves to curl inward effectively protecting the aphids from insecticidal spray. They tend to attack tender young shoots, emerging leaves and twigs. If you don’t at least control them, they can quickly destroy your plants.


Ants “take care” of aphids because …
. . . aphids excrete a dark sticky substance called “honeydew” which ants prize. The ants will move the aphids to less populated leaves, treating them as seemingly prized livestock for food production.

So if you see a lot of ants going up and down the stems of roses or other plants, you may want to check for aphids and get rid of both ants and aphids before the ants have their “ranch” on your prized plants. The natural citrus killer homemade spray can get rid of both.


8 Ways to get rid of aphids in your flower garden:

1. The fastest and easiest way to get rid of aphids is to squeeze them with your fingers and knock them off the canes or wash down infested plants with a brisk spray from the hose. Some research indicates that once sprayed off, aphids do not find their way back to the canes and recolonize.

2. You can spray insecticidal soap (found in any nursery or some hardware stores) on infested canes and foliage. The soap does not leave any residual toxicity that would harm beneficial insects. NOTE: The insecticidal soap must be reapplied every day or two until the infestation is reduced.

3. Natural citrus killer homemade spray for Aphids.

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Aphids - Natural Citrus Homemade Spray Kills Aphids
Aphids are so small yet so difficult to get rid of. However, this natural citrus homemade spray kills the aphids and even deters the ants which colonize the aphids for their honeydew.

When citrus oil extract comes in contact with the body of the aphid, the aphid goes into convulsions and is quickly neutralized. This homemade spray will have the same effect on any soft-bodied insects, and will even keep ants away for a while, but they may come back. However, since this mixture has such a refreshing smell, you’ll probably enjoy using it often.

To create this spray, you need the following items:
1 pint of water, grated rind from 1 lemon, a cheesecloth, and a pump spray bottle.

First you bring the water to a boil. Then remove the water from the heat and add the grated lemon rind.

Second, allow the mixture to steep overnight.

Third, strain the natural citrus homemade spray mixture through a piece of cheesecloth and pour the strained mixture into the pump spray bottle.

This recipe will yield about one pint of citrus oil extract.

Fourth, apply the natural citrus homemade mixture to plant leaves that are under attack by aphids or other soft-bodied insects. Be sure to spray the underside of the leaf too. The mixture must come in contact with the insects’ bodies to be effective.

This natural citrus homemade spray which kills aphids is extremely easy to make and as long as it comes in contact with the aphid’s body, you can get immediate results — with the added bonus of getting rid of the ants too. . . for a while. So be alert and take action immediately.
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4. Rotenone applied either as a dust or as a wettable powder spray also works well.

5 Any pyrethrum-based sprays will work.

The first four ways mentioned above are probably the most effective, but the following are other options.

6. For aphid control you can apply diatomaceous earth, a powder made from the fossilized remains of tiny sea creatures called diatoms.

Its advantage is that, unless it is inhaled, it is harmless to humans and pets while to soft-bodied insects it is razor sharp and tears their exterior casing.

The disadvantage is that diatomaceous is easily washed off leaves and canes and must be reapplied after a rain.

7. Adult ladybird beetles and larvae consume large quantities of aphids. If you can somehow attract the lady beetles to your back yard, you’ve got it made.

However, buying ladybird beetles can be a waste of money because they can simply fly away (and help themselves to your neighbour’s aphids instead of yours).

8. And lastly…if your roses are covered with aphids, drape banana skins over the branches. Amazingly, in a day or less the aphids are gone. Those who have tried it say they have no more aphids as long as they save their banana skins for the rose bushes!

Gardening tip:

When using sprays on aphids or any other insects, it is best to alternate materials. If you use insecticide soap initially, you might follow up with rotenone, then the third treatment could be done with pyrethrum and then rotate back to your insecticide soap.

Why? Rotating control methods keeps the insects from developing resistance to a particular toxin. If a spray is used exclusively and regularly, the insects that survive live to breed and pass on their resistance, creating an ever larger resistant population.

Usually after the first infestation has been reduced by doing the above, natural predators such as ladybird beetles, wasps, predatory mites, and hummingbirds can help keep the aphid population in check.

http://www.pestcontroloptions.com/insect-control/getting-rid-of-aphids

WOW Brenda thanks thats a lot of good info ;0)
Gloria

The reason they multiply so quickly if that Aphids are born PREGNANT!!! I hate the little buggers.

THANKS, LOON, for the banana peel idea. I just planted 4 climbing roses and I notice that ants are starting to gather 'roun. I love bananas so I should have peels to keep on the growing roses. Hopefully I can deter aphids and ants before they start their infestation.
Thanks again!

Thanks Brenda for all that good information......Checked on my roses yesterday, and it looks like I got them all....but going to hose em down again today to play it safe.......

I usually bury banana peel in and around my roses along with coffee grinds.

Deann

Somebody told me years and years ago to put a fishhead at the bottom of a planting hole for roses. I just happened to have some since we'd been fishing. Turned out to be a mistake. During the night somebody dug the whole thing up. :) I had the same results using bone meal. Some animals love the smell of that stuff and make a mess so I can't use it. Somehow I don't think a banana peel will have the same attraction.

We just spray our roses with the same stuff we spray our fruit trees with. We have to spray them once a month and we invested in a large agricultural sprayer. I attached it to the back of my RTV and drive around and spray all the trees then go down the driveway and give all the roses and ornamental trees a shot of it. It has insecticide and fungicide in it. So far so good.

ughh I found them all over my spirea, poor little bushes...they would be huge now...I sprayed them with a bayer product that hooks to the hose...now I'm gonna try the regular hose trick to get them lil nasty's off!

arghhhh