Do aphids go away once you pull the plants?

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idealpeggy Lexington, KY(Zone 6b) May 18, 2012

I gave my daughter in TN some lettuce seedlings which I grew from seed. She called yesterday to say they got aphids all over them after she put them out on her deck in some pots she used last year. I told her to go on and pull them up and throw them away (they're about to bolt anyway) then wait for a few days to plant the tomato seedlings I just gave her. Some of them are going in the pots she had the lettuce in. Is that good advice? I told her I thought they would just fly off somewhere else if they didn't have anything to feed on. Thoughts, please?

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DonnaMack Elgin, IL(Zone 5a) May 18, 2012

Aphids travel mostly by catching the breeze. Their reproductive rate is astounding because they can reproduce without help. Females can have offspring without males. Tons of them.

Aphids are actually quite easy to get rid of. A sharp spray of water knocks them to the ground and they can't get up. Then they die or are eaten by other creatures. So it is unnecessary to get rid of a plant because they are on it. Just spray it daily until they are gone. Make sure you spray UNDER the leaves as well as from the top.

I used to keep a rose in my garage over the winter that leafed out early. I had temperatures in the teens in that garage over the winter. But every spring, as the rose leafed out, I would pull it out to find literally thousands of aphids on it. If ONE survives, you shortly have a cast of thousands. I would then get out my hose and use a sharp spray to knock them to the ground. I would do it daily until they were gone - it usually took about a week.

The chances that she can remove every single aphid are nil. It has nothing to do with the pots - the little buggers are everywhere. If she sprays the daily, the problem will sharply lesson or disappear.

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idealpeggy Lexington, KY(Zone 6b) May 18, 2012

Thank you very much!!! Very good advice. She will be relieved!!

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DonnaMack Elgin, IL(Zone 5a) May 18, 2012

Happy to help! Thanks for writing back.

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