Hi everyone,
I appreciate any advice you can give me. Yesterday I found little tiny black aphid-looking bugs on one of my clematis plants. I used an insecticide on it (I've used this on the rose bushes before), but now I'm wondering if that was a mistake. I was just checking the plant again, and now there are green aphids! I'm devastated! I was so excited that my clematis are growing, and now the aphids have to ruin it all.
Can anyone tell me what the best way is to get them off of my clematis and not kill the plant in the process? I just planted it a few months ago, so it's still just a baby. Please help!!
First year growing clematis - aphids, HELP!!
You could order some ladybugs and release them on the Clematis. You can get them online very inexpensively. http://gardeningzone.com/catalog/index_130.html?osCsid=1df5b39109dee291e865305cd17bffe2
Like you, I have baby plants and I'm horrified by the thought of them getting eaten by bugs. I don't have aphids, I have leaf-footed bugs instead. So, I'm knocking them off by hand right now and have ordered some Praying Mantis egg cases to release in the garden. Hopefully they will take care of my bugs!
Valerie
Soapy water will make 'em leave..do it daily for a while..I just put dish soap in my hose-end sprayer ..Jeanne
Jeanne, does that work on other bugs too or just aphids?
another goodie I use is to take a pair of panty hose and put in plain ole flour and dust your plant..this will coat the wet bodies of the Aphids and they suffocate..do this for about three days in a row and then rinse off your plant the 4th day..yes it will work on any plant...especially your roses...Jeanne
Thank you Valerie and Jeanne for your suggestions. I actually released ladybugs last week before I found the aphids on the clematis. A lot of them turned up dead, and the others took off I think. I decided to get more of them at a different nursery, and I released them last night. I checked this morning, and the aphids were still there. However, some of the ladybugs stuck around this time, and one of them was hanging around the aphids. I checked again this afternoon, and those darn aphids were gone! :-)
I might try the flour trick next time.
Thanks again,
Jana
Did you release them at night?
Yes, it was around dusk if not later. Several of them were still around last night! :-}
Great picture, colliwobbles!
Thanks!
Check this one out. I watched this ladybug crawl all over the clematis, but the aphids were already gone. Silly me, the ladybug knew exactly what it was doing!
Very cool!
I got my mantis egg cases and put them out in the yard the other day. Supposedly it will take a few weeks for them to hatch, but I'm hoping to catch some pics of the little mantises doing their thing sometime this summer!
Thanks for the flour trick Jeanne I think I will try it.