Please, please, anyone with any suggestions for me, I would really appreciate it! I have A beautiful Purple Sage that is about two and a half years old, and, untill now has been very happy. Just recently it has been under attack by both aphids and small green catapillers. I have never used chemicals of any kind in my garden, and would love to keep it that way.
If anyone can help out, thank you!
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this may sound like a silly question, but this is my first year gardening. Are Aphids those little black critters that look like they are leeched onto the plant? Also, if you have a few of those, are they bound to get out of hand? Should I just ride it out, or should I get some lady bugs now before they get out of control? Questions, questions, questions!
Very likely that your little black things are aphids.
They come in many colours and reproduce incredibly fast. They are the major food of many insects so they need to multiply quickly before they get eaten.
As to whether it is worth buying ladybirds, it is always worth buying them as aphids are not the only things they eat. Once you have a healthy population in your garden just make sure you do not spray any kind of herbicide or pesticide again as this will seriously deplete their numbers or erradicate them and then you end up with the aphids coming back and nothing there to eat them. That is when major damage is inflicted on your plants.
Don't forget to learn the different stages of the ladybirds development too. Many people kill the larvae thinking they are a pest.
https://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds4/ladybirdlifecycle.htm
They come in many colours and reproduce incredibly fast. They are the major food of many insects so they need to multiply quickly before they get eaten.
As to whether it is worth buying ladybirds, it is always worth buying them as aphids are not the only things they eat. Once you have a healthy population in your garden just make sure you do not spray any kind of herbicide or pesticide again as this will seriously deplete their numbers or erradicate them and then you end up with the aphids coming back and nothing there to eat them. That is when major damage is inflicted on your plants.
Don't forget to learn the different stages of the ladybirds development too. Many people kill the larvae thinking they are a pest.
https://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds4/ladybirdlifecycle.htm
They will fly away if they exhaust the food supply in your yard. I had an "invasion" of ladybird beetles in my yard once when I had a lot of aphids. I didn't buy/release them, and really have no idea where they came from. Once they ate all the aphids, they disappeared.Nogol wrote:so, if I were to get a bunch of ladybirds...they will form their habitat in my garden and they will not fly away? Or do I have to keep repopulating them every so often?
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- rainbowgardener
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the ladybugs are a good idea and always nice to have in your garden. Otherwise, especially if its just one plant you are concerned about you, you can just squish them. They are slow moving and soft bodied and stupid. Just take a paper towel and press it against an affected leaf (be sure to check the under sides of the leaves) until they squish.