Are these aphids? How do I get rid of them?

[wowwzers]

Can somebody tell me exactly what's going on here (are these aphids or somethings else?) and how do I get rid of them?



Thanks a bunch to whoever solves the case

[Kisal]

That's what they look like to me! A whole bunch of 'em!

I know ... it isn't a laughing matter when they're damaging your plants.

I would wash off the plants with a stream of water from a garden hose. My philosophy is to get the majority of them off the plant as quickly as possible to limit the damage to the plant. Then I would spray with a mixture of 1 teaspoonful of pure soap to 1 quart of water. (I personally like Dr. Bronner's soap for this.)

Spray the plant thoroughly with the soap solution. Be sure to get the tops and bottoms of the leaves and all sides of all the stems. Watch for a reappearance of the aphids, because they are often carried onto plants by ants. (The ants "farm" them, because they like the honeydew the aphids excrete.) Any time you see more aphids, you can wash them off with the hose, wipe them off by hand, or spray them with the soap solution. I know of no way to actually keep them off permanently. They're very common in gardens.

You can also release ladybugs or green lacewing flies. They are natural predators of aphids. If you decide to spray your plants, even with just the soap solution, check first to see if these predators are present. The soap will kill them, just like it does the aphids.

[Toil]

See the tube on the back? Aphids.

Do like kisal said, but I might add that an alarm on your calendar to remind you of a day to spray is good. Decimate every so many days and the population will crash.

Sometimes if you keep weeds around they act as harbor for aphids and predators without bugging you. Lambs quarters worked for me last year, though I had not set out to use catch crops.

[rainbowgardener]

Type aphid control in the Search the Forum feature; you will find lots written here about them already.

Here's one thread to start you off:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... trol#99388

[cherishedtiger]

Lady bugs are a great way, you can buy lady bugs usually at a local nursery, or even online. They will stick around because their main diet consists of aphids!
If they are attacking non edible plants such as roses or anything else, a simple dilution of soapy water sprayed on with a spray bottle (mist setting) will also do the trick. I cant remember how many parts soap to water but its not much fill a spray bottle up with warm water and add a little Dawn Dish Soap and poof they are gone!!

You could do it to edible plants as well, just wash well before eating.

Good luck with the buggies!! They are such pests!!!

[cynthia_h]

Dawn is a detergent where plants are concerned. My container of Dawn says "concentrated dishwashing liquid." Liquid soaps will use the word "soap" on their packaging/containers.

Detergents will burn the leaves of the plants.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[katt0105]

Hi Wowwzers,

My garden last year was ruined by these buggers .I was unable to
find anything to rid them . This year i was ready for combat .I found
neem oil at lowes. YOU mix a few table spoons to a gallon of water
in your sprayer .I hit my whole back yard ,and garden every
seven days .I have not seen one aphid or whitefly on my plants in
two months now . I do see the buggers in my yard .It takes a few
days to get in the system of the pests ,and they will stop eating ,and
stop repoducing . The best part of this is ' its organic' . It will not
harm the bee's !


I missed one week of spraying with the neem oil ,and i got leaf minors
on a few of my plants . Happy gardening .

[cynthia_h]

I found
neem oil at lowes. YOU mix a few table spoons to a gallon of water
in your sprayer .I hit my whole back yard ,and garden every
seven days .I have not seen one aphid or whitefly on my plants in
two months now . I do see the buggers in my yard .It takes a few
days to get in the system of the pests ,and they will stop eating ,and
stop repoducing . The best part of this is ' its organic' . It will not
harm the bee's !


I missed one week of spraying with the neem oil ,and i got leaf minors
on a few of my plants . Happy gardening .

I'm sorry, but you have been misinformed about the effect of neem oil on bees. Neem is deadly to bees, just as it is to other soft-bodied insects. I use neem oil when I must, but to minimize its negative effects on bees and other beneficial insects, I use it only in the late afternoon *and* when there is no breeze/wind. Late in the afternoon/early in the evening, the bees have gone home for the day, and I've never observed butterflies or other beneficials on my plants during those hours.

Spray the neem oil on the top and bottom of the leaves of affected plants. Make very sure that any runoff does NOT enter storm drains or groundwater; neem is also lethal to fish and other aquatic life.

I think of neem oil as heavy artillery, and not as a basic tool. Soap spray, jets of water, squishing with the fingers are basic tools vs. aphids. Ladybugs, lacewings, and the like are a different mode of plant protection but, as stated above, "ya pays your money and ya takes your choice," since soap spray is dangerous to ladybugs and lacewings. I'd do the squish/jets of water followed up by ladybugs and lacewings if I felt ladybugs would stick around.

Only if neither soap spray nor the ladybug/lacewing combination was effective would I use neem oil against aphids. (I use it on my roses for other pests; the only time DH applied it to our veggies was when he made too much solution and had to use it up.)

There are many discussions here at THG which will give you even more information about the cautious use of neem oil. Yes, it's "organic"; so are poison oak, curare, and amanita phalloides (death cap mushrooms). All are dangerous; some have killed human beings. One of these agents almost put me into the hospital a few years ago.

Cynthia H.

[saltlakemets]

Will aphids completely destroy roses?

I don't mind leaving them on there and sacrificing a couple of rose blooms (singles, not whole bushes) if it keeps everything in a natural balance, and gives the ladybugs and spiders something to eat.

I'm also okay with spraying them hard, but not if it will just make them move to my vegetables!

I do like the info about adding seaweed or other nitrogen balancer to my soil (I think I saw this suggestion on one of the other aphid discussions)!

Thanks,
Metra

[rainbowgardener]

cynthia... did you ever find a citation for Neem being harmful to honeybees?

They use Neem oil to treat honeybees for mites http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/naturaloils.html

Like any other oil, it would kill them if sprayed directly on them by clogging up their spiracles, but otherwise I haven't seen anything to suggest that it is harmful to bees.

Re the roses... my little mini rose bush, when it first got buds on it this spring was covered with aphids. I went over it with a kleenex squishing all the aphids. They have never come back; I keep checking. Low tech, totally organic solution!

[cynthia_h]

At long last, I have had a few minutes to gather myself and my sources re. toxicity/danger to honeybees of neem oil. Here they are:

1) From http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-bees-beneficial-insects.html (this is a site which encourages the use of neem-oil products, so I take what they say about caution fairly seriously; it might cost them a few cents, but speaks to their *I hope!* integrity):

"But you still need to be careful when you spray neem oil in your garden.
Any oil spray can smother and suffocate insects, and in that respect neem oil makes no difference between good and bad bugs.

"So when you spray neem oil, please do it first thing in the morning or late in the evening, when the good bugs are least active. That way you won't hit any bees or other beneficial insects directly. The neem oil spray will dry before they land on the plants, and only the insects trying to eat your plants will die."

2) I did a direct search on "Rose Defense MSDS" and got a direct PDF link. Rose Defense is a neem-oil product; I've used it for years, even before neem was well known. Here's what Topic 11 on the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet, a USEPA-required form) says (boldface added by me):

"11. ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION:
"Do not apply directly to water, or to areas where surface water is present, or to intertidal areas below the mean high water mark. Do not contaminate water by cleaning of equipment or disposal of equipment washwaters. This product is toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment. Do not apply this product while bees are actively visiting the treatment area."

So I apply neem in the late afternoon/early evening, when bees and other pollinators have gone home for the day.

Cynthia

Vergil is sleeping peacefully this afternoon *and* I actually went to a volunteers' briefing of our local humane society this morning: the first meeting since The Fire on May 20, and the first time I've left my house in 9 days. Vrgl's sutures and staples come out Monday....

[Kisal]

... and only the insects trying to eat your plants will die.

If the neem oil is sprayed on the flowers, will the pollen that the bees take back to the hive be contaminated enough to kill them?

[cynthia_h]

They weasel around that one (sorry, anyone who likes weasels...). The pollen is taken back to the hive as food for brood larvae; there was a brief reference to the existence of studies on this topic, but I didn't dig into it. Maybe a key phrase like

azadirachtin pollen toxicity apis mellifera larvae

will find them for you. (I've just dropped back in; this hasn't been an extended visit to the forum!)

Yes, the bees collect the pollen and take it back to the hive....

cynthia

gotta get the laundry out to the line while the sun's still out...

[rainbowgardener]

... and only the insects trying to eat your plants will die.

If the neem oil is sprayed on the flowers, will the pollen that the bees take back to the hive be contaminated enough to kill them?

NO... bees have been FED Neem oil. It has to get up to a large concentration to be harmful to them.

What cynthia is saying actually confirms what I was saying. Neem oil is not toxic to bees unless it is sprayed ON them. Then like any oil, it clogs their spiracles so they can't breathe. So yes you want to be careful when using it that there are no bees around while you are spraying. Otherwise it is not harmful to them.