Aphids on trumpet honeysuckle

[pinksand]

My ‘Major Wheeler’ honeysuckle has a bad case of aphids. It seems that every emerging set of leaves or flower clusters are covered with their gray bodies. I had a little problem with them last year but it’s worse this year and the blooms are being deformed.

I’ve been smashing them when I can, but that could be an endless chore. Any suggestions for how to control them? I was considering neem oil. Last year I hoped that the predatory insects in my garden would do the job, but it's definitely worse this year.

[applestar]

It sounds like you have full blown infestation. I don't know, at this point you know the predators are going to be zeroing in, and you may end up disrupting them.

Earlier, I would just clip off infested shoots and discard them since the honeysuckle would just grow right back.

I was trying to do that with black oily aphids on tip growths of a volunteer cherry because I reasoned that I'm just incubating them, but I ended up cutting off a couple of ladybug egg clusters and one very disgruntled ladybug scurried out of a massive infestation of aphids.

[rainbowgardener]

Where I used to live, I had a trumpet honeysuckle that every spring would get just covered in those little grey aphids, even though nothing else in the garden had them. I just went over it with a paper towel, squishing all of them. Aphids are slow and stupid and will just sit there while you do this. For me anyway, after I did that, the aphids would not come back until the following spring. Maybe all those squished aphid bodies were a warning to them?

[pinksand]

Haha okay so I guess I'll have to keep squishing!

[pinksand]

I swear there is an endless supply of these things I squish and squish but the next day they're back! However, I did find a lovely little gray tree frog hanging out in the honeysuckle, do you think they eat aphids? I also found several ladybug larvae hanging out on the honeysuckle so hopefully they've brought along some ferocious appetites

[rainbowgardener]

I don't know about the tree frog, but definitely the lady bug larvae are a good sign. The larvae are even hungrier than the adults! I expect your situation will start balancing itself out soon. If you are still squishing, be sure to leave some for the ladybugs!