Aphid Predators

[applestar]

Elsewhere in the forum,

my woes with aphids have been chronicled...soapy water spray, lady bugs, worm tea, hand squishing, liquid kelp fertilizer (on the "bolster the plant's immune system" theory), ...

So now I hope for winged deliverance.

Your "winged deliverance" are more likely to be small but mighty There are quite a few tiny heros, and not only ladybugs/beetles.
Good references with photos:
https://www.small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-living.com/natural_pest_control_aphids.html
https://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/hortmatt/2003/19hrt0311.htm#fig6

Birds that seem to be eating aphids in my garden are finches, warblers, and chickadees.

[cynthia_h]

"Aphids are at the bottom of the garden food chain," according to the first link.

Well, *they* don't seem to think so. They seem to think that my ("Swiss") chard is at the bottom and they are a step up from there.

It's weird; the aphids attack the chard preferentially to any other plant, then--eventually--they make it to the kale and the blackberries. The ants herd the aphids on the blackberries, but I haven't observed ants on the chard or kale.

Getting rid of aphids on the kale is easy: squish away.

Getting rid of aphids on the blackberries is a little more difficult: squishing = getting "thorned," so soap spray does it. The ends of the blackberry branches are pretty exposed, so I can get to all sides of the aphid settlement.

But getting rid of aphids on the chard is difficult: the underside of chard leaves is a warren of pockets, stems, hiding places, curly stuff, and so on such that it's almost impossible to achieve 100% coverage with soapy spray, Neem, or anything to truly knock the aphids back.

I *have* seen some finches around, though; I hope they stay!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[rainbowgardener]

interesting. I've never seen an aphid on my swiss chard. However my honeysuckle trumpet vine 20 feet away regularly in the spring gets absolutely coated with them, to the point that the flowers and leaves start curling up and turning black. Usually what I do is just squish them with a paper towel (the good thing about aphids is that they are slow and stupid). Once I have killed all the aphids off it one time, they don't seem to come back, or at least in not nearly the same numbers, until the next year.

[blackeyed crew7]

I've had alot of success in getting rid of aphids using praying mantis pods. paper clip a pod to a structure in your garden, watch them hatch and watch your aphids disappear. best of luck!