A spray of water - a hose if possible, or a spray gun, moves them. It can be a sign of imbalance in a garden too, although soft new growth and warm conditions encourage them at this time of year . Getting birds in to eat them is the best way - all the parents will hoover them up for their new, young offspring. If you encourage birds [especially blue and great tits, sparrows, robins etc] to the garden, it will sort itself out.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
When we first came here it was aphid city ... now after several years of feeding birds all year round, providing plenty of climbers and shrubs so the birds feel safe, and using no pesticides we have no problem with aphids on the roses, clematis, honeysuckles, broad beans ... hardly seen any aphids and what few there were have been hoovered up by the families of bluetits, robins, dunnocks, house sparrows, great tits etc ... apart from the aphid removal service the entertainment value is huge 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
A spray of water - a hose if possible, or a spray gun, moves them. It can be a sign of imbalance in a garden too, although soft new growth and warm conditions encourage them at this time of year . Getting birds in to eat them is the best way - all the parents will hoover them up for their new, young offspring. If you encourage birds [especially blue and great tits, sparrows, robins etc] to the garden, it will sort itself out.
Fingers crossed then, my new bird feeder is definitely attracting lots of insect eating birds, haven’t noticed any of them paying attention to the roses though!
Think I’ll read up on ladybirds and see how to get more of those in. I do prefer to avoid killing anything if I can possibly help it, rather let nature do the dirty work then it’s not just a waste!
It’s difficult but try not to panic, if you kill all the aphids you won’t get their predators visiting. Use the squishing technique as much as possible please don’t use anything other than water to spray them off and encourage birds into the garden, it’s not going to be a quick fix but it will work.
I now have the worms song in my head (Nobody likes me...) for some reason Given the level of my infestation I am a bit squeamish about that much crushing. They are really problematic on my chilli seedlings as the leaves are very delicate. I might try dunking them in a soapy solution.
I had a massive problem with aphids on a flowering cherry a couple of years back - which started again this spring. Luckily(?) the 'infection' appeared to be on the lower tip leaves, so I simply removed what I saw as the infected areas. While I was doing it, I heard a bumble bee buzzing nearby and saw one disappear inside one of the infected 'curled up' leaves. It seemed quite content and seemed to be harvesting it like a flower. I was out there again yesterday and noticed two or three more infected areas - and was going to remove them, when I saw a couple of other bees doing exactly the same.
Googling it, it seems that bees can harvest/ingest the secretions....but the bit I read implied that was a fall back for them when flowers/nectar weren't available. I'm all for attracting the bees, so I'm now split between tidying up the infected bits on the tree and leaving some there for the bees to do whatever they do with it..
Do plants have a health signal they give out? What I 'appear' to notice, is that aphids attack plants that appear 'weaker' than others. I have three (every house needs at least 3) potted camelias. One of which was blown over multiple times in the high winds and rain over winter. The plant is now virtually bereft of new leaves for whatever reason and looks pretty poorly, and what new leaves that are coming through are being attacked by what appears to be black fly. The other two camelias, literally within touching distance, are unaffected. I have 'seen' this sort of behaviour elsewhere - where what appear to be weaker plants appear to be more susceptible to aphid attack. Is that just an optical illusion?
Posts
It can be a sign of imbalance in a garden too, although soft new growth and warm conditions encourage them at this time of year .
Getting birds in to eat them is the best way - all the parents will hoover them up for their new, young offspring. If you encourage birds [especially blue and great tits, sparrows, robins etc] to the garden, it will sort itself out.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.