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Aphids
Keith Butler2
Posts: 53
Hi,
We recently moved house and am getting round to sorting the garden out, I am getting on top of the slug problem, is gravel a bad thing to have in the garden if you have slugs? I also have Greenfly and other Aphids everywhere, at first I thought it was localised, now I realise there in the honeysuckle ornamental trees, roses, and lots of other shrubs, I have tried spraying but they are above my head and they are everywhere. How can I get on top of the problem?
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Posts
stop spraying. there's an endless supply of aphids and you'll be killing their predators as well
In the sticks near Peterborough
Hi,
Yes you've told me what not to do, now can you tell me what I need to do to solve the problem?
I pick them off by hand. I know it sounds like you have a lot of them but it is worth it. I keep waiting for the ladybirds to come and eat them but I never seem to get any. The other thing you can do is get on top of any ants there are. Ants farm aphids and it may be you have nests near your favourite plants. Buy an Ant Stop baitstation or similar brand and they'll be gone. The ants, that is. Encouraging predators is all very well but it doesn't help when they're sucking your plants dry, so I just put my gloves on and sweep with my fingers up and down the affected stems. Sometimes it's too late and I have to snap off an affected leaf or stem, but it's better than losing a whole plant. Good luck.
squash by hand and spray with water or occasionally soapy water, i'm so happy whenever i see ladybirds on my plants and near them i leave the greenfly so they can eat them up andhopefully use the ladybird hotline to invite all their frends round!
All of the above, plus encourage blue-tits into your garden - my clematis, honesuckle and roses are full of newly fledged bluetits hoovering up the aphids
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Just to let you know the scale of the problem, one of the trees defected is 15 foot by 10 foot in size with small leaves and vertically every leaf is effected, it is not practical to spray or physically squash or pic them off, how do I attract predictors and can you purchase them?
Of course in a few weeks the ladybirds will be around to feast till their hearts are content
You can purchase ladybirds and ladybird larvae http://www.greengardener.co.uk/product.asp?id_pc=34&cat=75
What sort of tree is affected?
If you're getting the heavy rain that we've had over the past couple of days, that'll get rid of a lot of them, and if you have that many aphids the birds will soon find them.
I wouldn't worry about aphids on trees - trees are usually pretty resilient and will outgrow that sort of problem. Where they can cause a problem is on roses, lupins, aquilegia etc, but I still don't use a proprietary spray - if the infestation is heavy I'll spray with the hose, brush them off with my fingers or as a last resort on a fruit tree I'll use a soap spray.
If you use the types of spray that kill off the predators then the problem will get worse year on year.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
you can buy ladybirds online just google it
I agree with Dove. I've fed the birds all winter and even now have fat balls (hope I don't get banned) in the feeders. The birds are thanking me now by eating all the nasties.
There's also a family of thrushes so not too many slugs and snails.
I never see many ladybirds. Perhaps there's not much left for them to feed on.