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With spring green comes aphids


Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAR 29, 2019
Aphids are just starting to collect on the top of this bud on
a McCartney rose. A blast of water will knock them off.
(Photos: Kathy Morrison)
How to cope with these pests without chemicals



With the first warm days of spring (after so much rain), expect rapid growth in your garden – and aphids.

These pests flock to tender green shoots and buds. Roses in particular are vulnerable, but aphids also attack cabbage, tulips and a wide range of other plants.

Usually, aphids start being problematic earlier in March. But recent storms and colder than normal temperature have kept their populations down.

That will end very soon, probably this weekend.

Aphids feed by sucking the juices out of plants. They like new growth and flower buds best because the outer cell walls are thinner and therefore easier to eat. The faster the growth, the thinner the walls.

Applications of high-nitrogen liquid fertilizers speed that growth even more. As plants respond to these nutrients, they often attract more aphids.

How can aphids become such a problem so quickly? One mature female can produce 12 offspring a day – without mating.

Lady beetles can help keep the aphids under control, but they can't
do it alone once the population gets growing.
Beneficial insects such as lady beetles or praying mantis like to feast on aphids, but they can’t contain a rapidly growing onslaught. Encourage the good bugs, while also giving them a hand without harmful chemicals.

Knock down spring aphid infestations with water. A strong blast from the hose can knock them right off; soft-bodied aphids can’t survive the fall.

Other aphid-fighting solutions are more effective at the first sign of outbreaks. Puree 2 cloves of garlic and mix into 2 cups of water; put in a spray bottle and blast the bugs.

Or add 1 teaspoon of mild dish soap (such as liquid Ivory or Dr. Bronner’s pure-castile or peppermint liquid soap) to 2 cups of water in a spray bottle, then spray away.

Or just squish them. Wear gloves and lightly stroke them off buds. (This works well on roses.)

If aphids persist, look for ants. They may be introducing aphids to plants (particularly shrubs or trees), then “milking” them for honeydew. That honeydew often forms a black sooty mold.

To deter the ants, put sticky Tanglefoot or other barrier around the stem or trunk of the shrub or tree to dissuade ants from herding aphids onto that plant.

For more on aphids, check out this advice from the University of California pest management program:

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7404.html

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:
gardening Sacramento integrated pest management pests roses ants spring growth beneficials aphids fertilizer insects

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Food in My Back Yard Series

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Sites We Like

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Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

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