Got Aphids?
Here’s what to do when you see these creepy crawlers!
Look familiar? These 2 pictures are good examples of when the aphids are starting to get bad.
At first, there tends to only be a few hanging on the bottom side of leaves or the fruiting part of your plant. As time goes on, they start to look like this, and will spread throughout the garden. They are not always the same color, but tend to mostly be this tan/brown or black color. Aphids feed off the sap from your plants, which will lead to slow/stunted plant growth. They will also make your skin itchy when you are working in the garden. We don’t want this! The good news, is it is pretty easy to get rid of them.
Treating aphids takes a tiered approach. There are things you’ll need to do immediately to intervene, but most importantly you’ll need to take a step back and assess why your space is susceptible to aphids to prevent them in the future.
SHORT-TERM IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS
1: Be in your garden regularly! You will notice when they are starting to hang out under the leaves.
2: If there are just a few infested leaves, remove them.
3: Grab your hose and spray them off!
4: Continue to check the infested plants over the coming days and spray again with water as needed.
If aphids are continuing to be a problem after trying to remove them with water, you can spray some Dr. Bronner’s soap or neem oil on the plant to keep them away. Both of these products should only be applied in late afternoon or early evening once direct sun is no longer on your garden.
If a plant is really covered with them, and they won’t go away, you may need to remove the entire plant.
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS
After treating aphids in the moment, it’s smart to step back and ask yourself some important questions about your garden’s health to help prevent aphids (and all other pests) in the future. An organic, diverse, healthy ecosystem is usually able to control pests without interventions from us!
1: When was the last time you added compost? Weak plants attract pests. Plants that are lacking nutrients are weak plants. Compost needs to be added every three months to keep plants healthy and strong.
2: Do you have a lush mix of herbs and mature flowers growing in your garden beds alongside your food-bearing plants? Flowers and herbs not only attract beneficial insects that eat the unwanted insects, herbs will actually deter garden pests. Make sure you have a good mix of herbs and flowers growing in your garden beds.
3: Do you have old plants in your garden? If you are leaving plants past the time when they are in-season, these plants are stressed and oftentimes diseased. Weak plants attract bugs. If you’re not sure when you should be planting things in your garden and just as importantly when you should be removing them, consider joining Monarch Garden Society!
4: Are you keeping up with basic maintenance in the garden? To prevent pests, keep all debris and dead leaves out of the garden. Trim all dead leaves from healthy plants. Remove foliage from plants if it’s touching the soil (these act as on-ramps for pests).
