Tiny but fierce, garden aphids can suck the precious sap out of some of our favorite plants. The good news is that they are a great food for some beneficial insects and are easy to control! Keep aphids out of your garden by trying some of these natural methods.
Some pests are less common than others, and when it comes to bed bugs, they are everywhere!
Most of these little creatures are not a big deal, and I usually let nature deal with them. But in some cases, the aphids invade the plant and I can see it starting to cause some damage..
I often see aphids in my garden and I know how to deal with them. Stay tuned for all my aphid tips and tricks!
Learn about bed bugs
Before you go into battle, you need to know your enemy! Here are some stories on how to identify your bed bugs.
Shape of bed bugs
Bed bugs are small, 4-8 mm long. They have pear-shaped bodies, are soft and easily crushed. They come in green, black, red or white.
You may also see a woolly aphid. Although their bodies are green or blue, they appear fuzzy due to the waxy coating on their bodies. They almost look like a small strand of cotton.
Bed bugs can be winged or winglessdepending on the type of bed bug and where they are in their life cycle.
Bed bug life cycle
During the year, bed bugs go through several life stages. Beginning in the spring, a clutch of female bed bugs hatch from eggs that have been incubated over the winter. A bed bug can live from 1 to 6 weeks.
All spring and summer bed bugs reproduce asexually, meaning they are clones of their mother. This generation is born alive, not to lay eggs. Some will grow wings and leave their host area.
Come fall, there will be a few male bed bugs and they will mate. The females will lay eggs in the winter, and then the cycle repeats.
Females can lay up to 12 eggs per day, or about 80 eggs in their lifetime.
Where do bed bugs come from?
Since they love new developmentsAphids are one of the first pests to appear in the season. They live on or near the plants they like to feed on. Conifers and deciduous trees are some of their favorites.
Bed bugs can also sneak into the garden through seedlings in the nursery. Whenever you purchase a new plant, check carefully for any unwanted migratory species before purchasing.
Identifying Bed Bug Damage
Chances are you’ve had a problem with aphids in your garden. They love to munch on organic vegetables, sometimes ruining the harvest you spent all summer growing. While I’m a big insect lover, I don’t like it when aphids ruin my veggies. I try to grow more than I need so that wildlife can enjoy a little too. But sometimes even I have to draw the line!
Aphids feed on plant sap, especially attracted to any new growth although they can feed anywhere.. They secrete a sticky substance called honeydew as they feed, which can attract other insects, such as ants. Honeydew can also cause fungal growth in the plant.
They are said to cause more damage to home gardens than any other insect. Feeding in large swarms, a serious infestation can quickly cause a lot of damage. Infected plants may be stunted, have low yields, and may even die.
Damaged plants may have spots, turn yellow, curl leaves, and may wilt. Galls may also form on the trunk and branches of the plant. To detect aphids, look under leaves, on the tips of new branches and any young shoots. You may also spot their flaking skin at the base of the tree, which looks like white scales.
Root aphids
Beet root aphids are related to the aphids commonly found in gardens. However, they located at or just above the dirt road.
These aphids can quickly get out of control. They form galls on plants and are particularly attracted to narrow-leaf cotton plants.
Aphids on roses
You may have noticed some pests on your roses. Usually, these are rose aphids or potato aphids. To get rid of them from your roses, Try rinsing them with water every day for a few days.
Aphids also love nitrogen, so only use a slow-release fertilizer on your rose bushes. This way, they won’t have a sudden rush of nitrogen for the pests to feed on.
Tomato aphids
Potato aphids or green peach aphids can be found on tomato plants.. Surprisingly, tomatoes can handle quite a few pests. But like any plant, a major infestation can affect the number of tomatoes the plant produces and can also cause stunted growth.
Aphids on milkweed
Since milkweed is the only host plant that monarch caterpillars feed on, you should keep aphids away from the plant. They can take away all the good nutrients, affecting the caterpillar’s food source.
Never use pesticides on milkweed to kill aphids.. This can cause serious harm to the caterpillars and therefore the monarch butterfly population.
Oleander aphids typically feed on milkweed plants. They are bright yellow aphids with black legs.
How to kill bed bugs naturally
You may want to kill the bed bugs, but I really don’t recommend using strong pesticides right away. I never kill bugs because I believe all insects are there for a reason, even those pesky bed bugs! As a major food source for many insects, killing them can negatively impact your garden’s ecosystem.
Even so, I want to keep them away from my favorite plants and use all of the methods below to control aphids in the garden.
Invite the predators
While aphids may not be friendly, there are many beneficial insects that you want to have in your garden. The best way to avoid aphids is to invite their arch-nemesis into the garden…ladybugs! Ladybugs, one of my favorite beneficial insects, are the most famous aphid predators.
A beautiful red with lovely polka dots, you can enjoy their beauty and watch them eat aphids. In fact, A ladybug can eat up to 5,000 aphids in its lifetime. Now we’re talking! They also love to eat mealybugs, mites, scales, and many other pesky bugs.
Many garden centers also sell ladybugs, so you can buy some to place directly in your aphid-infested garden.
Several other species of bugs eat aphids. Green lace bug larvae love to chew on them as they grow into adults. The female fly hovers also lay eggs in aphid clumps where the larvae hatch and feed on them. Minute Pirate Bug are also known to attack and feed on bedbug nests.
Insect repellent spray
As an organic gardener, I stay away from pesticides of all kinds. While they can be helpful in keeping pests away, they also kill all the good stuff. And we definitely don’t want that!
I have a lot of vegetables and plants that I don’t want certain insects nibbling on. I make my own insect repellant spray to keep them away from the plants I care about most. Using garden ingredients that pests hate, this spray is easy to make and only costs pennies. In fact, many commercial products also use some of the same botanicals in their ingredient lists (and some additives that I don’t like).
This natural spray keeps things as close to nature as possible, repelling pests without disrupting the ecosystem in my garden. For the full recipe and list of herbs to use, read my blog on how to make natural bug spray.
Intercropping
Intercropping has all sorts of great benefits, one of which is helping to repel insects. Chemical-free and all-natural, the best part about intercropping is that it gives you a reason to buy more plants!
Interplant herbs and vegetables that aphids don’t like alongside plants you want to keep them away.. This means you should plant some of the plants listed below among your vegetables and flowers.
Try growing some of these plants to repel aphids:
- Allium (chives and onions). They also repel spider mites and carrot flies. Ladybugs love them too!
- Catnip. Be careful, cats love this, so you may have some cats visiting your home.
- Coriander Another favorite ladybug and aphid killer.
- Dill. Ladybugs love this too.
- Garlic. Repellent for all types of insects, repels aphids, red spiders, ants, snails, Japanese beetles and many others.
- Mint. Like many on this list, you can not only enjoy mint in your vegetable garden, but you can also use it to repel pests.
Attract bed bugs
I know what you’re thinking: I’m trying to get rid of aphids. Why am I trying to attract them to my garden?
Listen to me! You can cleverly attract colonies of small aphids to healthier plants to attract all sorts of beneficial predators to your garden. If I let them live in a corner of the garden on some perennials, a few ladybugs might stop by and visit, protecting the entire garden.
Ladybugs lay their eggs in places where there are lots of aphids so that when the young hatch, they have a food source. No aphids means no ladybugs.
Watercress is a aphid trap plant. They will attract ladybugs, encouraging them to stop and visit, while keeping them away from my veggies. In addition to watercress, I also plant Shasta daisies to control black aphids and lupines to control green aphids.
Frequently Asked Questions about Bed Bug Control
Depending on the number of aphids and the stage of growth of the plant. Young plants will not be able to withstand many aphids and the aphids will affect the new growth of the plant, sucking all the sap.
An older plant can handle more aphids, and I don’t worry if I find a few. Most mature plants can handle aphids just fine. But when there’s a full-blown infestation, that’s when I step in with these pest control methods.
An infestation begins when a winged aphid flies to a plant and finds it a suitable host for its young. They will lay eggs and because aphids reproduce rapidly, you can have a colony of aphids in a short period of time.
Aphids are particularly attracted to new growth and are often a problem in late spring and early summer. To avoid this, consider planting trap plants such as watercress, marigolds, Shasta daisies and lupines to attract aphids and keep them away from other nearby plants.
Making soapy water is a popular method for killing aphids. It is effective on all soft-bodied pests, such as whiteflies and mites, probably because it washes away the protective coating on their bodies.
My natural bug spray contains dish soap, which helps the spray stick to the bed bugs.
If a plant I’m very concerned about has a serious aphid infestation, I’ll use a soapy damp cloth to wipe the aphids off the stems and leaves.
Which of these bed bug treatments will you try? Let me know in the comments below!
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