Aphids

Whether you’ve just started growing your garden or you’ve been looking after one for years, you know that bugs are a natural part of life. There are beneficial insects and harmful ones. Many people overlook the harm done to plants by aphids, thinking that they’re so tiny, and don’t they need to eat too? But sadly, aphids can quickly eat up your beautiful flower garden, leaving you frustrated that you spent so much time and money tending to it. Aphids have special mouths that enable them to drain the fluids from leaves and flowers. This can leave small holes that become larger as the bugs devour the plant. Aphids may have a different name depending on which part of the globe you live in. They can be called plant lice, black flies, and green flies. While their appearance has a reddish body with black and orange legs and pincers, to the eye they appear as small dark specks. Aphids can be as small as one millimetre, but there are types that grow up to one centimetre. Aphids are in the superfamily Aphidoidea. They can also be other colours, with 4400 known species. Don’t mistake them for fleas. Aphids do not bite humans or animals, but their appearance in your garden should raise the alarm that you must do something. They hold no hazard for humans or pets, but they can quickly devour your plants. Aphids are one of the most destructive insects around the world today. Aphids are such a nuisance that you should regularly examine your garden for harmful species of bugs, and use nat...

Find pros It’s springtime, and you’re excited to see all your landscaping work pay off in the form of beautiful flowers and maybe even some fruits, vegetables, and herbs—but then you see it: curled, stunted, sticky leaves and a mysterious cluster of tiny insects. You have an aphid infestation on your hands, and here’s what you can do to prevent them from damaging your garden. What Are Aphids? Photo: 0802290022 / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images Despite your pest-proof gardening skills, aphids have a way of getting into gardens. Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects that pierce and suck the sap out of plants. They tend to form colonies on the underside of leafy, tender plants. Why Are Aphids Bad for Gardens? While a few aphids generally don’t cause problems and even feed beneficial insects like ladybugs, aphid infestations can impact the appearance of your plants. Unlike ladybugs, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial pollinators, aphids suck away at your plants’ nutrients like green vampires, resulting in weakened, lackluster plants. Eventually, uncontrolled aphid colonies can lead to brown, yellow, wilted, or shriveled-up plants. In addition to directly harming your plants, aphids also excrete “honeydew,” which, unlike the fruit, is a sugary waste that can encourage fungal infections that further harm your plants and can even turn your garden into a post-apocalyptic nightmare! How Much Does It Cost to Get Rid of Aphids? According to HomeAdvisor, removing aphid...

Author: Karen Delahaut, UW-Madison Fresh Market Vegetable Program Last Revised: 01/07/2005 Aphids are soft-bodied, sucking insects that are sometimes called plant lice. They feed on plant sap and subsequently excrete a sugary substance (called honeydew) that can attract ants as well as support the growth of a saprophytic fungus called sooty mold. There are several species of aphids (all of which belong to the insect family Aphididae) that are capable of attacking any type of vegetation. Host plants for some aphids can be identified by a particular aphid’s common name. The aphids that pose the most serious problem to Wisconsin vegetable production include the green peach, melon, potato and soybean aphids. Appearance: All aphids are soft-bodied and pear-shaped with a pair of cornicles (tailpipe-like structures) projecting from the rear end of their abdomen. Adult aphids may or may not be winged. Some of the more common species, along with their descriptions are listed in the table below. Symptoms and Effects: Reduced plant vigor, stunting, and deformation of plant parts are common symptoms of aphid infestations. In some cases, the presence of honeydew or sooty mold is the primary indication of an aphid outbreak. In addition, aphids are excellent vectors of several virus diseases such as a group of mosaic viruses that infect a wide host range. In some cases, the appearance of virus symptoms indicates that aphids are present. Life Cycle: Generalizing the life cycle of all aphi...

Photo: istockphoto.com Are your garden plants stunted, shriveled, yellowing, or curling at the leaves, despite your best efforts to keep them alive? Check the undersides of the leaves, and you might find the culprit: large groups of aphids and/or the sticky residue they leave behind after feeding. (Or, on plants with tightly-packed leaves like those of day lilies, aphids may take root at the base of the plant instead.) These tiny garden pests have soft pear-shaped bodies and are typically green, but show up in other colors, depending on type. What are aphids? Tiny but mighty in their potential leaf damage, aphids are bugs in the superfamily Aphidoidea that have piercing mouthparts that cut through tender leaves. However, they mostly damage the appearance of leaves, and cannot typically destroy a healthy plant. They can harm a tender young plant, or at least set it back. Aphids reproduce quickly—several generations created in a single season—and by the time you notice the insects on your plants, you’re likely in the midst of a full-blown infestation. Here’s how to get rid of aphids and keep them from coming back to your plants in the future. RELATED: 15 Plants to Grow for a Pest-Proof Yard What does aphid damage look like? Photo: istockphoto.com Most aphid damage occurs at the tips of plants, since the insects prefer soft new growth, and signs of a heavy infestation can include any of the following. • Your plant’s upper leaves feel sticky (due to the honeydew left by the fe...

Aphid Infestation Aphids are soft-bodied insects that use their piercing sucking mouthparts to feed on plant sap. They usually occur in colonies on the undersides of tender terminal growth. Heavily-infested leaves can wilt or turn yellow because of excessive sap removal. While the plant may look bad, aphid feeding generally will not seriously harm healthy, established trees and shrubs. However, some plants are very sensitive to feeding by certain aphid species. Saliva injected into plants by these aphids may cause leaves to pucker or to become severely distorted, even if only a few aphids are present. Also, aphid feeding on flower buds and fruit can cause malformed flowers or fruit. Sooty Mold Aphids produce large amounts of a sugary liquid waste called "honeydew". The honeydew that drops from these insects can spot the windows and finish of cars parked under infested trees. A fungus called sooty mold can grow on honeydew deposits that accumulate on leaves and branches, turning them black. The appearance of sooty mold on plants may be the first time that an aphid infestation is noticed. The drops can attract other insects such as ants, that will feed on the sticky deposits. Some aphids are very important vectors of plant viruses. However, it is seldom possible to control these diseases by attempting to kill the aphid vectors with an insecticide. Aphids carrying viruses on their mouthparts may have to probe for only a few seconds or minutes before the plant is infected. Res...

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What are those little green bugs on your plants? They’re probably aphids! Here are our best tips for getting rid of aphids in yourgarden. What AreAphids? Aphids seem to find their way into every garden. They are small, soft-bodied insects that feed by sucking the nutrient-richliquids outof plants. In large numbers, they can weaken plants significantly, harming flowers and fruit.Aphids multiply quickly, so it’s important to get them under control before reproduction starts. Many generations can occur in oneseason. The good news is that aphids tend to move rather slowly and, with diligent care, can becontrolled. IdentifyingAphids Aphids are tiny (adults are under 1/4-inch), and often nearly invisible to the naked eye. Various species can appear white, black, brown, gray, yellow, light green, or even pink! Some may have a waxy or woolly coating. They have pear-shaped bodies with long antennae; the nymphs (young aphids) look similar to the adults. Most species have two short tubes (called cornicles) projecting from their hindend. A close-up view of a rose aphid. Adults are usually wingless, but most species can develop a winged form when populations become crowded so that when food quality suffers, the insects can travel to other plants, reproduce, and start a new colony. Aphids usually feed in large groups, although you might occasionally see them singly or in smallnumbers. While aphids in general feed on a wide variety of plants, different species of aphids can be specific t...

If you’ve seen insects living on your plants and you aren’t sure what these insects are, you might have a very common backyard and indoor pest: aphids. Aphids are small insects with soft bodies that live on plants and trees. They are about 1/16 to 1/8 inches (1.5 – 3 mm) long. Their heads are narrower than their abdomens, which gives them a pear shape. Aphids come in many colors, such as green, white, black, brown, yellow, gray, pink, or red. With over 4 000 aphid species, it’s impossible to list every kind of aphid and what it looks like here. But there are certain things that all or most aphids have or do, which I share with you below. If you go through the following list, you will know exactly what to look for to identify if you have aphids on your plants or if it’s another insect. Baby aphids look like small adult aphids If you find aphids on your plants or trees, look for a mix of adult aphids and their babies, called nymphs. These nymphs look a lot like the adults, except they are smaller in size. During spring and summer, you should see a lot more nymphs than adults. Aphids live for about one month, and each aphid can give birth to between 50 and 200 pregnant female nymphs in that month. Within one week of being born, pregnant nymphs start giving birth to their own pregnant nymphs. When it’s warm, there is always a strong supply of nymphs being born to grow the colony. Aphids can have wings or be wingless Most aphids are wingless, but aphids are born with wings when...

Megan Hughes has a passion for plants that drives her to stay on top of the latest garden advancements and time-tested ways of growing great plants. She travels regularly to learn about new plants and technology and is closely connected to the innovation side of the horticulture industry. She has more than 25 years of experience in horticulture. Sylvia Duax has over 15 years of experience as a professional Horticulturist with expertise in: sustainable garden maintenance techniques; Southeastern U.S., especially in the mid-Atlantic regional gardening; native plants; wildlife gardening; small space, urban and container gardening and community engagement. When garden conditions are just right, aphids can reproduce at an amazing speed in just a few days, creating a huge, hungry colony that can literally suck the life out of your plants. The key to dealing with these small but destructive pests is knowing when to take action and then having the right tricks up your sleeve to keep them under control. Insecticidal Soaps and Horticultural Oil These controls are how to get rid of aphids that are the least likely to cause damage to the environment or people. However, you still need to follow the label instructions. Insecticidal soaps and horticultural oil will kill aphids but must be applied regularly during Crush Aphids With Your Fingers If you aren't the squeamish sort, and the infestation isn't so heavy that it would take forever to clean off, a non-toxic process of how to get ri...