How do I control aphids in my garden? What do they look like? Is there an organic option?
What are aphids and how can I identify them?
Whether you've been growing plants for years or you've only just begun your gardening journey, there's a good chance that you have danced with an aphid infestation at some point along the way. These little sap-sucking bugs find their way onto a wide variety of plants, but seem especially keen on attacking plants from the mustard family (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc.).
Aphids come in a wide variety of colors and textures, making identifying them a bit challenging at first. They commonly come in red, green, orange, yellow, white, and black. Sometimes they're larger, sometimes they're fuzzy, but one thing they do share is a similar body shape and infestation pattern.
Key Characteristics: Small (about the size of a poppy seed) oval, seed-shaped body, long antennae, sometimes the back legs are taller than the rest. Will infest in large groups very quickly.
What does the plant damage look like and how do I stop it?
As sap-sucking creatures, aphids pull juices from the leaves, stems, and flowers of plants, and then release a sticky sugary goo called honeydew in the process. That sticky stuff starts to build up on nearby leaves, or sometimes rains down from trees, coating everything beneath in small, sugary droplets. If you've ever parked your car under a tree only to return the next day to a sticky mess, chances are you're dealing with aphids. In the garden, you'll see that same sticky texture on the leaves of a plants with an infestation. Once you see it, flip the leaves over and check the underside for aphids. If aphids have been present for a while, you may find your plants are shriveled or misshapen. Flowers and stems may be completely surrounded by aphids. If you can hold a leaf up to sunlight you may see areas where the leaf appears thinner, almost like thin spotting where the leaf lets through more light.
Prevention is key!
The best defense against aphids is to stop infestations before they get out of control. As a general strategy, do regular walks through your garden or growing space to look for them. Get in the habit of flipping leaves over to check the underside for early signs of an infestation and use a hose or strong stream of water to blast off aphids that are present. Aphids will often attack younger growth, particularly flowers just before they open. Roses, broccoli, cauliflower, and other plants grown for their flowers will be the most at risk for aphid damage and even a small infestation here can cause you to lose your crop for the season.
How do I get rid of them?
Like most things in the garden, you will need to be consistent and patient. Using a hose with a spray nozzle, blast the aphids right off your plants every day for several days in a row. After the third or fourth day, you'll notice a substantial drop in their numbers. As you see them disappear, taper off your efforts and start spraying every other day or every couple of days until the infestation is under control again. Then you can go back into prevention mode with regular walks to monitor your plants.
What about ladybugs?
One of the great things about nature is that it will always figure out where the food is and come right to you. Chances are by the time you've discovered aphids, so have a few ladybugs and they are already there feasting away. Ladybugs are welcome friends in the garden, but as far as a realistic control for aphids, they will simply be outnumbered so don't expect overnight miracles.
If you do decide to buy and release ladybugs in your yard as an organic aphid control, the best thing you can do is create a habitat that invites them to become long term residents. That means leaving places in your yard where they can lay eggs without being disturbed like tall grasses, dried vines and stalks. As much as we want our yards to look pristine all the time, ripping out dried plant stalks or trimming our grasses short kills off the very ladybugs we are hoping to keep around!
Insecticidal Soaps?
Insecticidal soaps are honestly a disaster. I've never once gotten them to work well and I usually do more harm than good. The reason I never recommend these is simple, they are very unforgiving and you will overdo it. If you use too much, you'll coat your plants with a sticky layer that causes them to scorch in the sun. If you use too little, it does nothing to control your infestation. You may also be deterring beneficial insects like ladybugs from coming in to eat the aphids which will allow their numbers to grow unchecked even faster. I would rather pull out an infested plant than attempt to use the soap sprays. I have enough burned plants in my history to know other methods are more effective.
Neem Oil?
I know this is touted as an organic option, but it can be very harmful to beneficial insects. It's common for novice gardeners to feel like this type of chemical is a necessary tool in their tool belt, but I can tell you right now you do not need this. If you spray anything on your plants, would you rather it be water or this strange smelling oil that can kills bugs? I don't know about you, but I would always choose the water mitigation strategy listed above before considering any type of spray no matter how "organic" it may be. Plus, as frequently as you will be dealing with aphids, choosing neem oil will mean spraying lots of it around your garden. Then by killing off beneficial insects you'll lean heavier and heavier on this strategy in a loop.
Wait, why are there so many ants?
Remember when I mentioned that aphids spray a sugary goo when they eat? Guess who loves to eat that stuff? Ants. In fact, ants love it so much, they've been known to move aphids around from plant to plant in order to harvest their own full time supply of it. For that reason, they're known as aphid farmers. Ants on their own are not really a garden pest, more of a nuisance (ugh get off my shoes! great now it feels like they're all over me!) BUT you may want to start following some of those ant trails to see if they lead to any of your plants. They may take you right to an aphid farming operation that you'll want to shut down. Every now and then you may see ants caught in the act carrying aphids between plants in a sign of this symbiotic relationship at work. Aphids get fresh pasture, and ants get sugary sweet food. The only one losing here is the gardener!
Less is more
Aphids are another garden visitor that remind me to slow down. When I first started gardening, the sight of these little creepy bugs crawling all over my carefully sprouted plants was both horrifying and discouraging. The first thing I wanted to do was blast away all those bugs to protect my precious plants! I rushed out and bought insecticidal soap sprays, neem oils, and spray bottles to make my own DIY versions. I was so frustrated when they wouldn't work and scared of the next time I might have to tackle the problem again. But it turns out, the answer was really really simple. All I needed to do was knock the bugs off the plant. It really is that easy, less is more. When you have any pest in the garden, before you rush off to buy all the things, just start with the basics. Are there a lot of bugs or just a few? Is my plant really damaged? Can I do something simple at first to see if that works BEFORE I go for the big options? Slow down, think about it, try the least invasive thing and then work your way up. Your plants (and the environment!) will thank you.
Have you tried any of these tricks or tips? How did it go? Leave a comment or send me a message!
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