Spring brings plenty of pests to your garden. Everyone, and I
mean everyone, has to battle snails this time of year.
Spring brings plenty of pests to your garden. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has to battle snails this time of year. Other than hand-picking, the answer to controlling snails is to bait, bait, bait. Try Sluggo, a relatively new type of snail bait that is non-poisonous in that it doesn’t contain metaldehyde. The latter is notorious for accidentally poisoning dogs and cats in that many snail baits are about the exact size and shape of dry pet food. Instead, Sluggo utilizes iron phosphate, and even adds small amounts of iron and phosphorus to the soil when it dissolves.
Ah, but I digress. What I’ve meant to write about this week is the hidden garden pest that can also do great damage to mostly young new growth. I’m talking aphids here, folks. Our early and warm spring weather has made it ideal hatching weather for aphids. Go ahead and take a look at the new growth on your roses. Chances are they’re already covered by aphids.
Aphids will be tiny green or brownish-colored, soft-bodied insect pests that suck the juices of our favorite flowers. Infested plants will usually have curled leaves, a sticky substance known as “honeydew” and sometimes a conglomeration of ants, which are attracted to the sticky stuff.
Aphids can carry viral diseases from plant to plant, they multiply dramatically and populations only get worse as our weather warms. In other words, it would be to your best interest to get aphids under control now.
The good news is that it’s fairly easy to get aphids. If your infestation isn’t too bad, strong blasts of water from the garden hose may be sufficient. Once aphids are knocked off, they tend not to be able to climb back up. Be forewarned, however, that you must be vigilant in your blasting of aphids. Avoid spraying leaves during the heat of the day, which could “burn” leaves. On this natural control vein, you can also spray insecticidal soaps or any of the natural insecticides, such as pyrethrins, neem or ryania.
I usually start off with blasts of water to control aphids this time of year. However, by June, I’m fed up and go the chemical insecticide route. Orthene (triforine) is a lazy person’s insecticide in that it is a systemic – meaning that the liquid penetrates the tissues of leaves so that the chemical keeps on working even after the spray appears to be long gone. Other contact-killing insecticides include anything from malathion to sevin.
Another option is a fertilizer/systemic insecticide combination like Systemic Rose and Flower Care. These feature easy to use granules that are sprinkled around the base of plants and watered in. They fertilize and kill insects for up to six weeks. The drawback with these products is that they’re usually the most expensive and, if you have a lot of roses or other plants under aphid attack, you’ll end up spending quite a bit.
You’ve probably seen packages of live ladybird beetles (ladybugs) at nurseries, too. Don’t waste your money on them because there’s simply no way of keeping aphids exclusively in your garden. Live ladybugs are more of a novelty to have fun with your kids.
