Aphid Control
The Secrets of Aphid Control
Aphid control is vital if you wish your garden to continue producing flowers, vegetables or fruits. The small insects can thrive on nearly any plant, and if you have them, you will want to knock them down as soon as you can, and then apply a preventative so they don't return.
Aphids have mouth parts that are able to pierce and chew on leaves of your plants. They can feed from the life blood or sap of plants like mosquitoes do with people. The best bet at keeping aphids at bay is by applying preventative products like Aphid Alarm, which utilizes small discs that inhibit the aphids' ability to reproduce. This is a helpful form of aphid control, because it helps protect areas that are not yet infested with the pests, and keeps them from settling into your garden.
Aphids can kill developing, young plants. They literally remove the life blood of the plants, until they die, and then they move to other live plants. More established plants and trees probably won't be killed by an aphid infestation, but they may be weakened to the point where they are more susceptible to diseases and other issues.
If aphids kill leaves on your plants, that removes one way the plant has of gathering nutrients. Leaves in good health should protect and shelter plants from the sun, and will not fulfill that job when they are curled up and withered, which is how the aphids will leave them. This stresses the rest of the plant, leaving it vulnerable to other pests and diseases. The problem is an unsightly one, too - as the withered leaves will detract from the appearance of your garden.
Aphids excrete Honeydew, which is full of nutrition that is sought after by *other* insects, so once the aphids are eating in your garden, their excrement is attracting and nourishing other types of insects! If you don't practice effective aphid control, it's a vicious cycle until one pest or another kills your plants. Not only that, but after the aphids have consumed all they can in *your* garden, they will move on to other areas, leaving all the other insects without a food source. Many of these insects, especially ants, may travel *indoors* to find the nourishment they no longer receive from the Honeydew.
The Honeydew also fosters fungus, and is corrosive by itself. It can damage structures, outdoor furniture and cars. It can mar the finish of cars, and the plastic and vinyl of home siding.
Aphids carry disease as well, and they easily transfer pathogens or fungus from one plant or tree to another. So, even if your plants survive the aphids' attack, they may die as a result of being weakened and then having diseases passed on by the aphids.
Some gardeners feel that aphid control is futile, and they just accept the pests as part of life in their garden. But the aphids will cause *death* in the garden, if they aren't stopped.