New and Unread Tree-Mails
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Seattle, WA (Zone 8b)  NewbieGardner Mar 31, 2018 4:54 PM CST |
| Each year My tea hybrid Rose plants gets affected by Aphids in Spring. Though I spray insecticide it haven't solved the problem. Can someone guide me how can I save my plants from getting aphids in spring. |
Name: Porkpal Richmond, TX             porkpal Mar 31, 2018 5:01 PM CST |
| All I can suggest is to stay alert and wash the little pests with a spray from the hose as soon as you see them. Porkpal |
Name: Frank Mosher Nova Scotia, Canada (Zone 6a)          fwmosher Mar 31, 2018 5:25 PM CST |
| I have a problem with the theory that one should just use a hose to spray off aphids. You are not "killing" same, but just washing them off to come back again. One should use a MILD dish soap/water spray. As such, the soapy foam clogs their lungs. History! If you don't feel comfortable making your own spray, SAFER has an excellent aphid spray, but as with all sprays, use it early in the morning or in the late afternoon, not during hot sun. And yes, you do have to examine your HT's once a week for certain. Worth the effort! Cheers |
Name: Porkpal Richmond, TX porkpal Mar 31, 2018 6:33 PM CST |
| Aphids will not come back: they are not that mobile - oh, and they have no lungs. Porkpal |
Name: Steve Prescott, AZ (Zone 7b)    Steve812 Apr 1, 2018 12:55 PM CST |
| There are lots of strongly held opinions about aphids and ways to get rid of them. It seems to me that the most important thing to do is to examine your roses daily, looking most closely at buds and other new growth. And, on finding aphids, to wash them off. I tend to use spot treatment of aphids with a soapy solution because I get some satisfaction of watching the little insects suffocate as the soapy solution clogs their trachae in a way that plain water does not. They tend to drop from the plant and I feel assured they will never return. But if your whole rose plant is covered with aphids, it's almost certainly better for the plant to spray them off with a high pressure (garden hose with a nozzle) spray of plain water, as soap solutions can cause plants to lose moisture faster than plain water will. Regarding pesticides, they can seem like a good idea until one considers that most pests such as aphids are food for predators such as praying mantis and ladybugs. When these predators are killed by eating pests treated with pesticides, they can die too. Because the life cycle for pests is so much shorter than it is for their predators, this can mean that the aphids reproduce much faster. With predators gone, they become a problem faster than before pesticides were introduced. Because of this there are cases where the use of pesticides can acually increase the number of aphids in a garden. Many serious gardeners here have serious reservations about using them, especially in some broad, blanketing way. When you dance with nature, try not to step on her toes. |
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