Controlling Aphids - How To Control Aphids with Neem?

March 02, 2011-

Aphids are the sneaky little creatures that are not welcomed by garden lovers as they destroy flowers, vegetables and even the trees. Aphids breeds very quickly and soon you will find huge colonies of aphids. So it very important to diagnose the problem at a very early stage.

How to Identify Aphids?

Aphids are actually a small plant lice which eat plant. They have different colors from red, yellow, green, brown to to black. Color depends upon the plant species they feed upon. Some of the species also secrete wax of white of gray color and thus appear waxy or woolly.

Adult aphids are wingless but some species have wings as well.

Aphids suck the plant juice through their little tube and while doing so they transmit certain viruses in the plants which leads to curling, distorting and yellowing of the plant.

Controlling Aphids - Know How to Get Rid of Aphids

Getting rid of aphids is easy if you detect them in the very beginning so catch them as early as possible. One colonizer is capable of producing 80 offsping in a week's time and can reproduce many times in one life. Check the underside of the leaves to detect the early infestation. Do not fertilize your plants in excess as aphids love to infest the fresh and abundantly fertilized places.

Give a strong spray of water as aphids once dislodge from the plant find it difficult to return to the plant. Get the bug blaster hose for this.

On finding aphids infestation, just prone and disposed away the infested part. Although problem with this technique cannot be resolved but for sure it can be slowed down to a large extent.
Aphids population is greatly affected by the temperature and weather. In summers the population of many species is reduced to a large extent. Even in the coldest temperature, the growth of the aphids is reduced to a large extent.

Parasite wasp can control the aphids naturally. Parasite wasps lay eggs inside the aphids and after this skin of the parasite aphids turns golden brown and crusty. This reduces the aphid population naturally.

Lady beetle, lacewing and syrphid fly eat the aphids.

Neem oil insecticidal soaps and narrow range oil control the aphids chemically. To get rid of aphids spray the underside of the leaves with these oil by mixing them in high volume of water. You will have to repeat the process as the effect of spray remains just for one day.

Know more on How to Get Rid of Aphids

http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-aphids.htm
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7404.html