Fighting aphids on fruit trees and preventing its appearance

fruit tree aphids
Fighting aphids on fruit trees

Hello! Now I want to express an official warning to all gardeners: beware of aphids!

Last spring, I reacted quite neutrally to this problem, which resulted in a badly damaged garden. If only someone had warned me in advance.

But the point is different. A lot of effort has been spent and several means have been tried against the pest. The final victory was still mine. Want to know what the main fight against aphids on fruit trees is? What remedies are effective? Now I’ll tell you everything in detail.

Fighting aphids on fruit trees

To destroy a pest such as aphids is quite difficult. This insect rapidly multiplies and destroys all the greens in its path - young shoots, buds and leaves.

Important!
In addition, aphids are carriers of many infectious and viral diseases, after which galls form on the surface of the leaf plate.

As a result of such a defeat, the plants quickly weaken, wilt and dry out. How to deal with aphids on fruit trees is a hot topic for many gardeners.

It is possible to destroy this pest that has settled in the garden not only with chemical preparations, but also with home methods - without chemistry.

Folk remedies

Infusion of garlic. Crush 50 garlic and dissolve in 5 liters of water. After two days, the strained infusion will be ready for use. They irrigate the entire aerial part of the trees and shrubs on which the aphid has settled.

Tobacco infusion. 100 g of tobacco pour 500 ml of water, insist a day. Then strain and bring to a volume of 3 liters with water. Such treatment of infected plants is carried out repeatedly, especially at an advanced stage.

Mix the leaves and stalks of celandine with tops of tomatoes and potatoes. Pour finely chopped greens with water and insist for 4 days.

Onion husk infusion is an effective remedy against aphids on trees and shrubs. The proportions of cooking are the same as for the preparation of tobacco infusion.

Nettle tincture. 500 g of fresh leaves and stalks of nettle without seeds pour 5 liters of water, leave for 5 days. Filter the finished infusion and use it for processing the aerial parts of plants.

Ash and soap solution. Dissolve 200 g of ash in 10 liters of hot water. Boil the solution and add to it 50 g of crushed laundry soap.

Soap solution. It can be prepared as follows: dissolve 50 g of liquid or 150 g of solid soap in 5 liters of water.

Advice!
Infusion of Caucasian chamomile. Dry flowers of the plant - 300 g is poured with 1 liter of water, insist day. The finished infusion is diluted with water to a volume of 10 liters, then the affected trees and shrubs are treated with it.

Tincture of horse sorrel roots.450 g of roots pour a bucket of hot water. After insisting, after 3 hours, the infusion is ready for use.
Infusion of dandelion flowers.

700 g of grass, along with roots and flowers, pour a bucket of warm water. Let it brew for 5 hours. Then strain and use for irrigation of the aerial part of the damaged aphids of fruit stands.

Infusion of Datura vulgaris. Harvesting grass is carried out at the beginning of flowering plants. 1 kg of dry raw material is poured into a bucket of water and insisted during the day. After this, the tincture is filtered, and a small piece of soap is added to it - 30 g. This homemade preparation destroys aphids both at the initial and advanced stages of the lesion.

You can destroy aphids in the garden with ammonia. Often aphids appear on trees, where there is a large cluster of ants. These insects are interconnected. Aphids emit a sweet substance - the pad, which ants like to feast on.

In exchange, ants carry aphids from one plant to another. Thus, you can get rid of aphids if you destroy the ants. Liquid ammonia is a colorless solution that helps to get rid of this pest in the shortest possible time. They process the places of accumulation of insects.

Coca-Cola is a carbonated drink that helps fight aphids. It contains phosphoric acid. For 1-2 weeks of regular spraying with this tool, you can completely get rid of aphids.

The phosphorus contained in this drink is very effective against garden pests. This trace element is part of almost all pesticides and insecticides. It is supplemented with acid, which these pests so dislike.

Attention!
Shampoo is another effective remedy for aphids. Using it is important to correctly distribute the proportions.

Typically, 10 liters of water spend a tablespoon of shampoo. The result will be visible after the first processing. If necessary, the concentration can be doubled.

How to get rid of using pesticides

What to do if folk methods of struggle have not yielded any results? In this case, the use of chemical and biological preparations is necessary.

Fitoverm, Akarin, Agravertin, Aktofit, Inta-Vir, Iskra and Kinmiks are the most effective and popular biological aphids.

Fufanon, Karbofos and Fury are chemicals against contact aphids. They penetrate the skin of the insect and kill it. Actellik, Bankol, Confidor - chemicals that destroy pests through the digestive system.

Chemical preparations of systemic action seep into all tissues and cells of a plant, including fruits. They are not washed off by rain and retain their effect for a month. These are the most effective and at the same time the most dangerous means, the use of which requires compliance with all safety rules.

What is the best time to treat your garden?

Evening or morning hours are the best time to carry out this procedure. Processing trees from aphids during flowering is not advisable, especially if chemicals are used for this.

In this case, it is recommended to carry out preventive spraying with herbal infusions or solutions based on soap, tobacco or ash. Thus, you will not harm the future crop and the process of forming the ovaries.

How to get rid of aphids on a plum?

Very often, gardeners are faced with a problem such as aphids. It is yellowish, green, brown, pinkish and black. This tiny (no more than 5 millimeters) and subtle insect can do great harm to your garden, right up to the death of the plants.

Important!
Most often it can be found on cherries, apple trees, plums, apricots and other trees.

If you notice that the leaves of the plant are sluggish, twisted and deformed, there are a lot of small bugs on their lower part, then this is aphid. You need to immediately find out how to deal with it, otherwise you may lose not only the harvest, but also the whole tree.

Why is it dangerous?

Mass destruction of aphid trees occurs in spring, as soon as young leaves bloom. This insatiable insect sucks the juice from the leaves of trees and, thanks to this, grows and multiplies very quickly.

As soon as a whole colony of aphids bred on the plant, and there is not enough food for everyone, young individuals with wings appear. With their help, they fly and hit other trees, breeding at the same time up to 20 times in the summer!

During its life, aphids secrete sweet juice. He really likes ladybirds, wasps, flies and other insects. And the ants even protect them by hiding in their anthills or settling them in other plants.

Microscopic fungi, bacteria and viruses that cause many diseases can live on the sweet aphid secretions.

How to prevent the occurrence?

To prevent the appearance of aphids on the sink, and on other trees, gardeners advise taking such preventive measures:

  • You need to regularly destroy the weeds around the trees.
  • The main enemy is aphids, and our friend and helper are ladybugs. Therefore, it is worth a little effort to create favorable conditions for them, namely: ladybugs love the smell of calendula - get this beautiful and useful flower in your garden; do not burn all the leaves and grass before winter - in them the ladybug will be able to survive the winter, so that in the spring again to fight against aphids.
  • In order for the plants to be stronger, they need to be regularly watered, mulched and fertilizers balanced in composition should be applied.
  • In autumn and spring, tree trunks must be whitewashed with lime, removing the old bark before this. This procedure will interfere with aphids.
  • Linden and viburnum - plums are not neighbors. They are very fond of this harmful insect.
  • Near the trunks of trees spicy herbs (dill, parsley, coriander for example) are planted. They will become not only a fragrant addition to your dishes, but also a place for wintering ladybugs.
  • Aphids are a treat for many birds. To attract them, take care of the device of birdhouses.
  • A pest will also help fight a pest. To attract this insect, you need to plant umbrella plants - dill, parsley, fennel and carrots.
  • Some gardeners advise exterminating ants - protectors and aphid breeders.

How to deal with aphids that have already settled?

If the appearance of aphids could not be prevented, then you can get rid of it in the following ways:

  1. mechanically;
  2. folk remedies;
  3. chemical preparations;
  4. biological products.

Mechanical control consists in removing infected leaves and washing the insect colonies with water from the hose.

Attention!
If you are an opponent of chemicals, then eco-friendly folk remedies will come to your aid. They are cheap, but they will not be able to completely get rid of the pest with their help.

This will help you:

  • Garlic infusion. To cook it, you need 100 grams of garlic per 10 liters of water. After two days of insisting, trees affected by aphids can be sprayed.
  • The infusion of tobacco. To make it, tobacco is poured with water. Having insisted 1 day, the liquid is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 3 and the infected trees are treated.
  • Infusion of celandine mixed with tops of tomato and potatoes. You need to insist 3 days.
  • Also, the aphid is afraid of the onion husk infusion.
  • Nettle infusion - take 1 kilogram of plant per 10 liters of water and insist for several days.
  • Infusion of ash and laundry soap.

They also make infusion of hot pepper, marigolds, dandelions, yarrow, wormwood. Pest control also consists in spraying the tree with soapy water, as well as water with soda.

Advice!
To prepare a kerosene-soap emulsion, you need to mix hot water, kerosene (80 grams) and laundry soap (40 grams). The resulting mixture was diluted in 10 liters of water.

Trees should be treated with the above infusions and solutions several times in about a week. All these infusions make tree leaves tasteless for aphids.

If the previous methods of preventing and combating aphids did not help you, use the chemical method - the most effective. In this case, you need to use special chemicals.

Chemicals are divided into:

  • contact;
  • intestinal;
  • system.

Each of them has its pros and cons. Contact preparations - Arrivo, Fury, Fufan, Karbafos. Pluses - the aphid dies immediately, since the substance enters the body through its integument very quickly. Cons - if some insects survive, then they immediately begin to multiply actively.

Intestinal preparations - “BI-58 New”, “Confidor”. Pros - they act immediately, because the aphid digestive system gets into the diet.

Systemic drugs - Aktara. Pros - able to penetrate into the tissues of the plant, making the juice poisonous. They are not afraid of rains, as they are absorbed instantly. Such preparations are convenient for spraying tall trees. Cons - this is a rather lengthy process, it can stretch for half a month.

Biological preparations - Fitoverm, Akarin. Made from aversectin - this is a vital product of the soil microorganism. Pros - allow you to fight aphids without harming nature. Cons - may lose properties if stored incorrectly.

How to use drugs?

To control the pest was not only effective, but also safe, you should adhere to such rules:

  • First of all - strictly follow the instructions that came with the drug!
  • The first spraying should be done in early spring, the second - before the buds of the trees open, the third - before the buds are formed. If you noticed aphids in the summer, then the treatment should be repeated, but no later than a month before the fruits ripen on the plum (cherry, apple, etc.).
  • Use a respirator. Protect your eyes as well.
  • Smoking and eating during spraying with chemicals is strictly prohibited!
  • You can not treat the trees with poisons in the heat, otherwise you can burn the leaves and they will crumble. Such a fight is also unsafe for your health. The best time is morning or evening.
  • The weather should be dry and calm.
  • Remember that any chemical preparation is a poison not only for aphids, but also for other insects. Therefore, be extremely attentive to the environment and use them only when clearly necessary.
  • You cannot process a tree when it blooms. This is detrimental to bees and other pollinators.
  • Aphids get used to the drug over time, if used constantly. Therefore, it needs to be changed.

Be attentive to your plums and they will thank you with a generous harvest!

Fighting aphids on fruit trees

If aphids are constantly sitting on your fruit trees that you grow in your home garden, then it's time to process, until the buds have completely blossomed.

Attention!
We offer several standard and time-tested gardeners recipes for treating fruit trees and shrubs for the prevention of aphids.

Aphids have the ability to be on virtually all garden and indoor plants. For green aphids, these are fruiting trees and bushes, roses, chrysanthemums, almost all house plants; for black - legumes, garden cornflower.

Healthy plants

Umbrella plants - dill, carrots, parsley, fennel - will come to the rescue in the fight against aphids, attracting cocks to themselves. Earwigs can also be helpful. Lavender can scare away green aphids, and thyme grass, sown next to legumes, will defend against black aphids.

Nasturtium, growing near the cherry, will attract black aphids, reducing the load on the tree. Chemicals should not be used unnecessarily - along with the pests, their opponents will die: earwigs, small beetles, ladybugs, ground beetles, lacewings, riders, and carnivorous bugs.

Useful decoctions

In the fight against aphids, decoctions are effective: from wormwood, thyroid, tobacco dust, tansy, yarrow, celandine, hot pepper, dandelion, garlic, marigold, potato tops, onions, tomato tops, mustard, rhubarb (from black aphids). This requires several treatments with an interval of 1 week.

Celandine (flowering, whole plant). 300-400 grams of fresh or 100 grams of dry chopped mass to insist in 1 liter of water for about a day or boil for half an hour.

Pour 100 grams of dried peels of oranges or lemons with 1 liter of warm water and leave for 3 days in a warm place.

Tobacco. Insist 40 grams of dried tobacco in 1 liter of water for 2 days, strain, adding another 1 liter of water.

Onion. Finely chopped onion (15 grams) or its dry scales (6 grams), insist in 1 liter of water for 5-7 hours in a tightly sealed container, then filter.

Medicinal dandelion. (300 grams of crushed roots or 400 grams of fresh leaves, insist 1-2 hours in 10 liters of warm water (not higher than 40 degrees), filter and spray.

Important!
Marigold. Taghetis (marigolds) at the time of flowering (fill 1/2 bucket with dry raw materials, pour 10 liters of warm water, insist for 2 days, filter, adding 40 grams of soap).

Soap. You can simply spray with a solution of soap diluted in soft water (rain) - 200-300 grams of soap per 10 liters of water or wash the tops of the shoots with a 0.5% solution of soda ash, adding 0.5% soap.

A filtered broth of wood ash is also remarkable in the fight against aphids (300 grams of sifted ash is poured with boiling water and put on fire for half an hour, adding 40 grams of laundry soap).

Before use, add 10 liters of water. You can powder wet leaves a couple of times with ash, pollinate crops with shag (15 grams / sq. M). Spray the leaflets with these compounds very carefully, wetting the surface of the leaves from 2 sides.

Beneficial insecticides

In advanced cases, we resort to the treatment of plants with insecticides. (Actellik (50% c.u. - 10 ml / 10 liters of water), Intravir, Fitoverm, etc.)

The upper part of the shoots, which is severely affected by aphids, must be cut and destroyed. Note that such fruit trees as plum, peach, cherry plum and apricot will not tolerate spraying with poisons in bright weather at temperatures above + 30 ° C, otherwise there will be burns of leaves and their shedding.

Gooseberries should not be treated with colloidal sulfur and other sulfur-containing preparations, as they will also cause serious burns and shedding of leaves.

We get rid of aphids in folk ways

Aphid is an insect up to 0.2 cm in black or green. Most juvenile insects grow wings in July-August, so aphids fly well from place to place and infect other crops.

Advice!
The rapid infection of horticultural aphids is due to the increased fecundity of the insect. For example, a wingless female after 1 fertilization every 14 days from 10 to 15 times will give offspring more than 130 larvae.

Many gardeners and gardeners underestimate the harm that aphids cause to fruit trees. The insect punctures the leaves and sucks the juice, as a result, the tissues are deformed and die.

Excess water is removed from the body of the aphids in the form of sweet secretions, called “honey dew” or “pad”. These secretions cover the plants and make their breathing difficult. In addition, they become a good basis for the reproduction of various fungi.

Even inexperienced gardeners will be able to determine that the plant is affected by aphids:

  1. At the bottom of the leaves or on young sprouts, groups of green or black aphids are visible.
  2. Among other insects near the plant are white aphid scales, which the insect has dropped.
  3. Leaves and flowers are covered with a sticky substance.
  4. The leaves are crowded and then dry, not completely blooming. Flowers fade.

Folk methods

If you want to process vegetables or flowers with environmentally friendly means, then try using the following folk methods.

Soap solution. Rub the ordinary laundry soap on a grater and dissolve it in water in the ratio of 0.3 kg of soap per bucket.

Green tops of potatoes. Pour fresh or dried tops of water with water, leave to infuse for about 3 hours, and then spray the plants.

Bow. Finely chop 0.3 kg of onion, add the scales and pour 10 liters of water. Leave overnight, then strain and use to spray plants from aphids.

Chamomile is also used as a means of combating aphids. Take 1 kg of inflorescences along with leaves and stems, pour 10 liters of water, insist on the night. Then one part of the solution is mixed with three parts of water and the plants are sprayed.

Celandine, mustard, tomatoes, marigolds, citrus fruits, dandelion, tobacco, garlic and other plants are widely used as folk methods of fighting aphids.

Attention!
If you decide to permanently get rid of aphids, then use folk methods in a complex, mechanical, technological, and if necessary even chemical. Try planting insects and birds that feed on aphids in your garden. To do this, plant plants that will attract ladybugs, lacewings and flies.

Plant nettles and aromatic herbs among the trees. If you build birdhouses and feeders, then in your garden will be settled tits, chicks, sparrows and other birds that feed on aphids.

Try not to overfeed plants with mineral fertilizers that attract aphids. It is important to keep track of which plants grow next to your trees, for example, onions and garlic repel aphids, and some others may, on the contrary, attract.

Chemical methods of control

For effective control of aphids on fruit trees, there are many chemicals. At the forum, the answer to the question of how to get rid of aphids was: use the drug C-30. This tool is especially effective, since it destroys not just an insect, but its eggs and larvae. The spraying process is carried out during the dissolution of new kidneys.

For trees in the garden often use preparations "Intra-vir", "Karbofoks." In the market you will find other drugs that will help get rid of aphids forever.

Now you know the folk and chemical methods of controlling aphids and can protect fruit trees, as well as vegetables and shrubs from pests. Try to make your own compositions without pesticides, and if the aphid does not disappear, use ready-made chemicals. If you see damage on the leaves, tear them off or flush the insect with water from the hose.

Pest Control - Aphid Invasion

She is teeming again everywhere: aphids! It should be remembered that there are different types of aphids. Green aphids on peach trees, black aphids on legumes and green aphids on apple leaves, for example, differ from each other as finch, titmouse and sparrow.

However, this is not all: if aphid is harmful in gardens, it is necessary to fight it - using preventive or active therapeutic measures.

Various damage

Leaf aphids primarily affect young plants by sucking out cell sap. At the same time, it secretes poison, leading to curling of the leaves.

Important!
As a result, "houses" are formed from leaves that can be easily seen on the tops of branches; their aphids are less accessible to garden birds and other predators and, most often, at least one pair survives and breeds, preserving the population.

Since leaf aphids weaken the plant, sucking out the juice, twisted tops of the branches lead to their deformation. In ornamental and fruit orchards, this, of course, is undesirable, since the correct formation of the crown of the tree is of great importance - both from an aesthetic point of view, and to obtain a larger crop of fruits.

Leaf aphids can also infect plants with harmful viruses through saliva. This can cause extensive damage - especially in orchards or professional rose gardens.

Leaf aphids and “discarded food”

Finally, honey dew secreted by leaf aphids plays a significant role: since leaf aphids breed very quickly, especially under favorable conditions, it has a great need for proteins.

Aphid proteins are obtained from plant juices, and secrete carbohydrates (sugar) in the form of honey dew. This is especially surprising when you consider that plants are typical sugar producers, and many animals - including humans - use sugar as food to build their body proteins.

That's why we eat plants, but leaf aphids emit sugar as waste!

Honey dew is consumed by ants (as well as flies). Therefore, ants relate to leaf aphids in much the same way as we relate to cows: they "milk" aphids to get honey dew. To do this, ants intentionally transfer leaf aphids to plants, spreading it in the garden, take care of it and even protect it.

If ants do not consume honey dew, it remains on plants affected by leaf aphids, and they are colonized by “black mold”, which consumes sugar.

That is why we often notice aphids on plants only in the late stages of damage, when “black mold” becomes visible.

Exceptional fecundity

Before we start a discussion of ways to combat leaf aphids, let's look at its absolutely amazing life cycle: leaf aphids winter in the form of eggs, at this stage aphids are controlled in commercial fruit farms. The so-called uterus leaves the egg and produces offspring asexually!

Advice!
At the same time, virgin females are formed, as a rule, without wings — however, some of them still have wings, and they can more easily change the host plant and, thus, provide faster spread in natural and artificial landscapes - on agricultural land, in forests, in gardens.

These females also breed asexually (parthenogenesis). Only closer to fall in the population consisting exclusively of females, males are excreted, also by parthenogenesis.

Aphids mate and the last generation of females lays eggs this year, while the sexual generation actually dies, but provides leaf aphids with the opportunity to spread again next year.

Given that leaf aphids give up to 50 generations per summer, and one virgin female accounts for up to six live-born young aphids per day, it is easy to understand how a single uterus can produce about 1,027 aphids per year — which is why aphids infect plants in countless quantities. However, each leaf aphid lives only five or six days.

If you count how many chicks of birds, ants, real lacewings, gall midges (gall midges), ghosts and larvae of riders grow, feeding on leaf aphids, it will be clear that these insects need to breed quickly in order to survive as a species.

It is also obvious why in the northern hemisphere about 450 species of leaf aphids are among the most significant pests of agriculture, forestry and gardening.

How to deal with leaf aphids?

When considering the biology of leaf aphids, it becomes clear that trying to eliminate all aphids from the garden to the last is an ungrateful job. As soon as you destroy the last individual, another aphid can immediately fly from outside the garden - or it will be brought by ants.

In all cases, whenever possible, the appearance of aphids should be prevented, preventing its penetration. The ventilation openings in greenhouses and greenhouses can be tightened with gauze, which preserves the possibility of good ventilation, but does not allow leaf aphids to penetrate inside.

Attention!
The same method can be used on vegetable beds, where a non-woven fabric can be used to cover vegetables. Non-woven material not only creates a microclimate conducive to growth, but also provides effective protection against aphids.

Some types of garden plants are resistant to leaf aphids, for example, certain types of lettuce. You can consciously choose such resistant varieties for cultivation.

When growing raspberries, which is also a frequent victim of leaf aphids, you can choose varieties that, although not completely resistant, are less attractive to leaf aphids. For example, the old Schönemann cultivar often suffers from leaf aphids than the more modern varieties Rumiloba and Otm Bliss.

How to deal effectively with leaf aphids? In addition to preventative measures, you can fight aphids directly using various chemicals. It is important to choose compounds that protect beneficial insects, as well as the necessary waiting period, especially when it comes to plants that are intended for food.

Waiting period: this is the time that must elapse after using a chemical agent designed to control leaf aphids before the treated plant can be used as food without risk to health. Information on this is indicated in the instructions for the chemical control agent.

Typically, the waiting period is short or absent for natural ingredients (such as potassium soap or natural oils) used in pesticides such as those manufactured by Neudorff, including brands such as Neudosan, Spruzit and Raptol. You can obtain more detailed information from specialist suppliers of pesticides.

Grandfather's tricks - not all of them are suitable for the modern world!

In the past, when smoking was still widespread, your grandfather could take a cigarette butt and put it into the water overnight. The resulting infusion was slightly diluted with water and sprayed on the leaves to prevent the spread of leaf aphids.

Important!
However, since nicotine is a dangerous poison for the nervous and cardiovascular systems, the grandfather method is now prohibited by the German Pesticides Act, and can only be used for ornamental plants - but not for those intended for human consumption.

However, we can still learn from our grandfather how to promote the reproduction of beneficial insects in the garden. The collection of useful grandfather tricks includes attracting birds with the help of birdhouses (for example, for tits) and preserving places for nesting (for example, for redstart).

Even sparrows, which grandfather was not at all happy to see in his garden, since it was believed that they damage young plants, are excellent fighters against leaf aphids during the period of breeding and rearing of chicks.

Attracting beneficial animals also involves attracting beneficial insects. You can attract germs by growing daisies.

These insects feed on pollen of daisies and lay eggs near leaf aphids; after leaving the egg, the larvae of female flies are very fond of absorbing aphids in large quantities.

Like beetles, ladybugs, real lacewings, gall midges and riders benefit.

Skillful combination

The skillful combination of primary preventative measures and, if necessary, active measures to combat leaf aphids means that these insects can be dealt with, even with their growing spread.

As for the few leaf aphids that still remain in your garden, despite these measures, here's what people say about this - there are two whole reasons to season fresh salad from your garden with chopped dill: firstly, it improves the taste - and besides, chopped dill masks leaf aphids that could hide in a salad ...

Fighting aphids on fruit trees

Specialists of the Lenotr Park landscape workshop will help you get rid of aphids on trees. Depending on the degree of infection and safety requirements, the gardener will choose the best method for combating this pest.

Advice!
Dangerous pests of garden plants are aphids, or as gardeners say, “aphids”.In nature, there are many types of aphids. Some species prefer a particular plant, while others live on several at once.

Aphids' favorite cultures are fruit trees, currants, gooseberries, roses, tomatoes and some others. As for fruit trees, this pest prefers to "feast on" apple trees, plums, cherries, apricots.

What is dangerous

Despite the fact that the aphid “ignores” the berries and fruits of plants, it still causes them significant harm, sucking the juice from the top of the shoots and thereby weakening them. As a result, plants become vulnerable in the cold season, can freeze, deform, etc. This cannot but affect the quality and quantity of the crop.

The small size of the pest - only 2 mm - may not seem too threatening and easily misleading. But this is the case when quantity matters.

Over the summer, different species of aphids give from 10 to 17 generations. Aphids transform from a larva into an adult in 7-8 days, and this adult gives the next generation, and winged aphids that easily move to new plants.

Huge moving crowds, coloring the backs of tender leaves in different colors - red, black, green (the color of the aphids themselves) - are able to suck all vital juices from a tree or bush.

Among other things, aphids are a carrier of viral diseases that often destroy even fairly large and strong fruit trees - plums, apple trees.

How does it appear on plants

Aphid eggs winter on young tree branches near the buds. At the beginning of the green cone period, faded, invisible larvae hatch. Usually we notice that the aphid has attacked the tree upon seeing deformed, twisted leaves where the larvae are already teeming with a dense layer.

To find clutches of aphid eggs in early spring, it is worth observing ants. If on a sunny day, even before the awakening of the buds, you carefully examine the young branches, you will probably see ant scouts. What do ants do in early spring on a tree?

Attention!
They look closely at where their aphid nurse will appear, where their herds will be located. Having carefully examined the branch along the ant route (you can arm yourself with a magnifying glass), you will see black dots around the kidneys. This is the laying of aphids.

It is ants that are its malicious carriers, guards and shepherds. Often aphids appear on trees after it is literally transported there by these small, hard-working insects, which after they regale themselves with the so-called bear pad, which aphids secrete.

Actually, for the sake of these sugar secretions - excess moisture and carbohydrates - they introduce pests on plants.

In the spring, aphids are subtle and may appear to be absent. However, in late May, adults begin to appear. They scatter around the garden, forming new colonies.

Mechanical way

The simplest and most straightforward method of getting rid of pests is to remove them with your hands. However, it is most convenient to perform this manipulation on low plants - shrubs, flowers. Aphids from trees are best brought down with a strong stream of water from a hose.

As you know, this is not the most effective way to combat harmful insects. Let's look at other options.

Biological methods of elimination

Nature took care and gave us natural helpers in the fight against this voracious pest: ladybugs, some species of wasps, laceworm larvae, tits, warblers, sparrows, linnet with great pleasure eat this insect.

And the birds feed them to their chicks. “Invite” these natural predators to your garden, and let them fight aphids in a natural way.

How to do it? Seedle certain plants that will attract birds or insects that eat aphids: nettles, some fragrant herbs, siderata plants (the so-called green fertilizers).

In gardening centers or in online stores, larvae of lacewings (as experts say, a very effective remedy for aphids in the garden) and ladybugs are sold. This method of biological control should be used only if the pests have already multiplied very much on the site and threaten your crops.

To attract birds who like to eat aphids in open places, but not far from a natural refuge (tree or bush), it is necessary to hang up feeders with fresh food or to plant plants that are a natural food for them.

Important!
They will provide permanent residence for birds. Many of these plants have a decorative nature, and will look beautiful in the garden.

Some plants tend to drive away aphids, for example, garlic and onions, Dalmatian chamomile. It will be logical to plant them close to those crops that are attacked by harmful insects.

But nasturtium, mallow, cosmea, aphid tuberous begonias simply adore. Under no circumstances should these crops be planted next to pest trees. Do not plant nearby sleeping pills, viburnum, linden.

However, it is worth noting that aphids on fruit trees reproduce so rapidly that sometimes a person should intervene in the process of protecting plants from uninvited insects.

Folk remedies

Now in stores you can buy many different chemicals, which often have a detrimental effect not only on harmful insects, but also on all living things.

Berries are poured, and pesticides can get on them, on grass around, as well as on animals walking around. Therefore, many gardeners choose folk remedies for aphids on fruit trees.

Soap solution. Grate 300 g of ordinary laundry soap, dissolve it in 10 l of water, and treat with a solution of plant twigs.

Ash and soap solutions:

  1. Fill a small basin with water. Add ashes and a little liquid soap (you can Fairy). Stir and dip the tops of the branches affected by aphids into this basin. Even if you accidentally cut off these tops, then you will not bring significant harm. After sure, burn the diseased twigs. Finally, treat the entire plant with this solution using a spray bottle.
  2. Heat the water, pour 150-300 g of ash into it, bring to a boil, then add 40 g of liquid soap. Also spray this diseased plant with this solution.

Herbal infusions. Natural infusions are, of course, not chemicals, but they can also harm both the plant and humans. Many of the preparations are prepared in a concentrated form and are capable of causing burns in trees and shrubs in undiluted state. Some solutions are toxic to humans. Therefore, they must be used very carefully!

Advice!
How to use infusions: Before the initial treatment of the plant, try the infusion in a small area. If there is a positive effect, then the drug can be used throughout the site.

Fruit crops are treated with infusions after flowering during the period of the appearance of buds and 2 weeks to 40 days before harvesting; berry plants - before flowering and after harvesting; vegetables are sprayed 1 month before harvesting.

From onion. Finely chop 200 g of onion (along with the scales) and add 10 l of water to it. Let it brew for 12-18 hours.

From garlic. In chopped garlic (200 g), add a liter of water and leave to infuse in a tightly covered container for 5 days. For spraying, you need to mix 25 ml of infusion with 10 liters of water.

From the shoots of pine. For this infusion, annual pine shoots will be needed - 2 kg, they must be poured with 10 liters of water and left to infuse for a week, stirring daily. The tool is very concentrated, so you need to use it in a diluted form in a ratio of 1:10.

From potato tops. You will need 1 kg of green or 700 g of dry potato tops. It must be finely chopped and infused for 3 hours in 10 liters of water. Then strain and with this solution treat the tree from aphids.

Citrus. The infusion is prepared from 100 g of dried peel of any citrus fruit. They need to be poured with one liter of warm water and insisted for three days.

From dandelion. 400 g of leaves only or 200 g of a plant with rhizomes pour 10 liters of warm water, let it infuse for 2 hours.

If desired, liquid soap (about 1 tsp) or soap shavings (not more than 40 g) can be added to infusions before their use. Soap gives better adhesion to the leaves.

Herbal decoctions. Herbal decoctions are quite effective remedies for aphids on fruit trees, since they have fungicidal, insecticidal and antifidant properties. Here are some useful recipes.

Attention!
From celandine. It will take 400 g of fresh or 100 g of dried stems and flowers of celandine, which must be chopped and filled with a liter of water. The broth is infused for a day and a half, after which it must be boiled for half an hour.

From tobacco. It is necessary to grind 200 g of dried tobacco leaves, fill them with water (5 l) and insist 1 day. Then add water to get 10 l and boil the broth over low heat for 2 hours.

From the yarrow. It is advisable to make a decoction of grass, which is collected at the beginning of flowering. You will need 1 kg of dry plant. Add 2 liters of water to it, leave in a water bath for 40 minutes. After this, add water to become 10 liters, and put the broth in a dark place where it should stand for about 2 days.

Foliar fertilizer top dressing. For feeding, you should take 20 g of superphosphate, 10 g of potassium chloride and 10 l of water. Mix everything and try to spray the leaves both from above and from below. Processing is carried out twice: the second 6-7 days after the first. It is this feeding that is unfavorable for aphids.

Chemicals

If you didn’t succeed in destroying the aphids on the trees using folk methods or you just missed this point, then you will have to use chemicals.

It should be noted right away that this method is far from safe - both fruits and beneficial insects can fall under the gardener's sprayer. The use of chemistry in the fight against aphids is advisable only with a high number of pests, and then not always.

The garden maintenance service of the Lenotr Park landscape workshop has the necessary modern and effective equipment for treating trees and shrubs.

Gardeners, together with agronomists, will draw up the optimal strategy for protecting your garden from diseases and pests and will strictly follow it throughout the season. The order is made by contact phone or in person.

To kill aphids, chemical preparations are used, which are divided into:

  • Contact: suggest the penetration of poison into the insect. This is Karbofos, Fufanon;
  • Intestinal: penetrate the digestive tract of the pest, causing poisoning. Most often produce chemicals of combined action, namely, contact-intestinal - Confidor, Bankol, Spark;
  • Systemic: fall into the plant, into its cells, as well as into the fruits. There they last up to 4 weeks, are not washed off by rain or watering. These drugs are the most effective (based on imidacloprid), but also the most dangerous. These are Tanrek, Confidant, Biotlin, Aktara (used not only for the direct destruction of insects, but also for the prevention of their appearance).

These aphid preparations kill even that aphid that is in twisted leaves. Spray with poisons should be no more than 2 times per season, when insects reproduce most massively - May-June.

Important!
Pyrethrin-based preparations. You will do less harm to the environment if you take products based on pyrethrins in circulation. These are natural, organic insecticides that are extracted from Dalmatian chamomile. Drugs act on the nervous system of insects, literally paralyzing them.

Means have a gentle effect on the external environment, because of which they are used more often. What experts recommend: Doff All in One Bug Spray and Py Spray Garden Insect Killer.

Important Tips

Before you begin to get rid of aphids in the garden, destroy the weeds growing near. Many gardeners have noticed that aphids appear first on them, so they act as a sort of nursery for the insect.

It is necessary to spray the tree from the aphids so that the underside of the leaves is well moistened.

Experienced gardeners do not recommend using the same solution every year. Pests get used to any even the most effective remedy.

It is not recommended to treat trees from aphids in sunny or rainy weather. Rain quickly rinses the solution, and the sun can leave burns on plants.

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1 Comment

  1. It was interesting to read this article! I'm a budding gardener so far. There are 10-15 plants in my garden in my house, I live in Latin America, in Colombia. This country is hot, so everything blooms all year round, in turn). But aphids are also present here, and in considerable quantities. Even worse, these are ants. The article says that just these insects spread aphids to nearby plants, too. The bottom line is that you can’t get rid of these ants at all, they constantly come running out of nowhere. The only thing is that you can slightly reduce their number, but they do not go away completely. In all Lat. America like that.
    I liked the infusion of garlic. I made the exact same infusion for fighting mosquitoes, which we also have here. And it really helped, everyone flew out of the room at least. I still wondered if this solution would help the plants. Now I know that will help)
    Local people all buy chemicals for treating plants, then this is considered normal. Folk methods few who use. But it seems to me that it’s better to take something popular, since it will not be harmful to the person himself either. Soda is generally a universal medicine for everything, as I have a look)) And it helps with human diseases, and plants can be sprayed. It's great that there are such funds))
    Thank you for the detailed description of the recipes in this difficult matter of caring for your favorite plants!

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