Grow House Features

By Author: Jean Vernon1
Total Articles: 30
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Whatever you grow in your garden or greenhouse, you're sure to have come across aphids. They're a group of prolific pests that are commonly described as greenfly and blackfly, although there are also a variety of other pests including the woolly aphid, root aphids and the cabbage aphid.

Aphids cause a range of problems. Their main form of attack is to suck the sap from fresh young shoots. In a greenhouse this can have a devastating effect on early crops as the warmer climes inside the glasshouse encourage these bugs to breed very speedily. Fresh pink buds and leaves of roses and just about anything else sprouting in spring get covered in layers of these green or black bugs. The range of plants affected is immense and the initial results are stunted growth, and weaker plants. However the problems don't stop there. Heavily infested plants can actually die. Aphids can also spread disease. Just as mosquitoes can pass malaria to humans in areas where this disease is prevalent, aphids can spread plant viruses. These can be debilitating for crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, peas, marrows and squashes and many more ...
... besides.

Another problem related to the presence of aphids is sooty mould. Sometimes this is the most obvious sign of aphid presence. They secrete sweet sticky honeydew, which covers the leaf surfaces, and sooty moulds grow on this residue, creating unsightly blackened leaves. Although the mould is not considered to be harmful, if there's enough of it, it can reduce the amount of light that reaches the leaves and so reduce the plant's abilities to make its own food.

Aphids are almost always active except in an overwintering egg stage. But if it's mild enough adult aphids can keep on feeding. In optimum conditions the adult female can actually give birth to live young, missing out the egg stage and increasing the population very rapidly. It is perhaps the aphid's ability to breed and multiply so prolifically that makes it such a persistent problem.

There are two approaches to aphid control. If you prefer to keep your garden and greenhouse free from chemicals you must use integrated pest control which employs a range of methods to deal with the problems. Some might consider this too risky or a bit hit and miss. Organic gardeners put great faith in the ability of nature to deal with population explosions of aphids. At just the time when aphids are breeding so prolifically, young larvae of hoverflies and ladybirds are hatching looking for food. Aphids provide an excellent, nutritious meal. Tiny bug eating birds, such as tits, may flutter in the roses picking off tasty aphid morsels to boost their die, while a range of other predators do their bit too. If your garden lacks colour and a diversity of plants you may have to wait too long for nature's assistance. Organic gardeners find that the populations of predatory insects and animals increase year on year as their garden starts to mimic and benefit from the cycles of nature.

Plant brightly coloured annuals and grow a mixture of plants to encourage a wide variety of natural predators. Feed the birds and create wildlife havens to provide food, water and shelter such as hedges and ponds.

For greenhouse control you can even import aphid busting bugs such as the aphid-eating midge Aphidoletes or the aphid parasite Aphidius. The former is best employed for large aphid colonies and the latter is better where there are fewer aphids over a range of plants. Some gardeners collect ladybirds from the garden and place them into the greenhouse in spring, where they benefit from the early crop of aphids on greenhouse plants and can start to breed in the warmer temperatures. Outside, gardeners can encourage a natural population of lacewings and ladybirds or add to it by purchasing packs larvae to speed the natural process.

There are many chemicals available at the garden centre that can be used to control aphids. Check the label and ask for assistance. Always read the label carefully and never apply any product to a plant not included in the instructions.

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