I don’t have any science to back this up, but I think container grown plants are more susceptible to aphids than plants grown in the ground. It’s just something I’ve observed over the years. Luckily, this has been a pretty easy problem to solve.
Photo by RobertGrubba.com
I think the problem is two fold. First, no matter how well you treat your container garden, plants are almost always more stressed in a container than they would be in the ground with the same level of care. Stressed out plants are like homing beacons to pests. And second, many container gardens aren’t as hospitable to aphids’ natural enemies as larger gardens, so aphids multiply without any interference from Mother Nature.
I originally titled this post “Ladybugs – A Gardeners Best Friend,” which provides a pretty good hint as to my favorite aphid treatment. Ladybugs–and especially their larva, as you can see in the photo above–love snacking on aphids. I was so excited to see a bunch lady bug larvae in my garden this weekend, because I know they are busy growing like crazy, which means they will need to eat a lot of aphids.
Attract Native Ladybugs
The best way to use ladybugs to control your aphid population is to attract the locals. And the best way to do that is to plant things ladybugs love. Usually that means plants that upward facing flower umbels, like dill and yarrow. Other ladybug favorites are golden marguerite daisies and bachelor buttons. You might also try growing sweet allysum in between all of your edible plants. They attract bees (which are great for pollinating) and flower flies (which like eating aphids).
Or Try Store Bought Varieties
If you can’t seem to attract any local ladybugs, or you want the aphids gone yesterday, you can pick up a container of ladybugs at your local garden center. They aren’t as good as the locals because they’re often native to mountain areas and are shipped several hundred miles to your nursery. In my experience, they’re more likely to fly away than the ladybugs native to my area.
To reduce this problem, put the store bought ladybugs in the fridge until late evening. This helps make them sluggish and more likely to stay the night. Sprinkle them in all the aphid infested areas. Hopefully they’ll hunker down for the night and then eat lots of aphids in the morning.
More on Aphids from Around the Gardening Blogosphere:
- Bucolic Bushwick explains what those white little flecks near an aphid infestation are.
- North Coast Gardening covers organic treatment of all sorts of rose ailments, including aphids.
- Fresh Dirt highlights a special hose nozzle for blasting the little buggers off.
What’s your favorite aphid control method?
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Great post, and yes the aphids do seem to love the plants in containers. The plants might be slightly more prone to aphids due to being stressed.
Seeing quite a difference this year between the peas in the garden, and those in containers.
Jen
I had no idea those were lady bug larvae! I’ve seen them around and I wasn’t sure if I should pick them off or not. I think I picked off one or two but left the rest alone.
I didn’t have any aphids to contend with last year, but this year they came out in full force (I guess they found my deck!) and I must confess I bought Safer insecticidal soap to take care of them. Just a few squirts at the very beginning of the season kept them at bay until my plants were bigger and stronger and the predator population caught up with them and I haven’t done anything since about May. I’m not big on chemicals at all, but it was very effective and hopefully didn’t have much impact on anything other than the bugs I spot sprayed.
This is the first year my rose plants got infested with Aphids, I have used Bon-Neem Insecticidal Soap
which is approved for organic use, but not sure how this must have affected the lady bugs!!!
Insecticidal Soap Spray
1 to 2 tablespoons liquid soap
1 quart water
mix and pour into an empty spray bottle.
Make your own spray at home and save some $$. Most plants are fine with this mixture and it does kill aphids and other soft-bodied insects (caterpillars). Don’t use this on nasturtiums; they cannot tolerate the soap.
Great article. Ladybugs are the best deal 100 a day for adults and more than 400 for the larvae. Works for me.
The soap spray recommended by Bob is also a great solution if you don’t have ladybugs inhabiting the area and can’t afford to import some.
Happy growing!
What about the little tiny black bugs? They are smaller than aphids and are eating my eggplant leaves up. They look paper thin. I sprayed them several times over the last week with the ecosense insecticide soap, and yesterday, I had to buy a spray poison because the bugs have gotten so prolific. Thoughts on what exactly they are and how to prevent them?
Daniel–It’s not really advisable to spray anything on your plants (organic or chemical) before you know what pest you’re dealing with. The problem with spraying broad spectrum chemicals–as it sounds like you have done–is that they kill beneficial insects and pests alike. It’s hard to keep an organic garden when you disrupt the natural order of things like that.
Could you describe the insect you’re dealing with a little more so that I can help you ID it? What kind of damage (i.e. does it leave round holes the center of the leaf, jagged holes along the edges, etc) does it do to the leaves? Does the insect jump or fly away when disturbed? Do you see any sign of the insects other than the damage they create, such as webs or a sticky substance on the leaves?
From what you’ve described thus far, here are my best guesses: flea beetle or spider mites.
I took a couple pictures of the leaf and put it on my blog this morning. http://www.thecornerinthemiddle.com but the bug I took a picture of looks like a tiny long fly, and I’ve seen them on the mulch too. But I don’t know if that’s the one eating my plant. I took three pictures, one of the plant, a leaf, and a very close picture of the leaf. All four of my eggplants are almost completely like this. I’ve never had this bug before and I am out of ideas. I don’t know if it’s the fly looking thing, or aphids, I haven’t seen any aphids since I sprayed for three days.
@Bob I use that same recipe – saved a rose only a few days ago – soap+water can be very effective