How to get rid of aphids

Why are aphids harmful to plants?

If you notice that the leaves of your garden plants are unnaturally curled up and a little bit yellow, there’s a high chance that aphids invaded your garden.

Those tiny green pests, which live on the underside of plants leaves, bring significant damage to people’s gardens.

First of all, as they feed on plants’ leaves, they ruin their green mass, which may lead to the plants dying down. Most gardeners will mention that these pests thrive on plants’ juices.

But, what happens is that they eat the plant’s phloem sap as their food. Thus, aphids deprive that plant of this important substance, which leads to metabolic imbalance.

That’s what makes leaves curl up, lose their healthy green color, turn yellow and, eventually, dry up. Prolonged aphid infestation may result in drastic leaf loss and

Besides, plants that suffer from aphid infestation often have sticky leaves. It is aphids’ honeydew (literally their waste) that makes them feel this way.

That substance not only disrupts photosynthesis, but also attracts other pests (like ants) to your plant.

And, last but not least, aphids may transmit different infections from plant to plant, causing even more damage.

Those are the main reason why you should take immediate measures to get rid of aphids as soon as you notice them in your garden (or even on house plants).

If you’re experiencing major infestation and can’t find effective solution to your problem, you should go to HireRush.com to post an aphids removal and control task for our gardeners or/and pest control services.

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And, you may also try a couple of methods listed below to knock those aphids out of your garden.

5 Ways to get rid of aphids

1. One of the most natural and, by the way, quite beautiful ways that would help you get rid of aphides, as well as control their presence on regular basis, is releasing predators that would devour them.
   Lady bugs naturally come to places where infested by aphides.
   But, some gardeners release additional lady bug ‘troops’ to their gardens to eliminate aphids a lot faster.
   Besides, they’re so pretty!
2. Pressure washing helps when it comes to removing these pests from plants’ leaves.
   But, this treatment might be not really suitable for all plants (especially when they’re too young).
   It won’t ensure long-term effect either.
   If you decide to try it out, make sure to do it either early in the morning, or later in the evening, so that the sun doesn’t burn the plant’s leaves through the water drops.
3. There’re a couple homemade aphid remedies you might try out. They won’t harm your plants, but they will kill pests.
   Water and dish soap solution will do that.
   In order to prepare it, add about two tablespoons of your regular dish soap into one gallon of room temperature water.
   Poor this solution into spray bottle and apply it onto the pants’ leaves, concentrating on their bottom sides.
   Don’t forget to rinse your plants with pure water in 2-2,5 hours after this treatment.
   You might also want to apply this soapy solution onto just one leaf of the plant to see if it doesn’t affect it in a wrong way.
   Repeat this treatment in 3-4 days if needed.
4. Some gardeners who prefer organic pest control even take their time to grow special plants aphids are mostly attracted to far away from their gardens to distract them from their crops.
   Hollyhock, verbena, dahlia and aster are among those plants.
   In addition to that, aphides don’t stand the smell of garlic and onions. So, you may plant those around your garden.
5. Neem oil or different essential oils will work as well.
   Neem oil is one of the most effective natural pest repellents, so water and Neem oil spray will kill aphids for sure.
   But, be careful while using it, as it might scare beneficial insects off.
6. When it comes to essential oils, combination of rosemary, clove, peppermint and thyme oils (5 drops of each) and water will do the anti-aphids job
7. If you don’t mind using pesticides, you might consult with gardeners to choose the least harmful one and use it to free your garden from aphides.
   Not being organic, it’s probably the most efficient and the fastest way to get rid of aphides.
8. If you’re still leaning towards organic aphid control methods, you may try to get rid of them using natural insecticidal soap.
   It will help with aphids. And, it won’t harm beneficial insects. 
   You may buy one of them pretty much at any garden center. Or, you may visit Todayshomeowner.com to learn how to make it at home.