Control Aphids in the Organic Garden

Aphids appear to come from nowhere in the spring, sucking the life from your vegetables and flowers. Control aphids without chemical pesticides.

Aphids seem to inspire the most vituperative response from the organic gardener. Perhaps it’s because of the way these soft-bodied pests swarm on new succulent growth in broad daylight. Oblivious to our curses, they move about at a snail’s pace, excreting honeydew that attracts ants and transmitting plant diseases, such as sooty mold. Over time, aphids suck the juices from plants, which stunt their growth and detract from their appearance.

Control Aphids Early

The sucking action of aphids causes plant leaves to curl around clusters of pests, affording them protection from predators and allowing them to escape your notice. Look for the tiny pests in the early spring, where they congregate on the soft new shoots of their favorite plants, including roses, honeysuckle, lettuce, peas, and peppers.

Look closely at the new growth on your plants. If you observe a cluster of green or grayish insects, each about the size of a lowercase letter on this page, you have aphids. If you’ve caught them before they can seek shelter under deformed leaves, you can blast them away with a jet of water from your hose.

image from pixabay

Beneficial Insect Control

Several small predatory insects feast on clusters of aphids, when they’re able to bypass the ants that guard and farm aphids’ honeydew excretions. Ladybugs are one of the most well known aphid enemies, and you can buy ladybugs to release on a calm evening at the base of infected plants. Hover flies and lacewings are aphid predators you can attract with abundant plantings of nectar-rich flowers, like sweet alyssum.

Organically Acceptable Sprays

Insecticidal soap desiccates the bodies of aphids by disrupting their soft cellular membrane. The soap in your kitchen has a greater potential to damage plants, and household soap isn’t designed to target insect pests. Insect soap has the potential to burn tender plants, especially in sunny or hot conditions. Test the product on an inconspicuous area, apply in the evening, and dilute according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Dormant oil is a preventative option for controlling aphids. Apply the oil in the late winter, when it smothers the aphid eggs waiting to hatch. This is most effective on fruit trees affected by aphids. Use an oil with a soybean base, rather than a petroleum based oil.

Hot pepper wax is an organic spray that uses concentrated capsaicin from cayenne peppers to repel insects from your plants. Although the food-grade wax helps the product adhere to your plants, it washes off easily with water, so you can use it on your food crops. As an added bonus, hot pepper wax repels animals from the garden too.