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In nature, there are thousands of aphid species. These are very small insects of different colors that appear, as if from nowhere, settle on young shoots, leaves, buds, suck the juice out of them, which can lead to the death of plants. Aphids on roses are a fairly common occurrence, flower growers know different ways to deal with this parasite, the main thing is not to waste time. The sooner the fight begins, the less harm the insects will have time to cause to the flowers, the easier it will be to deal with them.
Aphid behavior
Aphids on roses appear in the first hot days that fall at the end of spring or the beginning of summer. These insects are so small that the appearance of a few individuals usually, unfortunately, goes unnoticed, they are discovered when hundreds of aphids cover shoots or buds. They feed on plant sap, so that the shoot quickly withers, holes in the tissue of buds, leaves, stems become open gates for various infections, if urgent measures are not taken, the plant may die.
The autumn laying of eggs on plants remains unnoticed, it is from these eggs that pests appear later in the spring. Young individuals do not know how to fly, move slowly, but multiply incredibly quickly, each female brings thousands of pests. By the time the shoots of roses begin to stiffen, the females have wings, and in the autumn the males also have wings, which allows them to move much faster, to capture more and more new spaces.
Video “Behavior”
From the video you will learn how aphids behave on flowers.
Methods of struggle
Roses should be inspected carefully as often as possible, and preferably daily. When parasites are found, you first need to think about how to deal with them. This problem is old, so there are a lot of time-tested methods for solving it. You can remove pests mechanically – collect with your hands or rinse with a stream of water. This works with a small number of aphids. You need to put on gloves and wipe off insects, being careful not to damage the delicate tissues of the rose. It is also easy to wash them to the ground with water, only a strong jet of water can break the sprouts, you will have to carefully wash the bushes several times, achieving the disappearance of parasites.
If there are a lot of pests, then you need to treat the plants with special preparations. There are insecticides that can quickly get rid of aphids, but they can destroy other, harmless or even beneficial insects, so many growers prefer more gentle products that are based on herbal and other not too harmful products.
Folk remedies
Proven folk remedies offer not only to destroy or drive away, but to prevent the appearance of aphids on the flower garden. There are plants next to which aphids never appear, because they cannot tolerate their smell. If marigolds, mint, lemon balm, sage, dill, garlic grow nearby, then roses will never get acquainted with these parasites. Many owners simply lay out the branches of these plants under the roses. And at home, next to the roses, they put geraniums to repel pests.
It is known that ants take care of aphids, transfer them to new habitats, but lizards, lacewings, ladybugs and birds eat them by the thousands.
So, you need to try so that there are no ants on the site, but ladybugs can be specially brought in, birds can be welcomed with winter dressings and houses.
You can spray roses with an infusion or decoction of nettle, mint, sage, geranium or other plants. Sometimes milk with iodine or water with soap and vinegar is used. It is important to alternate spraying agents so that pests do not have time to get used to them, adapt.
Soap solution
Soap solution is used to combat a variety of harmful insects. Laundry soap is dissolved in water and roses are treated with this liquid daily for up to two weeks. Instead of soap, liquid soapy detergents are sometimes taken; it is much faster to prepare a preparation from them.
A decoction of tomato tops
It has long been noticed that aphids appear on roses at the same time as stepsons appear on tomatoes. Stepchildren collect, boil for 20 minutes, then cool, filter and spray roses with them, and also the ground around them. The smell of tomatoes repels not only aphids, but many other pests, and does not harm surrounding plants, so this simple recipe is very often used in practice.
Garlic extract
Insects really do not like the smell of garlic, it is enough to plant a few cloves in a flower bed, and aphids will not disturb the flowers. But, if this is not possible, and the insects have already attacked the rose garden, you can make an aqueous infusion of garlic cloves, mix it with soapy water (to keep it longer on the stems and leaves) and treat roses with this remedy. The treatment is repeated several times until the parasites are completely eliminated.
Potato soap solution
As soon as you notice the first colonies of aphids on plants, you can treat them with potato infusion. To do this, 1,5 – 2 kg of potato peelings are poured with two liters of hot water, insisted for at least two days, filtered. Liquid soap or some kind of soapy detergent (or you can dissolve laundry soap) is added to this liquid, beat well. This tool needs to process a rose bush. If the infection has just begun, the effect will be strong.
tobacco or ash
Tobacco drives away aphids well, pests do not like its smell. Dry tobacco can be placed in a pot with a home rose, just sprinkle it on the ground before watering. And you can make a decoction by boiling 10 g of tobacco in two liters of water, cool, strain, add liquid soap or detergent and treat the rose with all this. You can make an ash decoction, add soap to it, and this will certainly help defeat the parasites.
In the flowerbed, tobacco is sometimes set on fire and the flowers are fumigated to drive away parasites, the tobacco must smolder, and the smoke must be directed to the roses.
Other ways to get rid
Of course, insecticides remain the most effective methods, that is, special chemicals that will destroy pests and free your flowers from them. But it must be remembered that not only these parasites live in the garden, there are still a lot of other living organisms that are necessary for the balance of the ecosystem, and they will also suffer from the use of poisons. In addition, after the use of such harmful substances, it will not be possible to use rose petals for culinary or cosmetic purposes.
And yet, if necessary, to destroy aphids in a flower bed, you can use certified preparations, it is advisable to buy them in a specialized store. Each product must be well packed, and the dates of manufacture, expiration dates, and instructions for use must be indicated on the packaging.
Such drugs are very effective: Decis, Iskra, Kinmiks, Intavir, Aktara, Fitoverm. Before use, you must read the instructions, and then act.
Pay attention to the radius of damage of the drug, because there is always little space in the summer cottage – vegetables grown for food often grow next to the flowers. And after using one of these remedies nearby, they may become unusable.
Roses on the windowsill can be freed from aphids with dichlorvos. A cotton swab dipped in a liquid is placed under a rose, a flower is packed for half an hour with a cotton swab in a plastic bag. After that, the plant must be well ventilated.
Most flower growers prefer less harmful methods of struggle based on folk remedies of plant origin.
Video “Protection from the pest”
From the video you will learn how to protect your rose bushes from the aphid pest.
