Contents
With the onset of spring, landscaping of gardens and fields, with the appearance of the first flowers on fruit trees, our joy is replaced by special anxiety and expectation. Garden pests do not doze and begin their vital activity. In just a couple of days, you can notice the twisting of young leaves, the death of new shoots. The reason for everything is the appearance of black aphids, which are called Aphidoidea in scientific circles.
What is dangerous for trees
This family of insects is a rather malicious pest. Settling on the underside of the leaves, the aphid sucks the juices from the fresh greenery of plants, destroying the young shoots. At the same time, it releases poison, which causes the leaves to curl, change shape and die, the shoots do not grow, the tops are bent. Aphid waste – sweet secretions – pollute the leaves, which disrupts the natural life of the plant. It also spreads viral infections through saliva. The greatest harm among fruit trees goes to young seedlings. 
Aphids are small insects familiar to us up to 7 mm. They have a special piercing-sucking proboscis, with which they pierce the surface of leaves, buds or new shoots and suck out the juice. The plant is greatly weakened, becomes susceptible to viral diseases. Some species of aphids damage plant roots. Aphids come with and without wings. Some fly up to 25 km with the wind, while others breed on the spot 2 times a year, in spring and summer. The excrement secreted by aphids contains a lot of carbohydrates, this special delicacy is loved by ants.
Interestingly, ants protect aphid families from ladybugs and other insect predators.
Ants carry aphid larvae over considerable distances to the succulent parts of the plant, protect them from bad weather even in their anthill. It is ants in symbiosis with larvae, winged and wingless representatives of aphids that can do big trouble in your garden.
Insects adapted to seasonal changes, studied the physiology of the plant they liked. They reproduce in two ways: the first is by natural mating of males and females, and the second is by live birth of virgin females. Aphids are a dangerous insect and must be dealt with in spring and autumn. In autumn, females lay eggs, which overwinter on trees and shrubs, and wingless females hatch from them.
Ants carry such wingless creatures from tree to tree. In May, winged females appear, capable of migrating over distances, which in September will give birth to males and females. They are fertilized again and this process is endless, which once again proves the complexity of the fight against this type of pest.
The diet of the aphid is huge, it feeds on fruits on the trees of apple, pear, quince, plum, medlar, hawthorn, shadberry and dogwood. It multiplies, and therefore harms sunflower, thistle, chamomile, thistle, comfrey. There are lovers of flower plants – roses, meadowsweet, tulips, blackcurrant, viburnum. There are 450 species of aphids in our hemisphere.
Obviously, without taking special measures to destroy these pests, the garden and the entire site will suffer enormous damage.
The fight against aphids is further complicated by its rapid reproduction. In addition to the methods of getting rid of aphids, which we will discuss later in our article, you need to pay attention to preventive measures.
Prevention
We have already mentioned that ants help aphids hide in bad weather, and ants also transfer individual individuals to a plant, so one way to reduce the appearance and spread of aphids is to treat clutches with ant eggs with boiling water.
Take care of the health of your garden. It is necessary that the leaves on the trees are strong and tight, then it will be more difficult for aphids to bite through them. To do this, it is necessary to carry out sprinkling of the crown and mulching, water regularly, feed the plants in a balanced way (do not be zealous with nitrogen). So that the plant does not weaken due to the appearance of a sooty fungus, honeydew must be washed off the leaves of the trees.
Special care is required for young shoots – remove tops, fattening shoots, basal shoots, with a fairly soft tissue – aphid breeding sites.
Clean trees of old and exfoliated bark in autumn and early spring. Whitewashing of the bark also reduces the number of viable egg clutches.
Remember helper plants. You can plant coriander, mustard, garlic, onion, mint, basil, fennel, lavender near the beds, right in the beds and around the perimeter, they will repel some types of aphids. If you plant calendula, carrots, dill or parsley in the garden, which by smell will lure insect predators to themselves: ladybugs, lacewings, ground beetles, predatory bugs, hoverflies, earwigs and some wasps, they will help get rid of aphids.
You can get rid of aphids with the help of birds if you can attract them to your site. These are robins, robins, tits, warblers, wrens, linnets, kinglets and sparrows. They feed aphids to their chicks.
Folk methods of struggle
Agree that the use of folk remedies is much safer and cleaner for plants and your health.
The most common remedy for aphids is the most common liquid soap combined with vegetable oil. With the prepared solution, you need to spray the parts of the plant affected by aphids several times in the evening until they are completely destroyed.
An effective way is a decoction of tar soap or wood ash. According to the same principle, a remedy based on a decoction of tobacco dust, yarrow, thyroid, wormwood, dandelion, tansy, hot pepper, onion, mustard or rhubarb will work.
These insects will also not tolerate an infusion of hot capsicum. The concentrate should be diluted with water and soap powder added.
You can make an infusion of chopped potato, nettle or tomato leaves. This remedy is organic and will seem strange to many, because aphids feed on the juices of their leaves. However, if these crushed leaves are soaked overnight or longer in water, strained, bottled, and sprayed on damaged plants, predominantly under the leaves, the effect will not be long in coming.
Chemicals
The use of chemicals should be carried out 20 days before eating food from the garden, bush or tree. Chemical preparations are very effective, they are divided according to the affected areas into contact, intestinal and systemic. Consider each type of insecticide, their advantages and disadvantages.
Contacts immediately kill the insect, penetrating through the integument of its body and, thereby, making life easier for the plant. These are drugs “Fufan” (aka “Fufanon”), “Arrivo”, “Karbafos” and “Fury”. True, if the aphid feels a threat to life, it will multiply faster.
Intestinal remedies help get rid of the insect, getting into its digestive system, the aphid dies due to poisoning. In combination with contact, they will be most effective. This means “BI-58 New” and “Confidor”.
Systemic drugs act on the plant, penetrating into its tissues, the insect feeds on leaf sap, which is now poisonous to it. For example, only the lower tier of leaves on trees can be treated with Aktara, it will work even in rainy weather, but the effect is slow and will be noticeable only after a couple of weeks.
It should be remembered that the use of chemistry on your site will help get rid of harmful insects, as well as harmless ones – ants and all predators that hunt aphids will die.
Do not process plants during the flowering period, as bees may die. You should choose dry, calm weather and try to get under the leaf. Like any living organism, aphids can develop strong immunity from the means used. From time to time you need to alternate drugs.
Video “Getting rid of aphids”
The recording tells about some folk methods of getting rid of aphids on trees.
