How to deal with aphids on fruit trees and bushes

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Aphids are a pest several millimeters in size. Insects are green, red, gray, or black. They destroy plants by sucking their juices. As a result of the attack of pests, young leaves and shoots are affected. In order to prevent the death of plants, you need to know how to deal with aphids on fruit trees and shrubs with folk remedies.

Natural remedies

Systematic monitoring of the condition of plants will allow you to notice aphid colonies in a timely manner. It is important to react immediately to their attack in order to prevent the formation of new populations.

A flower, vegetable, tree affected by aphids cease to develop. Their leaves begin to wither, then these destructive phenomena are transferred to shoots, branches and the whole plant. As a result of the activity of aphids, cultures are often affected by fungal diseases and viruses.

If you have a choice to use natural or chemical sprays in the fight against a pest, you should always choose the former. This is especially important when there are already fruits. Even if you allow an overdose of natural plant protection products, for example, forget to dilute them with water, the plant will receive minimal damage.

Natural aphid treatments are much cheaper. The only drawback of all decoctions or extracts is that they act more slowly than chemical preparations. Moreover, with a large number of pests on the site, they may not be able to cope with them. How to deal with aphids on fruit trees and shrubs with folk remedies and which recipes are better to choose - find out further.

Manure with nettles

For the preparation of liquid manure, young leaves and shoots of nettles are used. Put them in a container and fill with water. Cover with a lid, but so that air passes through it. Some gardeners use an old wooden barrel to prepare liquid manure.

It is necessary to stir the mixture every day, without the supply of oxygen, an effective remedy will not work. After about a month, the nettle will ferment. After the leaves and shoots of the nettle have been removed, the slurry is ready for use. Its readiness will be indicated by the absence of foam and bubbles on the surface.

But before you spray the plants with them, you must dilute the product with water. In addition to controlling aphids, such manure is also suitable for plant fertilization. You can store it in a plastic container.

Interesting! How to deal with beetle larvae in the garden

Horsetail dung

To prepare liquid manure, you can use half a kilogram of fresh horsetail leaves, which are mixed with 5 liters of water. The suspension is fermented for 3-4 weeks. Before using the liquid manure, remove the leaf residues and dilute it with water.

Garlic broth

To prepare the product, you will need 8 heads of minced garlic and about 10 liters of water. The prepared solution should be diluted with water and sprayed on the plants.

Garlic extract

To make the garlic extract, mix 15 heads of minced garlic with 10 liters of water. Leave overnight in a dry place so that everything is properly infused. Then the mixture must be filtered, diluted with water and sprayed on the affected plants.

Chamomile decoction

You need to collect chamomile flowers (2 cups) and dry them. Mix grass with water and place on the stove. After boiling, allow to cool, and then strain through a strainer. Spray the plant with a decoction. No need to dilute.

Interesting! How to deal with an onion fly in a garden bed

Industrial drugs

Many products are sold in small packages and are suitable for those who fight aphids in small areas or even on individual plants grown in the garden. This category of drugs can be freely applied after harvest.

Tornado

The product can be used to control pests of flowers, vegetables and fruit trees. The active ingredient is 360 g / l of glyphosate acid (isopropylamine salt). The drug is dosed according to the scheme indicated on the packaging by the manufacturer, and the plants are sprayed.

Insecticide "Green Soap"

The amount of spray depends on which plants you need to spray (flowers, fruits or vegetables). The drug is used when a quick effect is needed.

12 Month Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed Concentrate

The preparation is suitable for combating pests of ornamental plants, as well as vegetables and fruit trees. Do not spray on vegetables and fruit trees during flowering, as well as on plants from which bees take nectar.

Other methods

Gardeners have developed their own pest control methods. The most effective and affordable:

1. Flea shampoo. You can buy this protective product for dogs and cats at any pet store. 1, 5-2 tablespoons of shampoo are mixed in 5 liters of water and plants affected by aphids are sprayed with this solution. The effect will appear in 1-2 days.
2. High percentage alcohol. Vodka, alcohol - readily available pest control products. Both components must be mixed in equal proportions and spray the plants with the prepared mixture.
3. Laundry soap. Grate 200 g of soap and dissolve in 10 liters of water, thoroughly spray the entire plant.
4. Ammonia. Add 1 tablespoon of ammonia to 10 liters of water and pour the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray the plants thoroughly.
5. Celandine. 3-4 kg of fresh plant or 1 kg of dried plant, you need to pour 10 liters of water and leave for 1-2 days, and then strain. To keep the infusion on the sprayed surface of the plant longer, it is recommended to add a little laundry soap to it.
6. Dandelion. Pour 450-500 g of dried herbs with 10 liters of water. After 2-3 hours, the solution is ready for use.

Onion and garlic husks are also good for aphid control. For 3 liters of boiling water, you will need 1 glass of husk. Another effective remedy is egg shells. It is necessary to boil it and after 4 hours dilute it in 10 liters of cold water.

Interesting! When to transplant strawberries in the fall to a new location

When is it better to spray plants from aphids

Spring is the best time to reduce the number of aphids in your garden. Effectively reducing the number of pests during this period will mean that the grower will have fewer problems with them at the end of the season.

But in recent years, significant difficulties have arisen in the fight against aphids. These insects are characterized by high fertility, a large number of developing generations per season, the ability to migrate and early appearance in gardens. Increasingly, gardeners are receiving reports of aphid resistance to certain insecticides, which is why it is so important to properly control populations of these pests.

If the number of pests is approaching a dangerous level, and at the same time there are beneficial insects (for example, spiders, earwigs, ladybugs, some flies, wasps), it is worth waiting for spraying with potent drugs or choosing a selective composition that spares the beneficial fauna on the site.

Processing efficiency

Several important factors influence the high effectiveness of the measures taken. The processing results will directly depend on the following reasons:

• weather conditions during spraying;
• drug doses (l / ha, kg / ha, l / leaf area);
• the amount of water used to prepare the working fluid.

You should also take into account the mechanism of action of the drug on the plant (superficial, systemic, deep), the pest, the size of trees and their crowns. The sprayer must be technically efficient. Treatment should not be carried out immediately before and after rain.

The active substances of systemic and deep-acting drugs penetrate into plant tissues for several hours, and precipitation can weaken their effect. The effectiveness of systemic drugs can be seen as early as 5 days after the procedure. Before each use, check the label and use only the product intended for this culture.

Outcomes

1. Aphids feed on sap, which this pest sucks from the cells of leaves and shoots of plants.
2. It is important to treat fruit trees in the spring from insect pests in a timely manner in order to reliably protect crops from their attack in the future.
3. To cope with a pest on the site, you can choose both special formulations from the store and folk remedies. The latter are safer, but not always effective in case of large-scale spread of aphids.