There are so many different species of aphid that are often with their own favourite host plants and life cycle. Out of all the aphids, Greenfly and Black fly are the most common, however, there are also red, yellow, orange and brown aphids.

Aphids will usually spend the entire summer on just one plant and moving to another host plant over the winter months. Aphids breed at quite an alarming rate and females can actually give birth to live young when they are only a week old. Aphids are sap sucking pests, the excess sap is excreted as honeydew. The sticky residue falls on to the lowest leaves of a plant, attracting a black sooty mould, this in turn inhibits photosynthesis and further deprives the plant of energy.

The Solution

Organic

The natural predators, such as birds, ladybirds, earwigs, hoverflies, ground beetles and spiders are a gardener’s best allies. Some of these are actually available as biological controls, but they need time to tackle a problem so you can’t expect them to hoover up all aphids overnight.

Small clusters of aphids can be washed off with a strong jet of water.

The insecticidal soap sprays are quite effective, however, they must come into contact with the pest to work.

Chemical

Do not feed plants with nitrogen rich fertiliser, it will encourage a sappy soft growth that is especially vulnerable to an aphid attack. There are so many products that are available to control aphids and if you intend to use these fertilisers on edible crops. Imidacloprid and thiacloprid are found in systemic products and they are absorbed by plants, before being taken in by the aphids.