Aphids are considered to be the most destructive insect overall in the entire world. They're also called "plant lice." This year we had more aphids than ever and by more I mean by a magnitude of at least 10! I know it has to do with the drought we've had for 3 years in California. Aphids are attracted to lush tender green leaves. shoots and stems. That's why you find them near rose buds and on new plant growth. With nature becoming bone dry and all moisture gone from the top 6 feet of soil in California, these aphids had no choice but to infest gardens and yards like never before.
Our garden was just ravaged by aphids this year. In years past I've simply used a strong pulse of water to whoosh them off of plants or run my fingers along the stalk of plants to smash them up. That always did the trick. It would take a week or longer for more aphids to show up and I'd just do those things again. I've also used insecticidal soap which had always worked. This year it wasn't enough for the first time in 24 years of gardening here.
Entire plants would lose all the green in their leaves in just a few days. Looking at the bottom of the leaves revealed thousands and thousands of aphids. You could easily see the destruction moving through the garden. It started in earnest on one plant...a Japanese cucumber plant. The soil it was grown in must have been infested when I bought it at the nursery. From that plant the plague moved into all the plants next to it and it kept spreading. You could easily see the progression. Plant after plant went from healthy green to dried up brown usually in less than a week.
I tried my usual tricks to no avail. I got so desperate that I yanked out a bunch of plants around the growing infestation along with all the plants that were goners. That didn't work. Keep in mind I don't use pesticides but I was desperate to stop the spread of these innumerable aphids so I decided to sacrifice some plants with some pesticide. It didn't work. There were far too many of them. They were everywhere!
I finally discovered something at the end of summer that works. It's called AzaMax. It works! It's oily. You mix a little with water and you're ready to go. It's natural, organic and works as well as synthetic insecticides but without the environmental impact. Plus it can be applied up to the day of harvest. It's one fraction of neem oil. Neem oil comes from neem seeds from a type of evergreen. AzaMax is the lightest component of neem oil. You use neem oil in the winter when plants are dormant and have no leaves, but AzaMax can be used on plants when they are active and leafed out.
You have to spray all parts of the plant including tops and bottoms of the leaves. You also spray the soil around plants. It takes time and effort but it's worth it. AzaMax causes insects to stop eating and to stop maturing. It doesn't kill them outright but they simply lose interest in feeding and can't mature. Obviously when dealing with aphids you need to stop them from sucking all your plants to death.
Aphids are really interesting. There are many types. The ones we have here survive winter as eggs then emerge in spring. 100% of all aphids hatched from eggs are female and come ready to give birth to live nymphs which are all female too. This is called parthenogenisis which is asexual reproduction with embryos being created without fertilization. Below is a picture of a mature female aphid giving birth to a brand new baby female aphid. You'll see a bunch of little aphids near their mama on plants all the time.
Aphids have a symbiotic relationship with ants that "milk" them for sweet droplets of nectar known as honey dew. The ants rub the bodies of aphids with their antennae and the aphids produce the nectar. Aphids also have symbiotic relationships with the bacteria Buchnera aphidicola as well. It's an obligate symbiosis meaning these two animals can't survive without each other. The bacteria is what allows the aphid to sap feed on vascular plants. The aphids provide the bacteria with essential amino acids.
Some types of small wasps and lady bugs are about the only things that goes after aphids. To attract them you need to plant sweet alyssum and flowering herbs throughout your entire garden. We have swarms of lady bugs that fly through in summer, which if very fortunate.
Depending on your climate, there can be 40 generations of aphids each spring, summer and fall. One female hatched in spring produces thousands of aphids from all the generations that follow. As sunlight wanes in autumn and temperatures fall female aphids produce both male and female aphids for the first time. The male aphids impregnate females so they will lay eggs which will become next spring's all female army of aphids giving birth to more live female aphids. As you can see, male aphids are only needed for a very short time period.
Male aphids develop blue-white hair all over their bodies. They look soft and furry instead of like the smooth, green female aphids you see all summer. They fly around each fall. Here's a video I took of that occuring this year. There have never been this many before. It's frightening! I know it's global warming and the drought that's behind this explosion of aphids. You'll hear my crummy voice and my neighbor's diesel truck in the background of this video I took last week.
What do you want to kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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