Among the worst vegetable garden pests are aphids. Aphids are small green bugs (only about 1 mm long), and they will kill your plants. They like nice young plants. They like soft green plants. They like plants that have grown quickly and have lots of new, tender leaves. Everywhere they bite your plant they leave behind poison that doesn’t just kill the plants where they bite. It kills future growth as well. They are hardy little water suckers, and they need lots of water from your plants to survive.
Aphids especially like tomatoes and squash, particularly juicy varieties. Some of them also have wings so that when they are attacked, that is when you try to wash them away, they can fly away to another plant. So washing them off of the plants can be somewhat futile. They also secrete a chemical when threatened that causes the next generation of aphids to create a larger population with wings. When more of them have wings they can spread all around your garden more easily and are quite happy to attack your neighbor’s plants, as well.
Aphids reproduce quickly and can cover your plants in just a couple of days. Every adult aphid is capable of reproducing at a rate of 10 or more live baby aphids every day. You may find it interesting to know that aphids don’t need males for reproduction. The females only use the male aphids when they’re ready to produce eggs that will lie dormant for the winter, thereby creating a whole new batch of aphids for next year.
So if you can’t wash them off and they fly away when you attack them, how do you fight off these nasty little bugs?
Well, one natural enemy of aphids is the ladybug. If you have a healthy population of ladybugs or lacewings, they will certainly help to keep the aphid population down. The other side of the coin is to be less negative and find a positive way to encourage the aphids to stay away from your vegetables.
Aphids love nasturtiums. Nasturtiums have bright orange flowers and look lovely planted around and among your vegetables. The nasturtium plant has lots of leaves, and the aphids will flock to the nasturtiums restaurant rather than hang out at the fast food tomato joint. Seriously, just a couple of nasturtiums planted a in the middle of your garden will go a long way toward keeping the aphids off of your vegetables, not to mention creating a beautiful, colorful centerpiece for your garden. And one last plus from nasturtiums: they’re edible for humans. Try some in your salad. Just be sure to leave plenty for those aggravating vegetable garden pests — aphids.
A guy has celery sticking out of one ear, lettuce out of the other, and a zucchini up his nose. He goes to the doctor and asks him what’s wrong. The doctor tells him, “Well, for one thing, you’re not eating right.”
I love that joke! If you like it too, you’ll love the information we have on sites ranging from Vegetable Garden Planning to Fun Board Games to our Mobile Alabama Business Directory.
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