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Hi, my name is:
Aphid
Describe yourself: I'm a real softy, small in size (around 2 - 3mm), with a shiny, transparent green or yellow body! I occasionally dress up in a white, wooly coat. I'm rarely seen on my own as I hang out in a pretty big group!
Hobbies: Multiplying!!! Sucking sap; exuding honeydew; hanging out with ants, encouraging sooty mould and passing viruses from plant to plant.
Likes: Yellow flowers, warm moist environments, succulent new growth of just about every kind of plant (I really love roses, heaps of vegies, annuals and citrus trees).
Dislikes: Chives, coriander, garlic, onions, petunias and radishes. Soaps - like home made chilli soap, or store bought stuff (like these ones). Don't get along with Ladybirds or Lacewings, Braconid Wasps, Hover flies or Praying Mantis! Oh, and I hate sticky traps!
You'll know you've met me when: all your plants' new growth is seriously malformed; there are heaps of ants on the stems or plant parts are sticky from my honeydew. Oh, and yucky black soot soon appears!
Old School Control Methods: Rogor, Confidor, Malathion and Derris Dust.
Breaking up ain't hard to do... if:
Squash me and my mates by hand. It's icky but effective! Or pay your neighbours kids to do the deed- they love squashing us! In my death throes I emit a chemical signal that makes the other aphids take off quick smart!
Stop my ant friends from coming around by growing tansy or other ant repellent plants! Ants tend to our every need and protect us from garden bullies. Without their protection we are very vulnerable to being eaten!
Irritate me by putting a flattened square of aluminium foil around the base of plants to bounce light on the undersides of leaves.
Spray me with a home made garlic or chilli soap. Or even a store bought insecticidal soap and target the underside of leaves.
Spray your plants' leaves with water and knock me and my mates right off our perch!
Provide a bright yellow plastic dish, half filled with water, near my preferred plants. I can't resist yellow things, but I can't swim either! You can work out the rest!
Photographs:
Pic 1: Courtesy of SGA
Pic 2: Courtesy of the Rothamsted Research
Pic 3: Bob O'Neil Purdue University
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