APHIDS

Aphids

Aphids are soft bodied insects commonly called plant lice or ant cows. Almost every plant has at least one species that attacks it.

These insects will, in great numbers, attack stems, leaves and roots of the plant.

They range in color from green to brown, red, black or purple.

Lacewing

They excrete a liquid called honeydew.

This honeydew gets on the foliage and then black sooty mold grows.

Ants love this honeydew and will seemingly care for the aphids

If you find a plant that has ants running all over it then there is a good chance there is honeydew on that plant

Different plants react to this insect in different ways. Some get distorted and some don't show any damage.

Honeydew produced sometimes gets on items below the plant and will attract flies, ants and wasps which then become a nuisance.

The black sooty mold, a fungus, actually does not harm the plant and will disappear once this louse leave and the honeydew is gone.

They have a reproductive cycle of just 10 to 14 days. They can reproduce in asexual and sexual ways.

Their reproduction ways make them massive reproducers, therefore, make them a challenge to exterminate.

Control methods include:

Use of a hard stream of water to wash off

Select plants that resist them in your neighborhood

Keep ants away so they do not care for this pest

Encourage predators like lady bugs, green lacewings, parasitic wasps and hover flies to control.

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