Aphids—Juice-Sucking Insects That Ants "Farm"

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.

They excrete a liquid called honeydew, which gets on plant foliage.

Black sooty mold grows on the honeydew.

Ants love this honeydew and will seemingly care for the aphids.

If you find a plant that has ants running all over it, there's a good chance there's 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 these pests leave and the honeydew is gone.

They have a reproductive cycle of just 10 to 14 days. They can reproduce asexually and sexually.

Their short reproduction cycle makes them massive reproducers, which makes them a challenge to exterminate.

Aphid Control Methods

• Use a hard stream of water to wash aphids off the plants.
• Select plants that resist them in your neighborhood.
• Keep ants away so they do not care for this pest.
• Encourage and introduce predators like ladybugs, green lacewings, parasitic wasps and hover flies.

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