These are aphids, an insect that is especially attracted to new growth. They damage plants by sucking juice from the plant, harming the growth when their pierce the cells with their mouth parts. Aphids can weaken established plants, distort growth, and even kill young plants. Aphids can be green, white, orange, yellow or black in color. Fortunately they can be controlled fairly easily. Young plants in small containers can be taken to the sink and the aphids sprayed off with the spritzer that most kitchen sinks have. Many people use a hard stream of water to knock them off of outdoor plants. The funny thing about aphids is that when you knock them off they don’t fly or crawl back up on the plant! You can also spay with insecticidal soap, available at your garden center. Don’t use dish soaps or other home-made soap sprays because most household cleaning soaps and detergents have other ingredients that can harm plants. Only use a product made for plants and use it according to directions.
By Garden Answers|2017-09-11T15:49:22-07:00February 29th, 2016|Plant Pests|0 Comments
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