Aphids
These little buggers are starting to show up again. It seems every year at this time they show up on the Marsh Milkweed and the Butterfly Weed. I am not one to use a lot of chemicals but the last summer they killed the Butterfly Weed back to the ground. I was afraid that they had killed it for good but it did come back this spring. I guess the Butterfly Weed is pretty hardy. They grow wild along the highway in southern Missouri.
I also have the worst time with these little green worms. When I was a kid I called them inch worms. They would arch their middle up and then move their head forward and bring the back end up. I tried to capture how they move in the picture. These inch worms love to eat the buds out of my petunias, geraniums and roses. I have just about quit planting petunias because of them. They riddle the flowers with holes or the roses blooms turn out deformed because they have eaten a hole in the side of the bud before it opens. Gets me worked up just blogging about them.
5 comments:
Cliff, try neem oil on the esclepia (milkweed) It very effective. It very hot, meaning it strong and will not be selective on what ever it touches, but unlike inorganic pesticides, it breaks down in hours. No lasting residue. On the inch worm, spray with BT. Its an organic choice for worms and catapillars. It a parasite that causes the worm to get sick and stop eating, and then die. It only effects catapillars and inch worms. And won't effect any other wildlife, even birds that eat the sick worms.
Hope this helps.
All the best to blogging buddy:)
BOB
I use ladybugs for aphids.. I despise aphids. Esp. when they touch my roses.. Sometimes if the lady bugs are gone, I just kill them with my bare hands, that is how much I don't like them.
I have Aphids and the drive me crazy. They were all over mt lupine this year :(
Arg! Hope you find a solution that works for you.
I have aphids to but my friends the ladybugs and some of the birds (blue tits and such) eat the aphids so I don't have to do anything.
Inch worms are not a problem over here but I think that Bob has given you a good solution. Good luck!
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