How to get rid of aphids on roses correctly

Aphid behavior

Aphids on roses appear in the first hot days, which fall in late spring or early summer. These insects are so small that the appearance of several individuals usually, unfortunately, goes unnoticed, they are discovered when hundreds of aphids cover the shoots or buds. They feed on the sap of plants, so that the shoot withers quickly, holes in the tissue of buds, leaves, stems become open gates for various infections, if urgent measures are not taken, the plant may die.

The autumn clutch of eggs on plants remains unnoticed; it is from these eggs that pests appear later in the spring. Young individuals do not know how to fly, move slowly, but reproduce incredibly quickly, each female brings thousands of pests. By the time the shoots of roses begin to grow stiff, females have wings, and in the fall, males also have wings, which allows them to move much faster, to capture new spaces.

Video "Behavior"

From the video you will learn how aphids behave on flowers.

Control methods

Roses need to be examined carefully as often as possible, and preferably daily. When detecting parasites, you first need to think about how to deal with them. This problem is long-standing, so there are many time-tested methods for solving it. You can remove pests mechanically - pick it up by hand or wash it off with a stream of water. This works when there are few aphids. You need to put on gloves and wipe off the insects, being careful not to damage the delicate fabric of the rose. It is also easy to wash them off with water on the ground, only a strong stream of water can break the sprouts, you will have to gently wash the bushes several times to ensure the disappearance of the parasites.

If there are a lot of pests, then you need to treat the plants with special preparations. There are insecticides that allow you to quickly get rid of aphids, but they can destroy other, harmless or even beneficial insects, so many growers prefer more gentle products that are made on the basis of plant and other not too harmful agents.

Folk remedies

Proven folk remedies offer not only to destroy or drive away, but to prevent the appearance of aphids on the flower garden. There are plants near which aphids never appear, because they cannot stand their smell. If marigolds, mint, lemon balm, sage, dill, garlic grow nearby, then roses will never get acquainted with these parasites. Many owners simply lay branches of these plants under the roses. And at home, geraniums are placed next to roses to repel pests.

It is known that ants take care of aphids, transfer them to new habitats, but lizards, lacewings, ladybugs and birds eat them in thousands.

So, you need to try so that there are no ants on the site, but ladybirds can be specially brought, birds can be welcomed with winter feeding and houses.

You can spray roses with infusion or decoction of nettle, mint, sage, geranium or other plants. Sometimes milk with iodine or water with soap and vinegar is used. It is important to alternate the means for spraying so that the pests do not have time to get used to them, to adapt.

Soap solution

Soap solution is used to combat a wide variety of harmful insects. Laundry soap is dissolved in water and the rose is treated with this liquid daily for up to two weeks. Instead of soap, sometimes they take liquid soap detergents, from which it is much faster to prepare the drug.

Tomato leaf decoction

It has long been noticed that aphids appear on roses at the same time as stepchildren appear on tomatoes. The stepsons collect, boil for about 20 minutes, then cool, filter and spray the roses with them, and also the earth around them. The smell of tomatoes frightens off not only aphids, but many other pests, and does not harm the surrounding plants, therefore this simple recipe is very often used in practice.

Garlic extract

Insects really do not like the smell of garlic, it is enough to plant a few cloves in a flower bed, and aphids will not disturb the flowers. But, if this is impossible, and the insects have already attacked the rose garden, you can make an aqueous infusion of garlic cloves, mix it with soapy water (to keep it on the stems and leaves longer) and treat the roses with this remedy. The treatment is repeated several times until the parasites are completely eliminated.

Potato and soap solution

As soon as you notice the first colonies of aphids on the plants, you can treat them with potato infusion. To do this, 1.5 - 2 kg of potato peelings are poured with two liters of hot water, insisted for at least two days, filtered. Liquid soap or some kind of soapy detergent (or you can dissolve laundry soap) is added to this liquid, beat well. With this tool, you need to process a rose bush. If the infection has just begun, the effect will be strong.

Tobacco or ash

Tobacco drives away aphids well, pests do not like its smell. You can put dry tobacco in a pot with a homemade rose, just sprinkle it on the ground before watering. Or you can make a decoction by boiling 10 g of tobacco in two liters of water, cool, strain, add liquid soap or detergent and treat the rose with all this. You can make an ash broth, add soap to it, and this will certainly help defeat parasites.

In the flowerbed, tobacco is sometimes set on fire and flowers are fumigated to drive away parasites, the tobacco must smolder, and the smoke must be directed at the roses.

Other ways to get rid of

Of course, the most effective methods are insecticides, that is, special chemicals that destroy pests and free your flowers from them. But it must be remembered that not only these parasites live in the garden, there are still many other living organisms that are necessary for the balance of the ecosystem, and they will also suffer from the use of poisons. In addition, after using such harmful substances, it will not be possible to use rose petals for culinary or cosmetic purposes.

And nevertheless, if necessary, you can use certified preparations to destroy aphids in a flower bed, it is advisable to buy them in a specialized store. Each product must be well packaged, and the packaging must indicate the dates of manufacture, shelf life, instructions for use.

Such drugs are very effective: "Decis", "Iskra", "Kinmiks", "Intavir", "Aktara", "Fitoverm". Before use, you must read the instructions, and then act.

Pay attention to the radius of damage to the drug, because there is always little space in the summer cottage - vegetables grown for food often grow next to flowers. And after the use of one of these means nearby, they may become unusable.

Roses on the windowsill can be freed from aphids with dichlorvos.A cotton wool soaked in liquid is placed under a rose, a flower with a cotton wool is packed in a plastic bag for half an hour. After that, the plant needs to be aired well.

Most growers prefer less harmful methods of struggle based on folk remedies of plant origin.

Pest Protection Video

From the video you will learn how to protect your rose bushes from the pest of aphids.