Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Aphids with a taste for the good life.....!


These are probably the last pictures of roses from my garden that I can post for this year, with summer well and truly over it's almost time to prune in preparation for winter. I was a little disappointed with my roses this year, they weren't quite as prolific as usual and there seemed to be twice as many aphids (you can see them clearly on rose below, icky little creatures). If anyone can suggest a sure fire 'natural' solution to the aphid problem I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm not too keen on using chemicals and am growing garlic plants amongst the roses and spraying with garlic and soapy water, it could be that we have connoisseur aphids here in Australia, they seem to love a touch of garlic with their rose!!What I usually end up doing is just washing them off with the hose every few days, something systemic would be the best solution, must find out if there is such a thing before next spring. Still raining in Perth, but only for a few more days and then back to blue skies. Happy and safe Tuesday.....

29 comments:

  1. Beautiful roses! Glad they're hanging on for a little while! Lovely captures! We are enjoying some more sun and I'm ecstatic!! It is wonderful here when the sun shines and our flowers are loving it, too! Happy Tuesday, Grace! Enjoy!

    Sylvia

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  2. superbes photos, tes fleurs sont magnifiques

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  3. Beautiful roses, but an over-abundance of aphids! Our aphids don't much like soapy water, so yours are definitely something different.

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  4. Well, summer is starting here, come up for a visit!

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  5. Beautiful blooms despite the attentions of the creepy-crawlies.

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  6. They look pretty good to me. Those little creatures, should go somewhere else, did you tell them?

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  7. Ladybugs do a good job but I am not sure if you have them there!

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  8. Lovely roses, Grace. My mother uses a tobacco infusion to spray roses with. Put the tobacco from a few cigarettes in a litre of water and let it steep for a 2-3 days. Strain and use the infusion to spray the rose bushes with.

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  9. As Red Pat says, Ladybugs. I believe you can buy a heap by mail order, or probably internet order now.

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  10. Roses seem to have gone out of fashion over here - perhaps because of the aphid problem - but I do love them. Your top one is a beauty.

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  11. Love some of the comments here: lady bugs by mail order, and infused tobacco and soapy water. My one potted rose suffers from white mould which shrivels the leaves, and this is whether I put the pot in full sun or partial.

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  12. an ancient skirmish. . .
    Nice blossom/photo


    Warm Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral

    > < } } (°>

    ><}}(°>

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  13. Our aphids seem to be fairly happy with the water, darn them. I end up spraying them with water and scraping the things off. Definitely labour intensive.

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  14. Sticky little critters indeed ... I read the best way is to scrunch them between your fingers!! can you imagine how many hours that would take ... I gave up after the first stem.

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  15. Rose and I am very happy smell. Here the roses are growing new leaves but the buds are not yet visible. What can be cold for you, for you are but still warm. In comparison with us. Aphids are also a big problem here. Beautiful autumn days you wish Peter.

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  16. I wonder if your Rose aphids are snobs to aphids that live on weeds.

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  17. I think your roses are gorgeous but, I won't make any suggestions. I seem to kill every plant that comes my way so it's best I don't.

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  18. Are you going to make pot-pourri?

    Your moon photo of yesterday is amazing. I watched it on the plane from Seattle to Paris but couldn't get a single shot of it right. Beep.

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  19. Haha! So Aussie aphids are gourmets, huh?! But shouldn't they then prefer tomato sauce to garlic???

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  20. The squirrels in my neighborhood also have fancy tastes. They ate all of my best (i.e. most expensive) tulips. At least you can get rid of aphids! ;)
    Your roses are beautiful, love that shade of pink.

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  21. I wish I could be of more help but they are so gorgeous, I think it must be worth it to fight the little buggers! :)
    V

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  22. I hate caterpillars, the aphids must be their close friends .. green caterpillars ate my morning glories last spring .. everyone extolled the virtue of soapy water sprayed on the leaves, well the caterpillars apparently enjoyed the soapy residue since the spray did not deter them in the least..

    So silly question .. is your winter cold or just cooler than your summer?

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  23. I haven't had a problem with aphids...just black spot! I fight that constantly - hope you find someone with a good answer!

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  24. Love roses.
    Try to spray on water with soap......

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  25. J'aime beaucoup tes paysages de mer, très différents des miens. Ils me rappellent, en France, ceux du Golfe du Morbihan. Bonne journée!

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