Tonight I released hundreds of live ladybugs on aphid-covered roses. They had been in a plastic container in a fridge for months and as soon as they began to warm up, they were active and hungry. They swarmed out onto my hand, wrist and up my arm. To have any other bug crawling all over my skin would have been more than unsettling. But … Continue reading Aphids for dinner
My roses are suffering from this triple threat. With a cool, wet spring and having been mostly ignored, the danger deepens. The aphids seem to multiply exponentially, small, unassuming and insidious. The caterpillars hungrily munch, munch, munch, without the good manners to finish one leaf before moving on to the next. Black spot is here to stay, and it’s not going away. So what is … Continue reading Awful Aphids, Creepy Caterpillars and Evil Black Spot
This is an easy and inexpensive aphid killer I found in the book Great Garden Formulas by Benjamin and Martin (editors, 1998). I couldn’t believe that aphids are already swarming my roses. They seem to know it’s the end of May, while weather-wise we are all still back in April. I tried it this week and it appears to be working; time will tell. Ingredients: … Continue reading Citrus Killer for Aphids
Rainyleaf 