Safely remove aphids

Aphids can be a huge pain to gardeners, especially during the Summer months. A little good weather and your rose and other plants will soon become the next best meal for aphids. The insects could be blackfly but more often than not they will be greenfly overrunning your flowers or rather stems and buds. They literally suck the life out of plants such as roses so prompt action is vital.

These days many people try to steer clear of damaging insecticides and pesticides. Those products can do more harm than good. Encouraging ladybirds in your garden will help beat or even stave off an aphid attack. These little insects will chomp their way through the aphids.

However, more often than not the greenfly will outnumber ladybugs almost a million to one, or so it seems.

One safe, and quick way to remove greenfly is using a mild solution of washing up liquid. Just a small drop of the liquid added to water in a spray container could do the trick. Shake the solution before spraying so that it is nice and foamy before spraying directly on to any greenfly infestations. Simply spray with water to remove, after a couple of minutes or leave and hose off when you water your garden.

Alternatively you can wear gloves and squash these little garden pests but it is a messy job. Once again spray with water to remove any residue. A regular spray with the mild soapy solution should keep your plants greenfly free all summer.

Gardeners will always tell you that prevention is better than cure. Just be careful that any anti-greenfly sprays you purchase are eco-friendly too.

If you find that a soapy spray is not working well for you try planting garlic and plant close to roses to deter aphids. You can even make a garlic spray to clear greenfly away.

“A spray made from as little as a 6-8% concentration kills greenfly, it also keeps beetles and snails off other plants. It keeps greenfly off roses if planted near the bushes"

Try the environmentally friendly alternatives before buying expensive and damaging products. If all else fails go back to the squashing greenfly between finger and thumb technique. It takes a little time but hurts nothing but the aphid population.

Perhaps more importantly it is free,

---