Aphids especially hate the strong scent of marigolds and catnip, so they make great companion plants for valuable crops you're trying to protect. Herbs that we consider wonderfully fragrant, like dill, fennel, cilantro, chives, and peppermint, also have smells that deter aphids.
Marigolds, known for being able to drive away all kinds of pests, have a scent that keeps aphids far away. Catnip, known for attracting cats, also has a way of repelling most other pests, aphids included. Some other fragrant herbs, such as fennel, dill, and cilantro are also known to deter aphids.
Specifically, aphids and fruit flies love the scent of vinegar and will seek it out. You can use this to your advantage by creating traps. Mixing a quart of water, 12 ounces of vinegar, and a tablespoon of dish soap, you can create a mixture that will rid your garden of annoying, buzzing pests.
Predators (which may consume all or parts of aphids) include green and brown lacewings, lady beetles, hover flies, midges, bigeyed bugs, damsel bugs, soldier beetles, and blister beetles. In many cases, both adults and larvae (or nymphs) feed on aphids.
Soap and Water
A few tablespoons of liquid dish or insecticidal soap diluted in a pint of water is the simplest way to make a natural aphid killer spray for that aphid infestation. After mixing the water and soap mixture, fill up a squirt bottle, take a dish sponge and head out to your garden.
If insecticides are needed, insecticidal soaps and oils are the best choices for most situations. Oils may include petroleum-based horticultural oils or plant-derived oils such as neem or canola oil. These products kill primarily by smothering the aphid, so thorough coverage of infested foliage is required.
Soap spray - add two tablespoons of soap flakes to one litre of water and stir thoroughly until completely dissolved. There is no need to dilute this further, just spray it on as is. This controls aphids, caterpillars.
As temperature rise, aphids and spider mites can shorten the time between new generations, which allow their populations to ramp up quickly, said Ian MacRae, Extension entomologist with the University of Minnesota.
Bury a banana peel in the soil at the base of your plants.
Banana peels are a great natural deterrent to aphids.
Aphids are good candidates for control with soap. Any place gardeners gather to talk about plants, there will be talk of soap. Dish soap and water are often referred to as the holy grail for managing insects from aphids to Japanese beetles.
Introduce beneficial bugs, like lacewings and ladybugs, to your garden as a natural way to kill aphids. Nearby plantings of mint, fennel, dill, yarrow, and dandelions will help attract these insects to your garden.
Rain or water the leaves as if there is a heavy rainfall. This will knock off most of the aphids from the leaves, however doesn't entirely kill them – it just manages to get them off of the plants for a short time. Hand crush the aphids, which kills many of them.
When the aphids consume the pesticide they will die. This process can take between two to four weeks depending on the product used and the size of the tree.
Mint (Mentha)
The scent of mint repels aphids, cabbage moths, flea beetles, squash bugs, whiteflies, and even ants. To prevent this aggressive grower from taking over your vegetable garden, you can simply lay sprigs of mint among the plants you want to protect, but the sprigs must be replaced often.
Though they can be a frustrating sight to encounter, aphids are relatively easy to keep in check, provided that you're persistent and use safe removal practices. These soft bodied insects use their piercing mouthparts to suck sap from the leaves of plants.
A baking soda solution has many uses – it can be used also for fighting with garden pests. It is effective mostly against aphids, but you can use it for whiteflies and mites as well. A baking soda mixture against aphids is very easy to make.
Most aphids live on or under the leaves of plants, piercing them and extracting sap, which can cause leaves to deform or curl up . Grey-white root aphids, on the other hand, live in the soil and can attack plants causing them to suddenly wilt and die.
Aphids love nitrogen, plain and simple. They are attracted to the soft growing parts of a plant that are high in nitrogen, as it is a major factor in plant growth. Aphids are also really attracted to young seedlings, since everything on a seedling is growing and there is lots of nitrogen to be had.
Lifecycle. Root aphids are surprisingly adaptable and their lifecycle can vary tremendously. They reproduce asexually during the growing season. Eggs over-winter in soil or, in warm seasons, are attached to leaves and stems above the root line where they hatch and fall to the ground.
Predators such as lady beetles (ladybugs), lacewings, syrphid fly larvae, and soldier beetles all feed on aphids. Very small parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside aphids which eventually kills the aphid host.
Use Epsom Salt on the Aphids
Aphids aren't big fans of Epsom salt, while plants are. So you can use this natural mineral to your advantage and eliminate the aphids without harming your plants. Just mix the salt with water, add it to a spray bottle, and spray the solution.
Apple cider vinegar is an excellent organic pesticide on certain irritating insects such as aphids, ants, and slugs. However, ensure to spray directly onto the pests and away from your plants at all costs.
Aphids especially hate the strong scent of marigolds and catnip, so they make great companion plants for valuable crops you're trying to protect. Herbs that we consider wonderfully fragrant, like dill, fennel, cilantro, chives, and peppermint, also have smells that deter aphids.