These appeared on my daisies overnight and there are thousands of them, covering the stems, almost completely. The heads of these insects appear to be piercing the stem. They are very small and red in colour. Will they kill the plant?
Look like aphids to me...could very well kill your plant or severly weaken it...try washing them off with a hose...it usually works.
They look like Aphids to me too. Washing them off will help but only for a short time, they'll be back. There are numerous pesticides that will rid your plants of these pests.
Thanks for responding. I will spray them with Trounce, to see if that works. Are the eggs laid in a nest on the plant, otherwise, how could such a number of them appear so suddenly? If the Trounce works, what would be the source of a reinfestation and will I have to spray regularly all summer? I forgot to mention that it looked like some of them had wings.
You can try ladybugs...but I find that they seldom stay around in 1 place very long...they tend to fly off to whereever ladybugs want to go for vacation.
I sprayed this morning with Trounce. The insects held on for a few hours, but when the sun came round to the front, they started dropping off. How do you buy ladybugs? By the pound in a package?
I've seen packages of ladybugs for sale at Fred Meyers in the garden department. Seems like a risky way to control aphids to me, like 81044 says, they tend to leave and I don't know how you'd fence the little beggers in!
The Trounce seems to have worked fairly well. The aphids have come back in much smaller numbers and I have been knocking them off (so to speak) by shaking the plant stalks or rubbing them off. I live in a forested area, so I know I will not win any battle with nature, but keeping the flowers just healthy enough to give me some colour will do.
Then don't fight nature, work with it ;) use plants that attract predators, a combination of hoverflies and ladybirds or ladybugs as you call them, will soon eat all the aphids....it will take 3 or so years for a balance to be reached, and you may lose a few plants along the way, but using organic principles really does work.
I was thinking more of the hoverflies when talking about attracting predators with plants, i made a list of plants for attracting wildlife, its aimed at UK gardens, however, a lot of plants are readily available there, anyway heres the list; Plants for wildlife gardens.....Attracts Abies koreana................Owls and finches Achillea........................Bees, insects Allium...........................Bees, insects Aquilegia......................Insects Aster frickartii...............Bees and butterflies Buddleja......................Butterflies and pollinating insects Caryopteris..................Insects Centranthus.................Insects Cephalaria Gigantea ......Bees, butterflies, insects Clearodendron...............Insects Digitalis........................Bees Echinacea....................Insects Hebe...........................Insects Hedera helix..................Birds, insects and mammals Hyssops.......................Bees and butterflies Ilex.............................Birds Iris..............................Insects Leycesteria...................Birds Lonicera.......................Moths Malus...........................Bees and Birds Melitis..........................Bees Mellisa.........................Bees, insects Monarda......................Bees Nepeta........................Bees Penstemon...................Insects Photinia.......................Insects Prunus padus................Pollinating insects, Birds Pyracantha..................Birds (nesting) Rosa...........................Bees, birds and mammals Rubus.........................Bees Saponaria....................Insects, moths Scabiosa.....................Insects Sedum........................Bees and butterflies Sorbus........................Birds Stipa tenuissima...........Birds particularly finches Thymus......................Insects Viburnum opulus...........Birds
Thank you. The list is overwhelming -- I will use it this evening to find photos on the Net. I never thought of encouraging such things as owls, yet it makes perfect sense, given the number of mice and moles in the area, which can be a problem come fall. The only thing I have ever deliberately tried to attract is the monarch butterfly, by keeping a patch of outlawed milkweek behind the house.