I went out into the garden two days ago and wanted to take some photos of the garden to show you how sad it looked. As you’ve probably noticed, I still have not shared those photos because it’s even sadder than I thought. Our raspberry trellis fell over in a big storm we had last week, most of the plastic was ripped loose on our greenhouse as well. Everything in the beds is dead and yucky after the long winter…and we should have cleaned it all out before winter hit. It’s just not pretty. But as I stood out there, I noticed the huge, antique rose we have growing on our barn was a bit out of control and trying to attack the door. So I collected its branches and bound it together…and that’s when I saw this:
There were many patches on the rose that looked like this. Most of them were around thorns and near new growth. Is it some sort of bug? I really had no idea. The tiny black bumps (about the size of a pinhead) didn’t seem to be moving but I really didn’t know what to think.
So I consulted google and the only thing I could come up with is that these are aphid eggs. Since I snapped an aphid with the eggs in the top photo, I have reason to believe this is true. And our roses have been devastated by aphids almost every year that we’ve lived here…along with the black rust. Awful stuff.
Apparently, aphids overwinter on host plants near the newest growth so when spring comes, and their little eggs hatch, they are right there next to the buffet. They generally choose a somewhat protected area, under leaves or near the barn wall in our case, where they won’t be blown off by strong wind gusts or washed away by rain.
Most information I read online dealt with getting rid of aphids and not aphid eggs…so I wasn’t really sure how to proceed. But I knew that I definitely didn’t want the thousands of eggs on this rose bush to hatch, leaving me with thousands of aphids to knock to the ground and otherwise destroy. So I took a bowl of water with vinegar and soap outside along with a pair of rubber gloves. I hand picked those crunchy eggs off the rose bush and drowned them in the water. And tomorrow I will start spraying the plants with neem oil once a week in an attempt to get a grip on bad bugs fast.
Permaculture methods would suggest I find a way to attract and keep ladybugs around because they apparently love aphids. But to be honest I have not really seen them available for purchase around here and we have an incredibly small ladybug population here. But I am definitely going to look into this because ladybugs are very useful for your garden.
Apparently, you can also compost banana peels at the base of plants where you want to repel aphids because they hate the smell. This should be easy enough since Mackenzie eats them by the kilo! I also read that you can plant basil, coriander and rue to help repel aphids. And chives is said to help repel black spots and even apple scab. Definitely have to remember the latter when I start companion planting in the orchard!
Bugs and weeds are a sign of a healthy garden, right?
You can buy ladybugs here:http://www.nuetzlinge.de/produkte/index_weiche.html?produkt.html
and at lots of other places too.
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Thanks G. I never really looked around for places to purchase them but I really think we might. Our roses are just covered in aphids every year…totally gross. Then we just have to worry about the black spots all over the leaves once the aphids are gone. Oye
My basil plant was full of them….I thought they hated basil. Could it be some other pest?
I know this is commenting on an old post but look into Lacewings. Their larvae state is carnivorous and they love aphids (amongst other things). Lacewings are also one of the recommended methods for pest control.
Sounds like you are doing your research. If there is a nursery near that you could take a sample of the black things to, I am sure they would also give you some ideas. Around here we would call the county agent or university.
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I have garlic growing in my garden and yesterday found heaps of little black eggs on the stalks. I have chives growing next to them but that does not deter those eggs. I found that if you spray water and washing powder mixed together that it seems to work.
i found like 5 of them on my bed this morning at the end of it but they all had 1-2 inches apart just little black round dots so i dont know how they got there i dont think there aphid eggs cause ive never even seen an aphid before like i didnt even know what they were before i came on here lol please tell me what these things are
Most of aphids are generally alternating between host plants. Hence, these eggs are not necessary from previous aphid infestation but maybe from migrated aphids migrated from other host plants.
Even you can see few aphid skin and cadavers are still on the egg patch.
Dears all,
These patches are simply aphid eggs. The most of aphids produce eggs just before winter to passe the winter in this form. Then in early spring, those eggs hatches to new aphids that start their activity on the host plants.
Best regards,
An aphid expert