Bugging You From San Juan Island

These tiny pear-shaped insects can be a serious garden pest. Aphids use their long slender mouthparts like a syringe, piercing the tender parts of plants and sucking out the juices….but this isn’t the only way they damage your plants. Feeding aphids also excrete a sticky waste byproduct called honeydew – honeydew helps the sooty mold fungus grow and sooty mold fungus blocks the plant from getting enough sunlight. No sunlight…no photosynthesis! The leaves of your plant can drop off and die. What other ways do aphids damage your plants? When they feed, they also can inject the plant with pathogenic viruses. These aphid-transmitted viruses can cause plants to yellow, leaves to curl and the plant’s growth will often be stunted.

Compounding the problem is the rate at which these “little devils” multiply. Why call them “devils?” I like to refer to them that way because it helps me…