Crepe Myrtles & aphids

I had no idea that aphids LOVED CM's. I had the worst infestation of these this year. I have 6 in my front yard and 3 along the drive in the back. We did go a long while (30 days) w/o any rain. I noticed 2 of them (end of July early Aug) leaves turning yellow and falling. I thought it was lack of water. Then when I rode by them on the lawnmower I noticed all the yellow jackets EVERYWHERE on all of them. So I got off the LM and took a closer look and the aphids were I think on EVERY leaf of EVERY tree. I immediatley went and got some bug spray to try and kill them but it didn't touch'em. I hooked up 11 water hoses together to reach all six and tried to sray the aphids. I think all I did was maybe maintain. I know the neighbors and people driving by thought i was nuts. I watched as the trees turned black (leaves and bark) from the "dew droppings". Then about a week ago I noticed all these ladybugs and figured they were there trying their best. My neighbor across the street planted hers at the same time (we bought ours together so they would match on either side of the street )She hasn't had a lick of problems with hers and hasn't done a thing but try to keep from hitting hers with the lawnmower.
I am hoping the frost will kill them off and next year will be better.
I said all this to say....
Is there something I need to do keep this from happening? They are all the same type - Muskcogee (sp) lavender
Any advice would be so greatful!

Take a look at this link:http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC2002.htm

It says the Muskogee is one of the more resistant ones...oh well.

Well somebody lied to me! :)

claypa, thanks for the link, It says they (aphids) "OVERWINTER (survive the winter)" GRRRRR! I don't want to harm the ladybugs since i know they are so helpful in the garden but I have got to get a hold on the aphids. If they survive the winter, they will be terrible next year too. Is there something I can spray now to kill them for the winter? What about NEEM oil or something like that? I have Bayer Tree and Shrub also (haven't used it yet on anything) would that work?
Dawn

That link mentions neem oil and a different 'cide, I don't know. The soap kills aphids here okay, the myrtles have their own species-specific aphids I don't know about.

Aphids are nice soft-bodied insects so I would think pretty much any pesticide ought to kill them. Unfortunately most of those will probably not be good for the ladybugs either. If you don't want to hurt them, I think the only safe thing to do is a strong jet of water, but if you've got a big infestation you may have to be pretty persistent with this before you start to see much in the way of results. Or you could just give up for the year--the aphids will go away shortly when the crape myrtle drops its leaves for the winter, then next year the best thing to do is be vigilant and start hosing them off when there's only a few aphids, if you regularly watch for them and hose them off, then they never build up to the pretty much uncontrollable population you have now.

aphids don't usually overwinter here in my zone 5 garden. I have a Lonicera, Honeysuckle Goldflame growing up lattice on a 4 x 4 off the edge of my deck, every spring/summer the buds are just black with aphids. I mix about 1/10 strenghth pwd. milk ( if that makes sense) with a few drops of Palmolive liquid soap in a handheld sprayer, about 1 qt. I am not very definite with my mix, I guess maybe 1 cup of the 1 /10 mix of milk. aI usually have to spray a couple of times but sure does get rid of the aphids.

Donna

Rutholive~ wished I had that recipe before the aphids took down my CM, a razzle dazzle raspberry! I tried the water stream process with the insecticidal soap and the aphids laughed and continued to party on the CM as described by pdoyle.


edited for silly sentence structure! ;0)

This message was edited Nov 16, 2006 2:35 PM

Geeze garden!! I bought some Volk Oil spray for "overwintering insects and their eggs". After all this rain goes away, I am going to use it. Lets hope.

Pdoyle~ didn't think about the silly aphids partying overwinter in my garden! I was hoping that some regrowth would occur in Spring! Methink I better interrupt that party!

Mine are getting a RUDE interruption when this dern rain stops!

Pdoyle. Those aphids wil overwinter. The ants wil take them deep into their nests and protect them as they supply food for them. Come spring the ants wil bring the aphids back out.

It's fairly easy to get them off the tre e with using Ajax antibacterial dish soap as a knock down, but you also take a chance on killing all those beneficials.

Down here aphids are a major problem. On plants, trees, and especially veggies. One of the major plant pathologist made this recommendation. Don't use pinebark, or pine straw as a mulch if you have problems. Use wheat straw. They haven't broken it all the way down chemically, but there is a chemical property in the wheat straw that surpresses the new aphids and thrips from emerging. When they don't emerge on time they starve and die in the ant nest.

Since his discussion almost of of the commercial growers down aroudn here have switched to wheat straw and out breaks of aphids have almost become ziltch.

Also, see if you can find the any home. If you kill the ant nest you kill the aphids. You can kill the ants with chems or if your organially and enviromentally friendly, You get a box of grits and sprinkle that on the mound and aroudn the edge. Give the ants plenty of tiem to eat the grits then water like crazy. The grits causing the ants to blow up. Ya I know sound s crazy and at first I was sceptical too. For years now that the only thing I use and it works and a whoe lot cheaper to pay 50 cents for a box of grits than 20 bucks for a bag of chem that will my beneficials I have spent years cultivating.

Wheat straw ugh? I'll have to see if I can get some of that. We have a lot of pine trees so that is what is around everything. You know, I never really saw any ants on these trees. I only saw yellow jackets first and then late in the season ladybugs. I would imagine if I don't get them under control, they will destroy the trees. Thanks for the info!
Dawn