CLOSED: What are these little buggers and how do I get rid of them.

I know they are very common, I just cannot for the life of me remember what they are..scale of some kind maybe? Anyway, I washed a lot of them off but they are killing my violets! HELP! Would like a "natural" cure please...no insecticides...

It's hard to see, but do they move around, or stick in one spot? If they move, I'd guess aphids. They're not always very pale green. I'd use the 'safer soap' or something like that, no matter what they are.

Not really moving around, they seem to clump up and stick together really close...these look more scattered after the washing they got...I may try some garlic spray tomorrow..LOL

claypa is trying to distinguish between scale and aphids. The photo is just not clear enough to tell... The kind of scale this would be doesn't move around, but you can flick it off with your fingernail. Aphids are soft-bodied and you can easily squish them. Two tablespoons of dish soap in a gallon of water, mixed and sprayed will dessicate the aphids. Scale is harder to get rid of.....

Thanks for the info...I am now thinking mabye aphids..just a lot of them I guess. It is hard to get a good picture of them too...I will try to soap again. Thanks so much fo your help. Their color is more beige/tan with a greenish tone...lol

They come in all colors. And there's always a lot of them. They reproduce rapidly! You'll need to watch carefully, because you WILL miss one or more, and like I said, they reproduce rapidly. Just hit the critters with soapy water again.

Will keep soaping them up for a few days...it is getting colder, so maybe that will deter them as well..not sure how the weather effects bugs like these though...thanks. I will mark this as solved...

Looks like Aphids to me. I found clumps of them on my Hibiscus & all I did was to take my fingers & gently squish & roll my fingers over the leaves or buds they were on, crushing their soft bodies. It took a while but since I did it a few weeks ago, I hadn't seen very many on the bush. It seems to take a while for them to fully repopulate fully.

By what I remember, Aphids are like lil' cows for ants. The ants will literally search for them then herd the Aphids to desired spots on a plant to feed. Ususally this is toward the new growth on the tips of branches. After the Aphids feeed for a while, the the ants stroke two hairs on the end of the Aphid's abdomen to "milk" a nutrititious drop of liquid from them. The ants then suck this droplet up & take it to feed their colony. It's very interesting to watch them for a while before taking my wrath upon them for sucking the sap from my lovely plants. Muahaha I'm so evil!

You don't want to use a pesticide on your plants to eradicate them because Aphids are a Ladybug's favorite food. These lovely little bugs that have a rounded back shell that's orange/red with black dots, are a blessing to our gardens!

~*~ Suenell

PS: When using an organic insecticidal spray, I use about a teaspoon of lemon-scented dish soap along with a few drops of a cooking oil put into a spray bottle. Not sure but Safer soap may be the same.

This message was edited Jan 16, 2007 1:52 PM

Thanks so much, that is pretty much what I 've been doing. Very interesting about the Ants connection...isn't nature amazing!

Janet, be sure to plant lots of marigold throughout your borders. Marigolds are a natural aphid deterent. (tomato platns too)
Deborah♥

It's funny, last year I had slugs but only on the marigolds...they didn't really do much damage, and it was easy to "harvest" them every night.
Aphids were loving a hanging basket of petunias next to the hummingbird feeder, which dripped and attracted ants... definitely a connection there

Spider mites love marigolds, too. It's always something, isn't it?

Janet, just forget I mentioned the marigolds. Don't want you to trade off your bugs. LOL

Janet, read some of these tips for getting rid of bugs naturally. It includes chemicals too, but just read over those.
http://www.ghorganics.com/page9.html

Deborah♥

Oh I love the post with the link to the ladybugs! I had lady bug larvae all over my porch this year...I had no idea that was what those little spotted soft bodied bugs were, but it makes total sense...I always have so many lady bugs in my yard and on the porch...they were there eating these bugs too...I told them to call in the army and get them all...LOL Thanks everyone!!!

If you have ladybug larvae eating the aphids, forget the soap. It can harm them too. Just let them do their job, and after they're gone, IF you see any more aphids, then you can apply soap... I have always had enough good guys in place to take care of any aphids that showed up. Other good guys are the larvae of green lacewings, syrphid fly larvae, and a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in aphids....There are others, but those are the ones we see most often. It's good to know what they look like too. I'm glad you can recognize the ladybug babies now. It was an eye opener for me when I learned that.