HELP!!!!! Anyone here know anything about black cherry aphids? I think one of my cherry trees has them. If not those, then something else. The new leaves are positively CRAWLING with them! And they just showed up within the past few days, like spontaneous generation! Anyone know how to eradicate them organically? And if these are them, then what them are? I posted to the bug ID forum, but you guys all know SOOOO much! Save my tree, please?!?!?!?
And if the first pic wasn't creepy crawly enough, here's another.
Those look like aphids to me, though I have never seen them on a tree. When I have aphids on a plant in my vegetable garden, I spray them with water to knock them off the plant. If that doesn't do the trick, I put soapy water in a spray bottle and douse them with that. Sometimes ants 'farm" aphids to "milk " them for a sweet liquid they produce. You might look to see if there is any ant involvement. If so, you might need to disrupt their activity as well.
Take heart! Aphids are not usually a really difficult problem to solve.
This message was edited Jun 28, 2008 7:17 PM
OMG. I can't believe this post. I just discovered these on my cherry tree today!!! Spent 1/2 hour washing them off. I was just remarking to my SIL (not 15 mins ago) that they came on in a couple of days only. And there were many ants "coordinating" their work, as well.
I think I'm going to the store tomorrow to buy some biologicals (praying mantis, ladybugs).
And before I put them out, I'll douse everything well with insecticidal soap.
In my experience, you can get rid of aphids, but it takes destressing the plants (aka food, messenger, perfect situation, etc.) and fastidious washing . . . but I've never heard of black cherry aphids.
Sheri - Didn't see this on the BugID forum . . .
Judging from what I've read about black cherry aphids in the last hour, I'm sure it's what we have. I'm going to the hardware store tomorrow to get chemicals (can't believe I'm saying that) - my tree is so infested and it's still pretty young. Sounds like they've been there all winter just waiting for the 28th of June.
Kathy ~ I only think black cherry aphids because I googled "cherry tree pests" which listed a plethora of bugs, one of which was the BCA. So I googled that and the picture looks quite similar. I always thought aphids were green so I was a little surprised they come in such a variety of colors! Needless to say, whatever kind of aphid they are, they are certainly doing their share of damage to my tree! But they haven't touched the cherry tree 10' away! So I sprayed the snot out of it last night with insecticidal soap and am on my way out there right now to hose it off. Will stop on the way home from the Brain Aneurysm walk this morning and pick up some ladybugs if I can find them. Otherwise, I'll have to order them online.
Thanks Holly and Kathy for the info.
Before you get chemicals, Katie, please get Ladybugs - they can clear aphids in nothing flat - you will need a number of them but it is a pleasure to watch them go to work. If you spray, even with insecticidal soap (organic) the lady bugs won't work (guess they don't like a mouth full of soapy bug - can't say I blame them). Trust me on this - lets insects do their job. It'll work. Honestly.
I have had those aphids on my cherry trees every single year I've been here. This winter I remembered that I wanted to try dormant oil spray. I sprayed the cherry trees while dormant in February, and also the spindle tree which was always covered with them. It worked great because no black aphids this year! I think it smothers the eggs which are overwintering. Even the other years when I didn't spray, though, I just used the hose on the 'jet' setting and sprayed them off every week or so. The trees didn't look pretty, but the did fine.
Well, say hello to my "leetle" friends! Picked up 3,000 today for starters, and they seem to have settled in almost immediately! Guess they know where their bread it buttered, eh? Hopefully they will be happy and make many, many more. If not, I can always buy more. I sprinkled a few over each bed in addition to the fruit trees and seems there is something everywhere they enjoy!
In the past, my ladybugs have left, even before eating (how rude! didn't even excuse themselves). I water well, put them out at night and in the morning - no ladybugs and aphids. I am trying the ladbugs first, though. I just will be ready with the other - my large cherry tree may have some, but this little guys is truly infested. And, according to what I've read, a mature tree is okay, but they are hard on the young un's.
Gave him another 1/2 hour bath tonight (all the ants jumped ship and ended up on me LOL) and will "apply" ladybugs in shifts the next couple of nights.
Pix, thanks for the tip on the dormant oil spray - that's what most of the sites said - treat in the off season when the aphids are getting set up.
And Sheri, thans for the research. I did know that there were black aphids and was sure that this was what they were - but had no idea that they targeted cherries . . .
What an incredible shot, Sheri. That's awesome. Take another pic in an hour and see if their little stomachs are bulging - if they've loosened their little beetle belts.
Actually, I took another just a few minutes ago. Got paranoid after you said yours left. Still there and still snacking! I'll check again in the morning. BTW, it wasn't the bug ID forum I posted to originally, it was organic gardening. Got this reply today and thought you might be interested.
"I used this spray on aphids and their farmer ants that were attacking my yard long beans. I sprayed everyday untill they were gone. It has been two weeks and I just noticed a few are back again. So, I will be mixing up a batch of this in the morning. I didn't have insecticidal soap so I just used plain Dawn dishwashing liquid.
Deluxe Baking Soda Spray
Ingredients and Supplies
1 ½ tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon insecticidal soap
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup plus 1 gallon water
1 tablespoon vinegar
Sprayer
Directions:
1. Mix the baking soda, soap, and oil with 1 cup of water.
2. Add the vinegar. Don’t mix the vinegar in until last or the mixture may bubble over.
3. Pour the mixture into the sprayer and add 1 gallon of water. Shake or stir to combine the ingredients
4. Spray the plants, covering the tops and bottoms of the leaves."
(edited to add the quotes! = S )
This message was edited Jun 29, 2008 9:26 PM
Oh ladybugs - I just find them the tractor of organic gardening, you really can't do without them. And bees. I love bees, too.
YAY!!! Just checked the tree and they're still there! Maybe they like what I have to offer! Hopefully this little group will become a much larger one! Have to check the other places I spread them as well. *phew* Hope this works!
Yay. That's awesome.
I'd think you'd have a better chance of keeping the ladybugs when you've put them down in front of such a feast. That makes sense to me. I've generally had the same luck as Kathy with them. I put them out overnight making sure they have a little moisture on the leaves, and in the morning I have a few left but most are gone to greener pastures. Maybe yours will decide to stay! I wonder if the canola oil serves the same purpose as the dormant spray, smothering eggs?
This off-season-aphid-egg-laying makes me wonder whether all the aphids I see have done this. Do they travel and lay eggs in the previous season?
I have a rose brought to me from someone who was downsizing (from something like 500 roses) in Central Washington. The rose looks fabulous (not a bit of black spot), but I noticed aphids on the first bud this weekend. Did those come with the rose?
I guess that can't be the only answer because annuals are subject to aphids, too . . .
Guess maybe I have to start a discussion in the bug forum.
I noticed the first aphids this morning also. On a rose bud.
Sad day this evening...well, sort of. =::::::: (. The ladybugs hung around on the hydrangeas and lilies, etc, but can't find a one on the cherry tree where all the black aphids are. Guess I'm going to have to invest in some more and maybe have a ladybug training camp. Load up my belt treat bag with aphids. . . Set all the LBs on the leaves where I want them. . ."sit...stay...GOOD BUG! " (toss a few aphid treats their way). Maybe it'll work and maybe it won't but at this point I'll try anything! DH says they probably gorged themselves and fell off the trees, waddling away to rest! Hopefully they'll get hungry and come back. *sigh*
I've wondered the same thing, Kathy. I cut my roses back every year, but each year I get some aphids. I think the eggs that overwinter are just the 'starter' aphids.
edited because I just saw Sheri's post:
Alas, Sheri. Aphids do disperse. They probably spread themselves thinly around your property.
This message was edited Jun 30, 2008 10:20 PM
Doesn't that just burn you? Did they eat all the aphids? Maybe you just have to do it a few times.
I stopped and got a bunch of happy, healthy ladbugs tonight. had some trouble getting them on the tree - they seemed to want to crawl up my arms. I put most on the cherry and a few on the roses, which have little white aphids right now.
LMK how the positive aphid training goes. Mantis are also supposed to work, but the nursery didn't have any. They're cool and they get big. I put a larval sac up last year, but Magic took it off the tree and ate it (I do feed them, seriously).
Okay...I found two still on the cherry tree, but they're gonna have to eat A LOT! Pixy ~ If they're spread thinly, then they're spread VERY thinly! I'm wondering a bit...I have a bunch of violet and green swallows and cedar waxwings who seem quite happy here. I wonder how many, if any, of the LBs they ate? And no Kathy, the LBs didn't eat all the aphids...didn't even make a dent as far as I can tell. But, I'll just get some more and try again. I had the same difficulty you did getting them on the tree. And the ones that fell to the ground started crawling up my leg. I felt a little heebie jeebie after it was all said and done. Had to keep checking my arms and legs to make sure they weren't crawling on me still! I wanted to get some manti as well, but Sunny Farms was out of them, too. Guess they're more popular than ladybugs. I'll check Sunny Farms again on Thursday and if they have any I'll get them as well.
Good morning everyone! The problem with aphids is they can lay eggs and have live babies at the same time at 7 DAYS OLD!!! As far as ways to get rid of them, if you don't have access to ladybugs just take your garden hose and nozzle and shoot them off. It won't hurt the roses but it will not only get them off the plant but it will drown the aphids.
Sheri - I did have good luck with washing the aphids off because my tree is small. And if I got wet it felt good because it was so hot. LOL You might try combining that with the ladybugs. If you can get ahead of them, then maybe the insecticidal soap or pyrethrins will be the prevention ticket.
Don't know which I hate most - aphids, spider mites or mosquitoes.
That reminds me, though. My neighbor and I were out talking at dusk on Friday night and saw a lone bat flying overhead. I'm thrilled!! I haven't seen a single bat in the 5 years I've lived here. They are awesome mosquito-eaters.
We have a cement tile roof and bats have been up there since we built the house. One comes and hangs out on the front porch when it gets to hot on the roof. We once found one in the house and it was positive for rabies and we had to get shots. ugh. Then two years later one was in the kitchen on the floor and we had to do it again. I'm allergic to the shots, get sick for 3 or 4 days. Found a baby bat once who fell out of the roof, I hung him on the clematis vine and never saw it again. They are neat.
Grrrr . . . not a ladybug in sight tonight - dispersing is one thing - this is more like they're hiding from me. So I'm off to give the cherry a third bath - didn't bathe it last night, just got is moist for the ladybugs.
The aphids are back with a vengeance.
If only there were some way of communicating with said ladybugs! Clearly they are ignorant of the concept of staying around to do their duty!
I love bats! I put a large bathouse up several years ago, which I made with my own two hands to the exact specs of what the little northwest brown bat needs. Evidently my bat house is not worthy. No bats live in it. We have plenty of bats around and it's sort of a ritual for me and my dh to lay in the hammock at dusk and watch for them to come out. I think they must live in the trees. We also hope to see a flying squirrel one of these days. We know they are out there because we found one several years ago. It didn't fare well, but where there is one there are more. So far we haven't see any other ones but we keep watch just the same.
If worse comes to worse you can get some Malithion plus 55 that you can spray your cherries with and it can be used up to 7 days prior to harvest. I use it on my Redtwig Dogwood and Plum trees for leaf curl and aphids. I've even used it on roses ad lupines.
Unfortunately when you buy lady bugs you are doing someone a few miles away a favor. They usually do not stay where they are released.
Linda
Thistledown Farm
Actually, I think I may be a fortunate one. Although the aphids are profuse on the one cherry tree, there are still ladybugs on it. And, while I was hosing the aphids off, I found a clutch (?) of ladybugs eggs underneath one leaf. Also interrupted two on a "date." Oops...they should have drawn the drapes! At any rate, I still have quite a few hanging around and hopefully they will continue to procreate on my cherry tree.
Hi Linda -
Thanks for the info. My cherry tree aphids have been knocked way down, but there are still some. So maybe I should go next door and release the ladybugs . . . LOL
I know this thread is old, but black aphids are destroying my nasturtiums and are beginning to spread to other plants.
I dislike chemicals and have released 5000 ladybugs to date over the last 6 weeks, the last batch where the Sta-Home ladybugs sold by Gardens Alive on the web. Out of all those, there may be only a dozen (if that) ladybugs left, and they really don't seem to be doing anything to the aphid population. I have seen only one ladybug larva in all that time.
I keep reading these pests can by scattered by water, but I hose and hose and they are just stuck to the plants. I can knock them off easily with my fingers and they squish easily, but they seem to just enjoy the showers. My nasturtiums are now COATED with them on the stems and under the leaves, and the bugs have now started appearing in clusters on top of the leaves.
I gave nature its chance, and now I'm starting to spray with Safer's (unfortunately, the salesperson sold me the Rose & Flower spray, which, when I got it home and read the label, says specifically NOT to use it on nasturtiums, I figure either the spray or the bugs will kill the plants, and I'd rather the bugs don't spread). I hope it works. The plants were so pretty. :(
I'm so sorry. The cherry aphids apparently hatch from eggs that are laid in the fall - that's why using the oil that Pixy mentioned (was it in this thread?) works so well. She didn't have the cherry aphids this fall.
I always have trouble the sweet peas and nasturtiums getting aphids. I think the key may be keeping the plants totally unstressed and then spraying some oily substance (like Outta's recipe, above) on them regularly as a preventive. I haven't tried them again yet, so we'll see.
They ARE a nuisance.
I get those black ones on nasturtiums, too. Interestingly,, I bought this spray to use on my waterplants that's supposed to be safe for fish and will keep aphids at bay. It has worked a charm! I have to spray every week, but it's just a few squirts here and there. Of course, I had to buy the stuff to see what was in it. Active ingredient: Garlic!!
