Red Aphids?

I have a plant near my fence that was just identified in this site as Goldenrod. It is loaded with red bugs that I believe are aphids. What should I do about that? Don't want them to get into all my garden plants.

Can't tell if they're aphids from your picture, but if they are, then I would start by blasting them off with the hose, then if you miss a few hit them with some insecticidal soap. You'll probably need to repeat the treatment a few times--you always miss one the first time and they reproduce at the speed of light so if you don't keep an eye out and repeat the treatment they'll be right back before you know it.

Ok, if I blast them off with a hose....will that kill them? or just spread them around?
Sorry, I should have checked that picture....it was blurry.
Here's a new one.

It's raining all day today, but I will go to the garden center and get something for this pest.

This message was edited Jun 5, 2009 9:28 AM

From what I can tell in that pic they do look like aphids. They have very soft bodies, so blasting them with the hose will do some damage. You could just spray with the insecticidal soap, but I've had better luck when I get most of them off the plant first and then spray the ones that are left. If they liked your other plants in that area of the garden they'd already be on them anyway so you don't need to worry too much about spreading them.

I already sprayed them with a home made insecticidal soap...using a castile soap I have here and a recipe I found on the web. It killed them for sure. I am thinking I will remove those 2 plants next week, but for the moment I think it will be ok. New bugs might come back, but I will give them a shot if they do. Thanks for you input.

Question for you...what recipe did you use? Will you share? I have been spraying with rubbing alcohol & water & they are so prolific I can't keep up!!! Their driving me bonkers!!! AAAARRRRRGGGG! APHIDS!

BTW I haven't seen red ones before. Can you believe how many colors these little buggers come in? Geez!

I use this product called Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap....a pure castile soap made with peppermint and organic oils that I get in my supermarket. Right on the bottle it mentions that it can be use to kill insects. I made some up to kill ants in the pantry originally, because it is non-toxic for that area. So I used it on the aphids and it killed them instantly. I did pull out those plants tho because they were in a bad location and blocked sun from other plants I want to thrive.

I used about 2 tablespoons in a qt of water as the formula. Kills insects dead on contact.

Thank you! Good to know. I will be looking for that! :)

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/search/en/query.jsp?q=Dr.+Bronner&sourceType=ps&source=go&campaign=3rd_Party_Brand&adGroup=DR_Dr._Bronner&gcid=S19283x001&keyword=dr%20bronners%20soap&gclid=CPSKsb_LmZsCFZpM5QodM0k8oQ&ef_id=2002:3:s_bfb204072c69fab2cfabccd3894f8a79_1440299163:t@3k3NBkLAoAADxjYAgAAAAw:20090620193341

the large liquid one right?

I have a bottle of Dr. Bronners soap , my question ;can i use it on anything and is there a tempature like to hot to use? I read it will kill grasshoppers after it has dried on the leaf. The soap dries out their insides, so they say . please reply if you know, thanks...

I would generally stay away from spraying stuff on plants on a hot day when the sun's beating down on them, but if you apply it in the evening then you can probably avoid problems. As far as whether Dr. Bronner's will kill grasshoppers, generally soap is effective against soft bodied insects which grasshoppers are not so I expect you wouldn't find it particularly effective against them. But, maybe they don't like the taste of soapy leaves and would move on to a different plant.

dr. bronners, love of my life (lol!!!). it will absolutely kill any insect including grasshoppers but you have to take direct aim. having the soap residue on leaves is a deterrent for some insects but not all. as ecrane said, spraying anything in the heat of the day is not good, even plain water can burn on a viciously hot day.

be aware that spraying when bees are present is not good either. bronner's kills anything.

for an alternative spray for grasshoppers, you might try anything with spinosad in it. i use ferti-lome borer, bagworm and leafminer spray....much cheaper than some other spinosad products. it contains spinosad (an organic) and while it doesn't mention grasshoppers on the label, it has done an excellent job in my garden. it works similar to Bt so is not an instant kill. best to spray before you see the problem.

bronner's is also totally safe for pets and people. it's just a good smelling soap made from oils.

Trackinsand, thanks for the info on Dr Bronners. But if i spray with DR b's in the p.m. hours and it dries on the and mr.hopper injest it
'dry,will it kill him? thanks

no, i don't think so. it is not a poison. it's actually a very gentle soap. i use it on myself and the dogs and i'm sure i've ingested it from time to time. it works by direct contact and desiccates the insect...literally dissolves their little bodies.

I know this post is very late...by a few yrs...lol, but just in case someone else looks this up it might help. This might sound really funny considering how simple it is, but I use a solution of water and Dawn dish soap and it works all the time no matter how many you have on the plant. Like Ecrane3 said, blast off with a hose first then try the Dawn/water solution and spray on plant. I've used other dish soap and even bought stuff from the stores, but I find that Dawn and water work the best. Also, my husband told me that the aphids change color depending on the liquid/sap from the plant in which it's feeding. And so far he seems to be right, I've seen a lot of different colored aphids.

Well that answers my question of the yellow bugs that look like aphids on my swamp milkweed plant. I have always saw green aphids on rose bushes never even thought that there would be another colored aphid but maybe they turn yellow from the sap of my milkweed plant But I used Ibomb on my milkweed plant I go for a real direct kill being it made me mad to see my milkweed so covered with those things and afraid it will kill my plant.
When you say castile the only thing I know of is a castile bar soap that is for hard water my sister used to use it when they lived in a house that had very hard water. Plus I've heard it is very gentle and good to use on your pets for theiir baths.

there are many different colors of aphids. it depends on the species.

I don't think aphids change color as a result of what they're eating--they just come in different colors depending on what species they are. The milkweed aphids are orangey-yellow.

http://www.indoor-gardening-guide.com/articles/plant-care/Aphids.html

lol, looks like we were all right! good link....thanks.

I just use dawn liquid and water. It works for me. I get better results using my tank sprayer which has a good deal of force. Just make sure you spray the underside of the leaves.

For sure trackinsand!

Jim41, I agree. For me it works the best and I see it does for you also :)

As to the Aphids I saw on my milkweed plant and I said I used Ibomb on them I worry that either the Aphids or I using the Ibomb could have done damage to my milkweed plant as the leaves are turning yellow as of today. I don't know whether to worry that it is the Aphids having done their damage or me doing the damage with the Ibomb which I have used on my house plants whenever I get anything like spider mites or white flies anything like that.
Or my next thinking is could it just be the natural process of the plant being that it is Autumn? I'm just not sure if the Aphids infestation could have just been a coincidence that they attacked the plant just before it was ready for the leaves to turn yellow because of fall.
I don't want to lose that plant this was my first year having the plant in the ground but had no flowers from it this year. I was really hoping that next year it would produce flowers.
Anyone know who has this plant could I have damaged it or just been to late to get rid of the Aphids or is it just being that it is fall.

I have no idea what an Ibomb is so can't comment on whether or not it could have caused the damage, but if the aphids had sucked a lot of juice out of the leaves before you hit them with it, that could show up later on as damage. Leaf damage from sucking insects can take some time to show up. Milkweeds will also die back for the winter, although I'll leave it to someone from your area to say whether that would be happening yet or not. Out here they're not dying back yet, but that doesn't mean in a colder climate that they might not be. Either way I wouldn't give up on them--I'd wait until next year and see if they come back.

Oh for sure I wouldn't give up on it until I see that next year it didn't survive but just wondering if I did it harm or if the Aphids could actually kill it.
Ibomb is an insecticide that I have used for years for my inside plants mainly with no harm to my houseplants so I figured it safe for that milkweed so I used it.

milkweed and aphids go together like milk and cereal. they won't kill the plant. if you plant milkweed, you will have aphids...it's as simple as that.

Thanks I'll remember that and watch that plant from now on to try to keep them off if I have to spray them periodically even. But will make myself a solution of the Dawn and water or look for that Dr Bronners liquid castile soap in my grocery store. Even though I've never actually seen it only the Kirks castile bar soap as I use it all the time to bath my dog.
I can't help but wonder though if something like Rotonone would work well to keep them off of the plant as I learned about Rotonone on a Saturday morning gardening show used on vegetable plants like tomato plants to kill tomato worms. The guy on the show said it was safer to humans than using Sevin as it really doesn't have poison in it. It kills the worm or insects by deoxydizing them. And one time we were up on vacation in northern MI and when we were up there the DNR was doing a fish count and I asked someone at the state park how do they do a fish count and the guy said by putting Rotonone in the water and it deoxydizies the water killing the fish and then they count the dead fish.
Sounds counter active to me but my point is they used Rotonone to deoxydize the water to kill.
So maybe next year I will try using the Rotonone on my milkweed as a preventative at this time of year when I noticed the Aphids. Probably it was too warm for them in the middle of the summer it was a hot one this summer for what we are used to.
Thanks

the thing is is if you spray the plants with a pesticide of any kind, even organic, you are defeating the purpose of planting milkweed in the first place. they are a host plant for butterflies and spraying will kill the eggs, caterpillars and deter the adults from laying eggs. with milkweed, it's better (imho) to let nature take its course.

Are you saying that I shouldn't even spray them with the Dawn dishsoap and water or just not to use the Rotonone which when you put it that way I now thoroughly understand and see where using the Rotonone would be a bad idea thanks for pointing that out.
But can I not use the Dawn and water will that cause a problem with the butterflies?
I could see where I would guess it would like using anything would disrupt the eggs from staying put on the stem.

yes, that's what i'm saying.
soap will desiccate the eggs/little cats, etc. and leave an unpalatable film on the leaves. it's the hard reality of milkweed.

As trackinsand said, any pesticide on the milkweed will kill off all stages of the butterflies it attracts. Here the proscribed method of dealing with them is a blast from the garden hose for light infestations and (major yuck factor) for heavy infestations, put on a disposable rubber glove and run your fingers up the stem, squishing as you go...then hit the plant with a blast of water from the hose. Do remember though, Lady Bug beetles LOVE aphids and do a pretty good job of keeping them in check. Here is an interesting link for you

http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/plant-pests-aphids/

Very good article. And you know what it says about using Borax on ants a neighbor of mine told me to sprinkle corn meal or grits near a problem area of ants and it will kill them. I doubted it but thought I would try it along the crack of my driveway where the driveway meets the approach of it it was full of ants and the next morning there were loads of dead ants. She said that the ants eat the corn meal then drink water and they swell up and die.

In my opinion it is always better to use the "gentlest" method possible in dealing with pests in the garden...less chance of killing off your beneficial bugs. Grits work well for most ant problems, but have a less than perfect kill rate for fire ants down here. Now we have the Raspberry hairy crazy ant....time will tell what is necessary to get rid of it.
http://www.inquisitr.com/147274/hairy-rasberry-crazy-ants-southeast-2011/

This is all very good info, thank you everyone!