the great aphid attack of 2011

I started noticing an alarming number of aphids collecting on our rosebushes next to our driveway.  I kept thinking I would need to do something about it, but I just kept forgetting.  Then I noticed that the rosebushes at the front of the house were infected.  Ugh.  So began the war on the aphids.

We went to Johnson’s Garden Center and bought three containers with 1500 lady bugs each.  

We waited until nighttime when it’s cooler.  Lady bugs don’t fly at night so if you scatter them on the bushes at night they’ll crawl around and discover the aphids instead of flying away immediately.  This is what the roses looked like before we let the lady bugs go.  So many aphids!!

Here’s one little guy the next day wandering around.

This is the same rose bush I took a picture of the night before.  HUGE difference!  We still have a long way to go.  Hopefully the lady bugs will start laying their eggs and make the rose bushes their home.  Then we’ll be able to keep the aphids under control.

The other bad deal about aphids is that they attract ants.  The ants eat the honeydew that the aphids excrete.  Did you know that ants will actually farm aphids!?  They’ll take aphid eggs back to their nest to protect in case they have to move to another home.  If they do move the queen will take one egg with her (aphids don’t need mates to reproduce) and start a new aphid farm wherever she goes.  It’s quite a symbiotic relationship, but I don’t want any part of it!

Happy eating little ladies!