OK again, not quite 50 foot, but as happened last year, the green aphids are back! This time, as can be seen above, they are hacking apart my Old Timer red rose. The below picture is one of the Old Timer roses in full bloom, from last year. Actually on closer inspection that would be two Old Timer rose. My eyes are deceiving me in my old age ;-) Such a beautiful flower though. Worth protecting from the green aphids!
Although not quite fully out this year they are definitely on their way! More on them when they are in full bloom. Will post an article about the development of all of the roses in our garden when they are all out. Not to far off yet. Only the last climbers to go.
Again, as with last year, not wanting to use chemicals to get rid of the aphids, I have resorted to using a pressurised water spray containing lukewarm water and a teaspoon of washing up soap. This is supposed to coat the aphids resulting in them not being able to breath. Sounds a bit harsh really but, it's either them that go, or the plant! It's a little less harsh than covering them in chemicals! Again their lack of pain receptors apparently means it is all relatively painless for them.
Below is what green aphids class a Weapon Of Mass Destruction - the pressurised water spray containing dish washing liquid!. As yet there has been no government scandal about not being able to find these WMD. If you really want to find them they are prominently on display in my garden shed. Although not visible to spy satellite snooping I will be happy to show anyone there exact location ;-). I have let all of the WMD scientists, who developed the spray container and spent minutes researching the lethal aphid spray, go onto bigger and better things. Last I heard they were trying to figure out how to get rid of all of the pesky elephants that seem to be getting in the way in Pitshanger Park. To be fair seems like they have done a reasonable job as I haven't seen any elephants there for some time.
Anyway, will see if the soapy water contains the aphids again this year, and also if they come back elsewhere! If you see me hunting around my garden with the above pressurised water spray bottle WMD be warned! You might just get coated in warm soapy water if you inadvertently dfisrupt me!
Have fun.
Cheers
m
No comments:
Post a Comment