Have you ever noticed a black residue on the leaves of plants in your Gainesville landscape? This normally is the top identifier if aphids are attacking your landscaping. Aphids, also known as white flies, excrete this black sooty mold that covers the tops of the leaves. If you flip the leaf over, you will normally find the Aphids on the the underside. They look like the picture below.
They look a lot like small grains of rice attached to the underside of the leaf. If it is a bad infestation, you may even see what resembles cobwebs as well. No matter how many you see, if you noticed the blck mold on the top of the leaf, rest assured there are enough to damage your landscaping.
These creatures are very easy to get rid of if you use a pest control company to treat your Florida lawn. By calling your current company and informing them that you have an aphid infestation, they can let you know if it's included in your lawn care agreement or not. If by any chance, you want to go to battle against the Aphids yourself, here are some tips to hit them where it hurts:
- Spray the plant with water. This is not an all out attack on the aphids, just a spray heavy enough to dislodge them. This will be your first step. This alos waters the plant so your next steps don't get soaked into the plant as quickly since it won't be as "thirsty" anymore.
- Don't over fertilize the plant for a few weeks. Aphids like to feed on new growth that come about as a result of applying nitrogen to your lawn and landscape.
- Next, you want to take some soap to the aphids. Take a container and add to it two parts water too one part of dish soap. Then take this mixture and spray the aphids, this should take care of them for the moment, but has no residual effect on keeping them away. Alas if this dosen't work you may have to move up to actual pesticides.
- Although Pesticides are usually frowned upon being used heavily in Gainesville lawn service, this is a time that it is neccessary to save your landscaping. What we are trying to accomplish is the killing of as few innocent bystanders (beneficial insects) as possible. You must be careful besides killing aphids they could also injure sensitive plants, so read all labels carefully. Insecticidal soaps can also be used against aphids also. If you must resort to the big boys use malathion, Dursban (chlorpyrifos), and Orthene (acephate). For no reason or purpose will you use Sevin to rid yourself of aphids. Why? This does not actually killing aphids, but instead the beneficial insects that feed on them. These products can be found by using a quick search on the internet to view a garden center site or an actual garden center.
​Now that your Aphid-free, you can go back to enjoying your Gainesville lawn all over again!