3 natural products to eliminate aphids!

We are approaching a turning point in the plant care sector and for this reason it becomes essential to start learning about the world of organic care. This Organic Garden helps us to know how to deal with the problems of ornamental and edible plants with natural solutions.

A new regulation

The European community and our state are pushing to bring us to look after our plants in an increasingly sustainable waytherefore with the use of natural products, for this reason a new regulation to protect the environment will soon come into force.

Using organic methods provides added values ​​regarding production of healthier and more sustainable foodit’s just that parasites won’t magically go away, so we need to make sure we know how to deal with them.

The products we are going to present to you are free of chemical molecules and are also suitable for use in homes. The chemicals will continue to exist but use will be limited to authorized persons only.

Is natural defense less effective?

Quite the opposite. For example, aromatic plants or fruit trees growing on a patio have many advantages because they can be harvested immediately without waiting.

The plants’ natural protection ensures we get healthier food and avoids (with a few exceptions) the waiting time before harvesting. Most importantly, we don’t have to worry about children or pets being exposed to chemicals.

The philosophy of My Organic Garden

The philosophy behind the «Mio Orto Bio» products, which we are talking about today, is that of not imitating the chemical products that we now find on the market, with which an intervention would deplete the vegetable garden and the garden even of those predatory insects of harmful insects (such as, for example, ladybugs). All this by virtue of natural products, which mostly have a vegetal or mineral origin, which when mixed together offer a synergy of action to combat harmful insects and protect beneficial insects (therefore pollinators or predators of harmful insects) and possibly prevent fungal diseases.

Preventing fungal diseases means eradicating them in the spores or newly germinated fungus phase, so that they do not cause the well-known lesions that we all know by now.

The fight against aphids

The aphid is a phytomizoan insect that feeds on sap using its stiletto apparatus, which, like a syringe, draws out the cellular juices (then producing honeydew), leading to the deterioration of the plant. If you want to know more about aphids, here is the article written specifically about them.

The aphid is a very frequent insect in the vegetable garden and there are many types of it (green aphid, woolly aphid, etc.), it is visible and often attacks the lower side of the leaves, that is, that side that we often do not see (a fundamental aspect to take into consideration when carrying out the treatment as natural products are contact and non-systemic).

The allies of the aphids are the ants, which in nature welcome the aphids during the winter by keeping them warm and then taking them outside as the temperatures rise so that they can then produce the honeydew that they are greedy for.

The treatment reserved for aphid attacks is transversal to horticultural, ornamental plants, etc.

Prevention

Approaching the concept of prevention is not very simple because we often intervene when the problem is already evident.

For prevention, a mixture with prolonged effectiveness is used, which means that these nebulisations of natural products have an effect of a temporal type and therefore will still need to be renewed from time to time.

By now aphids have colonized our plants and we have no time to waste, what can we do? Naturally, we rely on the right products.

Let’s forget about gloves and masks, with organic products they are not necessary.

With chemicals with one mixture it was possible to do everything, but now products with three combinations of mixtures are mostly used. Let’s go and meet them!

Soft soap

Soft soap is one vegetable solution which causes serious respiratory problems for aphids, going to block the respiratory system of insects, weakening the external skeleton. Applying soft soap with a certain consistency could give us a big hand, making this product almost always present when it comes to fighting aphids.

It is a liquid that dilutes very well in water. It is of potassium origin, it is a 100% natural product that absolutely does not pollute water and the environment.

Neem oil

Neem oil is the most cone natural insecticideknown and used, even on a professional scale.

It is a multitarget insecticide which, in addition to aphids, will allow us to treat a whole other series of pathologies (e.g. caterpillars, defoliating moths, etc.)

The basic principle of Neem oil is azadirachtin, extracted from the seeds of the Neem tree, and has a neurotoxic action that mimics the effectiveness of «old» insecticides, acting on the cerebral system of insects.

Nettle extract

The formic acid of which nettle is composed does not only bother us but also insects. This gives the final blow to eliminating the aphids.

The stinging action involves the entire world of arthropods, i.e. both insects and mites.

Due to its properties, nettle is defined as a «basic substance», in fact on the label we find all three terms: insecticide, acaricide and fungicide.

It is a product with a transversal function which undoubtedly, in any type of mixture, gives us advantages.

Be careful, we are not talking about nettle macerate but about aqueous nettle extract.

The mixture against aphids

We have explored the basics, now let’s see how to actually compose our anitis-aphid mixture in 1l of water.

1. Take 1l of water at room temperature;
   In a separate container add:
2. add 10ml of soft soap;
3. add 10ml of Neem oil,
4. add 200ml of nettle;
5. gradually add the solution containing the 3 elements to the water;
6. once a homogeneous solution has been obtained, administer it uniformly through nebulization to the plants.
7. it is necessary to repeat the treatment every 5-10 times until the problem is resolved and then move on to other preventive mixtures with a longer duration.

Even if a little more product escapes (for example 15ml of soft soap for 1l of preparation), it is not a problem, on the contrary. It will make the formula more effective and will clean the plant.

Once prepared, the mixture must be used immediately. If it has been made in excess, it can be given to other plants with a preventive function.

You need to pay attention to also administer the product on the underside of the leaves.