APHIDS HELP !!!!!

The confidor pills are very expensive, especially if you have a lot of bushes. My thoughts would be is to hit the aphids with jet of water till they are allo off the bush and the jet water will kill a lot as the pressure is tooooo strong for them.....then two days later , with your pump up sprayer, buy some Malathon and make up a batch and go around and spray the bushes that have the recurring ones....then repeat six days later........after that there maybe a few stragglers........I did not have aphids for two years....actually did not know what one looked like...then I got them good.....found the Malathon the best and cheapest way to kill them

Thanks Neptune. Have tried the water and they just hang on. Where can I buy that?

Masters/David Greys store or specialised shop....Bunnings used to sell it here but Masters took over certain contracts..........but Bunnings in QLD might still sell it...in a orange box

Great thank you!

Rosy do you know any 'pest controllers' they have a good product.

John Malathion is good but Rogor ( Dimethoate) is better, it kills on contact as Malathion and is systemic . I don't spray untill I know the lady birds are losing the battle.

Teesh, I’ve been reading about your aphids-journey, and it sounds like you’ve tried a number of products that have actually been effective in eliminating the existing pests and they just keep coming back from somewhere. Would buying ever more and increasingly expensive products put a stop to the whishes cycle you got caught up in?
Is there a way you could investigate their actual source; i.e., is it their eggs that don’t get killed by the products or do they come from somewhere else?
Maybe they originate on a completely different bush that doesn’t actually look infested (may not even be a rose), but then they move on to something they prefer. I don’t know how aphids behave; just try to think outside the box, because it sounds like expensive products is something you’ve eliminated in your search for a solution.
With so many roses to treat at the same time, the problem may seem insurmountable, but if you focused just one bush, maybe that’s in a pot and can be easily isolated for treatment and observation, then you could transfer whatever works in the long term to your other roses. Sorry to hear these nasty buggers give you so much grief, but whatever you may try next, also keep in mind what the different sprays may do to the aphids’ natural enemies, like ladybugs and the balance to your system overall.

just a small thought...when we see aphids on a bush , they are normally clinging to the bud and its stalk. Further investigation will show the blighters underneath the first four leaves under the bud congretgating en mass

Yes, and they tend to drop to lower levels when removed from the buds and new leaves. I’ve removed some aphids from my roses and follow those that drop and check the whole bush and keep an eye on it. I don’t go hunting for them, but I also put lady bugs I see on other plants onto roses where I last saw aphids. But I’ve never had an infestation.

No not really. I hate using chemicals on the garden and in the house because of the pool and dogs. Going to try what Neptune suggested as a last resort

Teesh, are you going to the Queensland Rose Society Spring Show this weekend in Toowong?

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Hi Jac, I thought about it. But I am not going to go. I was really disappointed in the last time we went with the small room. Took us so long to get there and I was very disappointed. Not many roses to see and really nothing to buy. I was expecting a big show and it was just a couple hundred roses in small vases and only a few common plants to buy. Maybe I expected too much? Lol. Are you going?

Yes, I’ve never been and it’s not very difficult for me to get there. Oh no, I was hoping to buy something special, but a few common plants doesn’t sound very promising.

No the last one wasnt that exciting in sorry to say.

Back on the subject of aphids. There are SO many plants that are infected that I always spray the lot. Takes me hours. I have checked the camellias and the fruit trees and they don't have anything on them. Even checked the palm tree. Somehow they have gotten to the plants in pots too, which is bizarre because they are no where near the garden, and they were all bought bare rooted. I am absolutely baffled. I know I have to use something pretty potent but I hate chemicals

Rosy, here is a task for you in your spare time, what plants are in your garden, sometimes there can be a thing called a "host plant" your little mates might be coming from it.

Camellias, peach blossom & nectarine trees and a palm tree nothing else. The fence is double paled and we are on a corner block so there is only road and no plants nearby. Those plants have no bugs on them. Also, the potted roses are no where near grass or any other plants and were bare rooted when planted, so I have no idea how they got infected. The only infected tree I had I ripped out, and they were tiny white flies not aphids. I really think that maybe I need to spray them every day for a few days so all the newly hatched ones get spray as well that's probably the issue. I am using organic rose oil at the moment. Perhaps that is not strong enough. I hate using the strong stuff because they are near the pool. It has been interesting to see which plants don't get affected though. No aphids at all on some of them.

anything near the pool use organic rose oil......anything away from pool use Rogan

Everything is near the pool LOL. The potted ones are too close to where the dogs are during the day and the ones in the garden are in the pool area

I have tried poison nesar the pool when I got desperate and it wasn't windy but not sure I am willing to try again.

I use yates roseshield as jordan said and find it to be great for everything.

Thanks Danny - Have tried that. Lasts only a couple of days

As said earlier, do you have pest controller near you

As I said earlier, no. And I don't want to use pest control because of the pool and dogs.

Fingers do the job or a hose if you can spare the water.