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April 28, 2006

Aphids!

It is getting hot in San Francisco (finally), so I asked my mother to
water my fuchsias. She came back with a bunch of complaints about my
plants! Informed me that they are infested with critters. I pretended
to know all about it already.

I found a bunch of tiny green bugs, looking about like lice, crawling on
the underside of the leaves. The tops of the leaves were covered in
that disgusting honeydew.

So, I spent a few minutes on the web finding out that the critters were
probably aphids, went to the store, and bought some malathion. I am
/scared/ of malathion, which I understand is really dangerous stuff.
For the sake of my fuchsias, though, I overcame my fears and sprayed
the plants. This should take care of those aphids.

I also have a few spittle bugs, I guess, from the occasional white blobs
of foam. I understand that these aren't harmful, but I bet that the
malathion will kill them, and I'll be sorry to see them go.

April 28, 2006 | Permalink

Comments

Greetings! I found your blog at Subterranean Homepage New's list of garden blogs, and thought I'd pop in. There is another way to control aphids which is natural, nontoxic, and even fun: ladybugs! You can purchase ladybugs are garden shops, and they'll mow through aphids like so much popcorn. :)

I also write a treeblog, and if you like, you can see my recent post on ladybugs here:

http://arboreality.blogspot.com/2006/06/ladybugs.html

You can also buy ladybugs online here:
http://www.planetnatural.com/

Good luck with your fuchsias!

Regards,
JLB

Posted by: JLB | Jun 15, 2006 8:25:32 AM

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