By: Dan Hemenway

Dan Hemenway — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 15:59:34 +0000

Another terific post! I’ve been lucky not to have been bothered by aphids due to weather unfavorable to plants. I’ve found that sometimes I can make a useful estimate of soil balance by observing aphid infestations. For example, around 1980 i was contracted as horticulturist for one of the minimum security prisons of the Massachusetts Division of Correction (or something like that.) They has acquired an old Shaker farm, which overall had an excellent design. When I first arrived, I noticed that clover in one of the fields was infested by aphids. Often this is due to a nutrient imbalance in the soil, most often excess nitrogen. Clover acquires its nitrogen (N) from symbiotic bacteria that convert inert N, from air to a chemical form useful to vascular plants. The field has not bee managed in some time, so no one had fertilized with N or anything else in some time. So excess N was not indicated. In that species of clover (maybe all species or all N-fixing legumes, I don’t know about that), phosphorus (P) not N limits rate of growth, so excess P was not the issue. That leaves potassium, the other member of the ‘big three’ as suspect. This was bottom land in the flood plain of the Merrimack river, so it was especially well drained. Potassium (K) is highly susceptible to leaching and flood plains are usually quite susceptible to leaching, so low K seemed probable and I managed my projects accordingly. A subsequent soil test subsequently confirmed my hypothesis. The appearance of plants often gives useful clues to soil imbalances. Soil tests are a useful tool, but they can sometimes be misleading. Around 1970 I sent soil samples from my homestead garden to be tested by the Cooperative Extension Service. The test came back indicating low N. I was astonished since I was tilling about an inch of chicken manure to yearly alternating halves of my garden. That supplied N and P. I was incorporating wood ash to provide K, elevate pH (most New England soils naturally have low pH) and provide trace minerals. I was growing cabbages the size of volley balls. I grew all our vegetable year round in a relatively small space and in summer was selling surpus at farmers’ market. I concluded that the N must have been tied up by microorganisms. But the professional soil test did not reflect the amount of N in the soil, just the amount of availabe N. Soil life shuffles forms of N constantly in an underground ecosystem if fed well and not poisoned.

By: jules

jules — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 07:36:01 +0000

Thank you for the information on how to get rid of aphids. I didn’t realise I could kill aphids with DE or that I could just flush them off with water (I thought they’d crawl back up. My lupins have been attacked at the moment, so I shall be out today sorting it with your tips. Thank you.

By: Linda Ly

Linda Ly — Tue, 27 May 2025 04:34:08 +0000

In reply to Heidi.

Water is the only thing you should spray with any regularity. Good luck!

By: Stacie

Stacie — Sat, 24 May 2025 13:17:55 +0000

In reply to ….

Nah, the pictures are helpful, friend. You can expect to see pictures of aphids in an article about aphids.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 01:31:23 +0000

Exactly what I need to keep my milkweed safe! What an education about how aphids reproduce. If I put diatomaceous earth at the base of my milkweed to kill the ants and spray aphids with a spray bottle my caterpillars should be safe. Is there anything else to spray aphids with other than water that won’t both any of the stages of the monarch?

Comments on: Get Rid of Aphids Naturally With These 9 No-Fail Solutions

By: Dan Hemenway

By: jules

By: Linda Ly

By: Stacie

By: Heidi