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APHIDS are tiny insects with piercing, sucking mouthparts designed to suck juice from plants. They are usually wingless and pear-shaped.
By Winnie Rukidi
APHIDS are tiny insects with piercing, sucking mouthparts designed to suck juice from plants. They are usually wingless and pear-shaped.
They secrete and leave a substance known as honeydew on rose leaves, resulting in the growth of sooty mold, a black dry powder which attracts ants and blackens the leaves.
Although the molds do not directly damage the plants, their covering of the leaf surface reduces the plants capacity to photosynthesize leading to an unsatisfactory plant appearance.
A severe infestation can lead to drying and curling of new leaves, and can even prevent buds from opening. Aphids attack when a plant’s resistance is low say during heavy dry periods.
Ways of controlling aphids include rubbing them off with your fingers, spraying them off with water and the use of home made water solutions such as diluted washing up liquids.
Aphids breathe through their skin. Spraying with diluted washing up liquid clogs up their skin and causes them to literally suffocate.
Black rust is a fungal disease that appears as yellow patches on the surface of rose leaves, with orange pustules of spores underneath the leaf. The fungus is spread by wind. Affected leaves fall prior to healthy ones and plants may be defoliated in serious infections.
One way to combat rust is to minimise excessive water logged soil around rose plants. Good soil drainage is necessary for moisture control, adding organic matter and double digging are some of the effective means in providing a good healthy environment for roses.
While watering limits wetting the foliage on rose plants and provides good air circulation between plants by spacing them well apart from one another. When pruning, keep the centres of rose bushes open for air circulation as this will assist in keeping them drier.
If all fails buy a commercial fungicide.
Happy gardening!
winnieruk@hotmail.com
APHIDS are tiny insects with piercing, sucking mouthparts designed to suck juice from plants. They are usually wingless and pear-shaped.
They secrete and leave a substance known as honeydew on rose leaves, resulting in the growth of sooty mold, a black dry powder which attracts ants and blackens the leaves.
Although the molds do not directly damage the plants, their covering of the leaf surface reduces the plants capacity to photosynthesize leading to an unsatisfactory plant appearance.
A severe infestation can lead to drying and curling of new leaves, and can even prevent buds from opening. Aphids attack when a plant’s resistance is low say during heavy dry periods.
Ways of controlling aphids include rubbing them off with your fingers, spraying them off with water and the use of home made water solutions such as diluted washing up liquids.
Aphids breathe through their skin. Spraying with diluted washing up liquid clogs up their skin and causes them to literally suffocate.
Black rust is a fungal disease that appears as yellow patches on the surface of rose leaves, with orange pustules of spores underneath the leaf. The fungus is spread by wind. Affected leaves fall prior to healthy ones and plants may be defoliated in serious infections.
One way to combat rust is to minimise excessive water logged soil around rose plants. Good soil drainage is necessary for moisture control, adding organic matter and double digging are some of the effective means in providing a good healthy environment for roses.
While watering limits wetting the foliage on rose plants and provides good air circulation between plants by spacing them well apart from one another. When pruning, keep the centres of rose bushes open for air circulation as this will assist in keeping them drier.
If all fails buy a commercial fungicide.
Happy gardening!
winnieruk@hotmail.com