Aphids
Scientific Name: Aphididae
Aphids are a common garden insect that are harmful to your garden!
How to identify:
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Aphids are very small.
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Various colours such as white, black, brown, yellow, and green.
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Pear-shaped body with long antennae.
Why aphids are harmful:
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Aphids have sucking mouthparts that feed off of the nutrients that flow within your plants.
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This deprives your plants of the nutrients that they need to grow.
How to diminish aphid population size:
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Spray cold water on the leaves where they reside. This will dislodge the aphids.
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Attract their natural predators to your garden such as assassin bugs, lacewings, ladybugs and parasitic wasps (see pages on these insects for tips on how to attract them).
How this relates to conservation:
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Though aphids are a nuisance to your garden, they are the food-source for many other insects. Therefore, by limiting the use of insecticides and encouraging aphids’ natural predators, the populations of species in your garden will stabilize themselves which is important for the conservation well balanced ecosystems.
