Aphids are very much a part of the complex natural jigsaw that is your garden. We need to understand the part they play in a 'butterfly habitat'.
In an earlier blog post I stressed how everything in Nature is connected. When you have swan plants (or milkweed), oleander aphids (Aphis nerii) will soon find your plants. Aphids, bright yellow, pear-shaped insects, only a few mm long, with their soft bodies, will suck the juices from your plants, causing them to wither and fail. They particularly like the tender, young, new shoots or plant tips of your plants.
Just when you're imagining how many monarch caterpillars will be able to dine on your plants, the aphids arrive and start to play havoc with your 'crop'. By piercing the cell wall of leaves and stems to suck the sap they weaken the plant, leaving a wound that can allow disease to get in.
Normally, with a healthy swan plant, the aphids will do no more damage than when we graze our knee. A healthy plant can withstand aphids, but weaker plants go downhill quickly.
No chemicals, please
Because you want your swan plants to be free of chemicals you cannot reach for a commercial product. You have to help Nature using natural means.
Think!
When you first see an aphid or two observe and do your research. Don't reach out for a pesticide, just observe, read up about aphids, be vigilant and patient.
Are your plants well-watered but not standing in wet ground? Run your finger over the soil – if it comes away dusty the plant needs watering. (Muddy? Probably not.) Are they well fertilised, mulched? Do they have plenty of room? If they're in a pot, check that the roots aren't bursting out the bottom. If you see a tangle of tiny roots the plants should be in a larger pot.
Don't grow all your swan plants in the same place, year after year. Each plant species removes certain nutrients from the soil. By growing different plants on the same piece of land it improves soil health, optimises nutrients in the soil and combats pest and weed pressure. This will lead to healthier swan plants, more resistant to disease. (This is called 'crop rotation'.)
While you're waiting...
While you're waiting patiently to see what is going on, there are some actions you can take without interfering too much. High-pressure hosing the aphids will remove them from the plants. So will squishing them with your fingers – wear gloves if you don't want your fingers stained orange. Or you can also cut the piece of plant that is infected with aphids and put it in a plastic bag and straight into your waste system (or you could wash the stem and leaves you've cut off, and feed it to monarch caterpillars.) But remember, if you see signs of other life with your aphids, you need to stop immediately and let Nature take its course.
Encourage beneficial insects
Encourage beneficial insects – the kind that will get rid of the 'bad guys'. Some of these work from the outside (predators) while others work from within (parasites).
Most ladybird species will eat aphids. After the first aphids arrive in your garden you might notice ladybirds arrive. Aphid larvae look like tiny lobsters. Both the adults and the larvae eat aphids – ladybird larvae can eat up to 400 aphids in 2-3 weeks. And a female ladybird will lay more than a thousand eggs in her lifetime. (Yes, they might also eat a few butterfly eggs as well.)
Ants
Watch out, also, for ants. Ants encourage aphids, because aphids secrete a sugary fluid called honeydew which ants use as food. Ants also eat insect eggs. Honeydew has a negative effect on the plant, inhibiting photosynthesis, which can affect growth. Honeydew also provides a good breeding ground for fungi, especially the fungus called sooty mould.
See what I mean: everything's connected!
Some people use a product called ant sand to control ants, or if your plant stands alone you can wrap sticky tape around the base to prevent ants from climbing up.
Aphidius colemani
My favourite control for aphids is a parasitic wasp called Aphidius colemani. (Yes, it is a wasp, and yes it's a 'good guy'. There are probably over 2,000 wasps in NZ and only a few are pests.) Female A. colemani lay their eggs inside aphids, and when the egg hatches the wasp larva eats the aphid from the inside. Eventually more wasps emerge and of course when they mate, they lay eggs in other aphids. Soon your aphid 'problem' will be no more!
You need to watch out for aphid 'mummies' – these are the aphids in which the wasps are growing. You don't want to remove them! That's when you should squishing or high-pressure hosing and leave Nature to do the job for you.
A. colemani are probably already present in your garden, if your garden is a friendly place for them. Don't use chemical controls. Tiny flowers like alyssum, coriander, dill and parsley will attract them. They are perfect for A. colemani and other tiny beneficial insects.
If you don't think you have any – remember these are tiny, wee wasps – you can buy them from a supplier such as Bioforce, an IPM (integrated pest management) specialist. Mummified aphids arrive by courier and you leave them in the garden near the infected plants.
Check out our video HERE.
Remember...
If you see aphids on your swan plants, it’s very important to look out for the natural controls already at work. If you use any manufactured ‘control’ then you will be throwing everything out of balance.
Aphids don’t bother butterflies. Butterflies have no sense of aesthetics. And the wasps won't hurt anything else in the garden. Practise patience, wait and be vigilant, and learn about what’s going on in your garden.
Thanks to Bioforce, Nicholas Martin and The NZ Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd for photos.
Want to know more? Interesting video here
That was a very interesting article to read. Thank you Jacqui.
Although I know a fair bit about insects and familiar with ladybird larvae and pupating larvae, I have not heard of the aphid wasp or the mummified aphids before. I have boodles of those in various places amongst my swan plants. I think a lot of them have already been vacated by the wasp larvae but also many still active. I was assuming they were pupating aphids and squashing them at times. Now I know better. 🙂
When cutting swan plant branches to put inside my Butterfly cage - bought last year, I sit down with a cup of warm water and a small artists brush and gently wash each leaf clean before putting the branch in the cage. Being careful not to damage the occasional monarch egg amongst the merry mix.
The eggs I save on their leaf to bring inside to hatch and grow a few days before placing them into the cage outside. I think the large caterpillars just munch up the eggs along with the leaf.
I try to keep the large caterpillars away from the babies by having a small bottle with little pieces of swan plant for the babies and large branches higher up for the biggies. It mostly works quite well.
I live in the far north and my plants have gone mad and have got great big seed pods all over the plants. Should they have pods now. I have never seen so many pods on any of the swan plants.
At the "end of the summer" the flowers, when pollinated, develop into seed pods. When the seeds are ripe the pods will burst open and the seed will be scattered on the wind as each seed is attached to a little filament like a parachute!
Wow, great read and have been enlightened once again. I used wastewater from the washing machine and sprayed on the swan plants to get rid of the aphids but I'm happy to try the wasp method as well. Thanks once again for the information. Also watched the video which was great.
With all this wet weather has been a blessing in one way we have noticed very few paper wasp around and for the first time in about ten years we have a very healthy hatching of monarchs in the garden
True! Good to hear, Russell.
Hi Jacqui, thanks for your article and video. I noted that these helpful wasps are naturally occurring in the North of NZ. I live in Christchurch, if I were to order some do you think they would survive here? Thank you
Yes, they are being used all over NZ. I suggest that you release them on a plant with aphids/caterpillars on it under cover, e.g. an enclosed area for raising your monarchs (caterpillar castle, butterfly house, even a mosquito netted area). In that way the Aphidius colemani will have a chance to increase in numbers before dispersing.
Great, thanks very much Jacqui.
An excellent article Jacqui that I’ll share as so many can benefit from this valuable i formation
Thanks Rowena! Let's get the word out there. 🙂
I get Monarch butterflies and caterpillars almost all year round in Kaitaia, in the very Far North. Aphids arrive in spring and are thick on the plants and do make a mess of them and the ladybirds don't arrive until around late January for some reason. They make quick work of clearing up the aphids once they arrive, but the worst affected plants do take a while to recover. I notice the cuttings I bring inside to feed caterpillars and to save the eggs from ants will often have aphids on them after a day or so and I haven't managed to successfully entice a ladybird to stay there. I haven't noticed any mummified aphids but will watch out for them. Could certainly do with some of the wasps on my rosebuds at the moment!
Check out Bioforce and we suggest you might want to try the A. colemani, to build up numbers in your area, Nancy.
Great article, thanks.
I am on the Coromandel Peninsula and thankfully I have NOT had any aphids yet !
Not sure why - maybe the wet weather or they might arrive when the new second round of new leaves showing up. (plants all totally naked right now)
Is there anything to the remedy : lite milk and water mix spray onto the aphids???
Have to have a look out for the little wasps though.
I collect the seeds just when the pods burst and sow / spread them out later in different areas. 🙂
Hello Angie
Not sure about the milk and water spray. Hope the aphids never visit you! 🙂
Jacqui
Help, I'm in Springston 4 ks from Lincoln university and am over run with caterpillars on 5 swan plants in buckets. I'm doing day shift on a very sick husband, not sleeping at home, returning sometimes to house. Not sure what I can do to save many and keep plants alive.
Hello Ginny
There is a page on Facebook where people post looking for swan plants, Monarch Matchmaker. https://www.facebook.com/groups/555495469912553 This is the best way of putting people in touch with each other.
Good luck!
Hey thanks for the article - I am from Auckland and the swan plants are now with a few caterpillars munching on it, as well as quite a lot of aphids... I haven't seen any ladybirds yet... A bit worried about the aphids. What should I do now?
Yes, right now the aphids are having a field day. Hopefully you will be blessed with some of their natural controls within a few days. Keep watching! They won't affect your monarch caterpillars.