That's kind of the way I was leaning. Thanks for the advice!

No problem, and I guess I should say I HUNG a ladybug habitat, lol not planted.

Lol, I gotcha ;)

I agree with nessdizzle that spraying and squishing is the way to go. If you leave a little of the food source around the good bugs will come in to take care of the aphids and you'll find even this amount will disappear after a while. I have many hundreds of roses and I haven't seen a smidgen of aphids this year thanks to letting them mostly handle themselves in the pest department. Preventative spraying is almost always counter-productive in cases like this, since you'd kill off the good bugs that are around in the garden and leave it more open for the nasties to come in and fill the gap.

Cynthia

Thanks Cynthia. I certainly want to do my best to be 100% organic and let mother nature do her thing when possible. These are my first rose bushes and my first buds so any threat is immediate defcon 1.

You can't spray for them preventatively anyway. With both Neem oil and insecticidal soap - the two primary pesticide treatments for aphids - you have to actually spray or coat the insect itself. The oil or soap coats their bodies and smothers them. No bugs present = no reason to treat!!

Other than water or squishing (gross but effective), I leave aphids alone. A few don't hurt and the beneficials typically make short work of them.

Good to know!

What are the beneficials that kill the aphids?

I smashed a lot yesterday, but the number of roses and number of aphids will be too much in the coming weeks.

Trying to gameplan for them. I sprayed hard with water (regularly) last year to very little effect.

Years ago, before I was forced to start spraying for rose midge, I would use ladybugs to eliminate aphids. The easiest way was to just order a small bag of them on ebay (yes you can order bugs in the mail) and release them just as it was getting dark.. The ladybugs would feast for days and then just fly off as the aphid supply dwindled.

I might try that.

I saw some reviews on Amazon that suggest putting together a lady bug "house" to try to get them to stick around longer.

I've read that it's really the lady bug larvae that do most of the eating so maybe you can order those online? I've also read that sawfly larvae are voracious aphid hunters.

I wish the sawfly larvae were good for something! I barely have leaves and they've already been attacked! LOL!

I have been "growing ladybugs" for years, and I have a 20 year organic garden. I have NO aphids because I grow ladybugs (the aphids who show up rarely last more than a day) One thing I advise new gardeners is you have to give the ladybugs something to eat and for their babies to eat, so don't poison the aphids!! If they are really bad, hose the aphids off, but otherwise leave a bunch for your home ladybugs/ when you go buy them from Lowe's or Home Depot or your favorite nursery, so they can have a big meal when they arrive.
Other aphid munchers to buy are praying mantis and green lacewings, and soldier beetles are the Godzillas of the aphid world--I am always thrilled when they come to town!!

Carla in Sac

In my garden the hoverflies are great aphid hunters. They lay eggs near aphids and in a few days the larva eat the aphids.

Thanks for all the advice!

Spraying with the hose doesn’t do much. Not sure how I can spray a hose incorrectly.

They haven’t taken over yet, so I smashed most of them. We are getting that weather front coming through so I’m hopeful the rain will keep them away.

Do the adult ladybugs eat the aphids, too? I'm torn between not wanting to deal with aphids at all and staging a battle of the bugs lol

I know some areas get alot of aphids but here its not really that bad so I let them be to feed the good insects...A couple times they did grow larger numbers so I blasted them off with our hose from time to time......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEQ0UqyA6Bg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTnTWre488s

Lots of benefical insects feed on aphids - lady beetles (both adults and their larvae), lacewings, mantises, spiders, ground beetles, etc. And a number of flies and wasps can parasitize aphids as well. And don't forget the impact birds can have!!

The less you spray or use any garden chemicals, the more likely these beneficals will come and feast and keep the aphid populations under control

Aphids stay on the rose bush during their life period ( a short one) Mother lays the eggs and they hatch on the rose. Then they repeat the cycle. If you knock them off to the ground, they are unable to crawl back up. The birds love them and eat ones on the ground and the ladybugs finish off the ones on the rose bush as well as the ground.

JC
When we say "hose" them off, you need a sprayer on the hose, set it to blast. When the aphids are on the tips or on upcoming blooms, I put my hand behind the rose to brace it, and then release the water, braced both to not snap off the flower and to keep it in place so I get the aphids instead if just spinning the rose. It only takes about two seconds to blast them off each tip.

Carla in Sac

I don't even squish or blast off aphids any more. After the first year of organic gardening and improving the soil, I have seen an increase in praying mantis, hover flies, lacewings, birds, etc. Also bees love all my flowers (but they dont eat aphids).

I also have bought ladybug larvae before, but I don't even do that any more. The lady bud house did not work for me. They just move on. Also you are supposed to spray water in your garden before you release the larvae so they have water to survive.

I even got rid of midge organically by covering the soil for continuous period of summer, fall and winter with a large plastic bag. It seems to be the least effort in the long term because I don't have to spray.

Thanks for the play-by-play Carla.

I must not have been thorough previously.

At any rate, we got the cold front and they all disappeared.

I’ll be diligent with the sprayer next time.

This is kind of off topic but do ladybugs eat the lupine aphids? I get ladybugs every year and don’t generally have a problem with the little aphids you see on roses but boy so I get the giant fat ones on my lupines.

Anyone else get these? I honestly don’t think ladybugs like to eat them so do any of you know of a predator that does?

Not very many common aphid predators will bother lupine aphids.....I believe a couple of the parasitic wasps might be interested but that will not be a very effective control :-) Lupine aphids are a distinct species that only infests lupines. They will not migrate to other plants. Most sources recommend the strong jet of water to dislodge them....they are clumsy and typically can't manage to crawl back onto the plant. And the jet of water often kills them as well.

Insecticidal soap and neem oil can be effective but you need to be very cautious when spraying as the aphids are usually present when the lupines are in bloom and you want to avoid any sprays when pollinators are present.

Lupine aphid eggs overwinter on any remaining foiiage, so it is suggested you cut the plants back to the ground at fall clean up to prevent reinfestation in spring.