When I bought my house last year, I told myself that I would give myself one year to see if I could figure out a way to control the aphid/spider mite infestation that all 3 of my Crepe Myrtles had. For those not familiar with the issue, the aphids infest the bottom sides of the leaves. Once there they eat the sap and then proceed to crap the sap out on whatever might be below. This aphid crap is affectionately known as “honeydew” by some, but I like to call a spade a spade and refer to it as aphid crap. You feel it as tiny mist like drops falling from the tree above. If the infestation is bad, the mist can be heavy and annoying. It is also sticky and will get all over any furniture or deck that it is above. Heavy infestation can also cause mold and other problems for the plant. Since I have one large crepe myrtle that is in the middle of my deck that provides shade in the summer, I have been determined to see if I could control the problem so that I would not have to cut the tree down. That sounds harsh, but the shade the tree provides is useless if nobody wants to sit in the mist of aphid crap. It basically makes the deck unusable. Heavy infestation can also cause mold and other problems for the plant.
All this black crap that I had to power wash off of my deck was caused by the aphid honeydew.
This year I tried to take a scientific approach. Since I had 2 in the front yard, and one Crepe Myrtle in the front yard that were infested, I though I would try 2 differnt products to see which one worked best.
First up- Ortho Total Kill- Lawn and Garden Insect Killer. The list of bugs that it kills includes mites and aphids, and it also claims that it has long lasting effects, and keeps killing after application. I used this on the Crepe Myrtles in the front yard. Over a period of a few days, it did kill a lot of the aphids, but it didn’t do a real good job. After checking out ground zero a few days later, it looked like about %70 of the bugs were dead on the back of the leafs, but the rest were alive and well.
Next up- Ortho Systemic Insect Killer- This stuff rocks. Within 24 hours there was not a living aphid to be found. It totally killed all of the mites and aphids, and kept them gone for about one month before I started to notice a few bugs starting to come back. This one is the winner for sure. I think if I spray with this product about once a month, I can control the aphids, and live on a deck that is free of aphid crap.
You should be able to control aphids pretty easily without the toxic chemicals. A product called “Safer’s Soap” is very effective, and non – toxic. Basically it’s really just soap, and a regular soapy water solution will also work (some kinds of soap may harm some kinds of plants, so the Safer’s Soap is a good bet) Aphids are so fragile that it doesn’t take much to kill them, but under certain conditions they reproduce so fast that you simply have to re treat every few days to control them.
Seriously, at least try to do this without constantly spraying your outdoor living area with toxic petrochemicals.
I might give it a try. However, if a small amount of chemical will clear the problem for a month, and I would have to soap the tree every few days to control it that way… I will probably keep using the chemical.
If you want to combine effectiveness with low toxicity, try an oil product, either a botanically derived one like a neem oil spray or a paraffinic oil. They smother both adults and eggs, and thus have a longer period of effectiveness than soaps. You do need to get past the notion that it is alright to spray toxic chemicals about willy nilly just hoping it will solve a minor problem when you have no idea about how effective they will be in solving your problem or what effects beyond what you are hoping for they may have.
You can hardly call spraying poison on everything in sight “scientific”. Grow organic, your liver will thank you.
my husband has been enjoying that mist after his workouts!!! hahahhaha. I am laughing so hard. he is getting in the shower right now!
What can I say, I’m just not an organic kinda guy. As far as my liver goes…=it will never forgive me for the whole “beer” thing, so a little Ortho is the least of my worries.
Z
I used the Ortho treatment at another home. This year in my new yard it didn’t seem to kill the aphids. I tried to get the backs of the leaves, but it is difficult to do without becoming covered in it yourself. Any tips?
I have used chemicals and don’t like them either. Would Ivoy Soap work on these little creatures? My dad used to use it in his garden, wonder if it was for killing insects? Also, I have a crepe myrtle that has never bloomed…never had a bud etc. It is 5 years old. Is there a reason for this? It is a spindaly looking plant about 7 ft. tall, not a tree looking plant. It is healthy and has good leaves. Just wondering if I should get rid of it, or if I can help it a little.
The best thing to control aphids is Bayer Tree and Shrub insect control. You can get it at WalMart for around $20 a bottle. Simply mix and pour around base of tree.
Does anyone know of something that you pour at the root of the crape myrtle. It is absorbed and then released through the leaves, killing all of the Aphids?
Funny, I was looking up info on “how to kill a crepe myrtle” and I ran across this blog entry. Ha. Anyway, since I assume you’ve already declared nuclear war against the aphids, it probably worked, but Safer’s Soap does actually work and it’s non-toxic.
Me, I just cut two down. I like CMs but these were planted WAY too close to the house. Maybe a miniture variety would have worked, but there things wanted to be 30ft tall.
I cant believe anything poured on the ground would kill these little demons, I dont think I have much time to waste waiting on that, my CM’s are dying fast from these tiny terrors. I’m going to try the Ortho Systemic stuff asap.
http://ufinsect.ifas.ufl.edu/crape_myrtle.htm
I was within a foot of spraying the Ortho when I ran across this website citing these crapping aphids as beneficial insects.
I read the article and don’t buy it. The aphids do damage to the plants by covering them (when infested) with sticky honeydew that then grows mold and hurts the plant. It also covers everything below it in a nasty sticky covering. If your plant is not in an area where people are, it may not matter to you. But for me, one of mine is on my deck, and it covers my patio furniture in a sticky coat of nastiness. It also soaks into the wood of the deck, and dirt sticks to it making it black and dirty (see pics above). Basically it hurts the plant and renders my outdoor living area unusable under the plant.
I used Bear 3 in 1 this year, and so far so good. No aphids for about 3 weeks, and it killed the infestation quickly when applied.
Patio Furniture is one of mine in sticky of nastiness and also into the wood of deck to make it hurts the plant and renders of outdoor living area.Also looking for new creative and innovative.
This is a test. First explanation lost due to my ignorance not using a notepad to prepare my post. But it still was iritating, like saying something in anger; you can’t get it back. I went to too two trouble to thoroughly explain, but butt ugly stupid me didn’t see any line items enumerated, so assume this is reference to sum of IQ and EQ, of course squared (for the field above my post…)
Mix equal parts of egg shell, cut up banana peels, and coffee grounds is a blender and pour around the trees base. Option: Spray with neem oil solution, since the mixture will take a couple of weeks to completely work.
gl
dcdon
Oh, I forgot, with all the math I was attempting and, I out of fingers, especially one.
In winter use Volck Oil (Orthoandothers) saturate the trunk, especially cracks and crevus’ much as possible. This will kill “most” of the eggs. In spring some of the pesky critters (Yosimty Sam expletive) get blown back in, so keep a little neem oil solution around.
It’s a good idea to prune smaller limbs and suckers. A Crepe with so many trunks is just a Crepe. A well fashioned Crepe Myrtle can be a source of beauty.
gl
dcdon