Strawberry season is in full swing and there’s nothing quite like picking those juicy little fruits from your garden. It can only get uncomfortable when you realize that your plants are full of annoying aphids. These pests weaken the planting, contribute to disease and prevent fruiting. But the situation is not hopeless! In this article you will learn how to combat aphids on strawberries!
Avoid aphids on strawberries with preventive measures
Aphids are tiny insects that infest plants and suck the sap out of them. They can be a real problem for strawberries, causing the plants to shrivele up and fail to bear fruit. There are many different methods of controlling aphids on strawberry plants. Which method is best for you depends on the size of your garden and how much damage the pests have already done.
Ensure healthy strawberry bushes
Start by keeping your strawberry plants healthy! This is the first and most important step. Before you start controlling aphids on strawberries, it is important to keep your plants healthy. This is the first and most important step! If you don’t take good care of your plants, you won’t be able to get the most out of the problem. Here’s how to keep your strawberries happy and healthy:
- Fertilize them about every week (depending on how fast they grow) by adding fertilizer to the water reservoir. Tipp: You should never add chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers to the soil, either of which could harm beneficial insects like ladybugs, which eat aphids for breakfast.
- Water the plants regularly, do not let them dry out.
- Watch out for pests that might feed on the leaves and stems of your strawberries. If there are already any, kill these pests immediately before they injure any more leaves/stems/fruit of your plants. Also, be careful not to let too many weeds grow near the strawberry bushes, otherwise they will compete with each other when the time comes.
Keep your garden free of weeds
One way to keep aphids away is to not give them a reason to come in the first place. Aphids are attracted to weeds. So if you can keep your garden weed-free and have little or no aphid infestation, then the strawberry plants are unlikely to be attacked by them. If there are unwanted plants around your strawberry patch, consider removing them and replacing them with something else that attracts fewer pests than lettuce.
- Notice: Remember that while weeds are bad for many reasons (they compete with your strawberries for water and nutrients), they also attract other pests like slugs that can also damage your berry bushes. If possible, you should remove any nearby weeds as soon as possible after realizing that they are infested with pests.
Against aphids on strawberries, use sticky traps
Sticky traps are cheap and easy to use, but not a long-term solution. They won’t get rid of all the pests, but they will reduce the population. Sticky traps are great for both indoor and outdoor plants and are available at almost any garden center or online store that sells pest control products. They come in two or three different trap sizes to choose from, depending on how much space you have and how many bugs you want to catch at once (the bigger the trap, the more bugs it can catch).
You should place the sticky traps near your plants so that the insects will crawl over them when they get close to their food source (your strawberries).
Neem oil helps fight pests
Neem oil is a pesticide that has been used for centuries. It is safe for people, animals and the environment. Neem oil does not harm beneficial insects like bees or ladybugs, so you can use it in an organic garden too. However, you should always read the instructions for use carefully before using neem oil as it can harm your strawberry plants if used incorrectly.
What are the best home remedies for aphids? You can find out here!
- Conclusion: There are many different ways to combat aphids on strawberries. Keeping your garden clean and healthy is most effective. This will help keep the aphids from returning in large numbers as they will only feed on weak plants that have not been properly pruned or fertilized. If you follow the tips above, you should be able to keep the aphids away.