Aphids - description, types, what it eats, life cycle, photo

One of the first places among pests of indoor and garden plants rightfully takes aphid... These insects of the Homoptera order are a headache for almost any gardener. Settling colossal colonies and having high fertility, aphids destroy plantings, feeding on the juices of the host plant.

Features and habitat of aphids

It is in the arrangements of the clots with others perennial plants they will find their place. Creeping species can be used in gardens and orchards. Their highly aromatic foliage is repulsive to phytophagous insects, so it is interesting to associate them with plants that are susceptible to aphids.

The entire plant, in addition to ripe fruits, contains significant amounts of alkaloids, tannins and other substances such as acetogenin, which is a powerful insecticide. The paw paw is not very susceptible to parasites due to the insecticidal power of its leaves, which also allows it to fight soil nematodes.

In each colony of aphids, both wingless and winged individuals are present, each of which plays a specific role in a given population. Moreover, the presence of wings is not determined by gender - both males and females can be winged.

On the frontal part of the head of an adult, special antennae are located, which are responsible for touch and hearing. The eyes have a complex multi-faceted structure; wingless individuals additionally have three simple eyes.

The avocado tree is a tropical tree in Central America. Plant it in the closed lanceolate leaves of a lovely green franc. In Mediterranean areas, plant it in the ground for its magnificent flowering, avocado production and its insecticidal power.

Vasily possesses many medicinal properties: antioxidant, appetite stimulant, digestive, antiseptic and tonic. Basil is also a mosquito repellent, it also scares carrot flies and aphids. It is grown for its fruit, bergamot, mainly used in food products and cosmetics, 95% of the world production of bergamot trees grows in Italy in the province of Calabria.


Aphids' compound eyes can range in color from red to black-brown. Surprisingly, the visual perception of aphids is an order of magnitude better than, for example, of. Aphids can even distinguish some colors.

The mouth organ of the aphid is represented by a small proboscis, consisting of 4 segments. With this proboscis, the aphid pierces the integument of the plant and sucks out nutritious juices. There are more than 4,000 species of aphids in the world. These insects prefer warm climates with high humidity. Aphids feel great in greenhouses.

The bergamot tree is also anti-aphid. It is imported to many countries for the production of coffee seeds and is widely grown in the tropics of the world today. The coffee tree can be susceptible to many diseases and parasitic attacks. To combat orange rust in an ecological sense, spray your coffee with horsetail, dung or garlic and onion infusions.

Nasturtium is an edible flower that is very easy to maintain and blooms all summer long. Climbing or dwarf, it finds its place everywhere in the garden and on balconies. It repels aphids that prefer to attack it, leaving vegetables behind, but it attracts pollinating insects such as bees, which participate in plant diversity.

The nature and lifestyle of aphids

Aphids live in huge colonies, affecting, first of all, young shoots and leaves. The plant weakens, foliage curls and soon dies. Often, aphid colonies coexist with anthills.


It is an ideal plant for colonizing areas that are inaccessible to most other plants, such as stony or calcareous soils. Thrifs sometimes attack them in the spring. Treat fake valerian as a wild plant and don't cure. During this time, aphids will not settle on roses or in the garden, and they will serve as food for birds and ladybirds.

Tea, an excellent aromatic plant, is enjoyed in the vegetable garden, garden, terrace and balcony. It is an essential herb for our cooked meals. In the garden and vegetable garden, he is an ally of the gardener, because he protects vegetables and roses, aphids and black spot disease.

Aphids, in the process of their vital activity, emit a sweetish viscous liquid (pad), which is regarded as a delicacy. Ants literally graze aphids, feeding on honeydew and driving away predatory insects, which are natural enemies of aphids (hoverflies, etc.)

Aphid species

White aphid has a translucent shell and is well known to lovers of indoor flowers. In addition to the latter, this species also affects seedlings. vegetable crops.

You can also add compost by sprinkling with red manure. Lavender has many medicinal properties: healing, antiseptic, bactericidal, soothing. It is recommended to treat anxiety and stress. Grow lavender with your rose bushes and aphids will do it.

In organic agriculture you can use its insecticidal properties by preparing solutions of ivy extracts. For example, making ivy tea can help fight ticks, aphids, or whiteflies. The presence of the neem tree avoids the spread of insects, in addition to the fact that its extracts can play a useful insecticidal and fungicidal role.


The pea aphid is colored in light green tones; it prefers to colonize plantings of legumes, in particular peas.

Black aphids live on cherries, sweet cherries and others. fruit trees... Of course, aphids are not able to completely destroy the tree, but it may well slow down its growth and interfere with normal fruiting.

In a greenhouse, spreading a carpet of leaves helps keep insects out, planting a neem tree in the garden helps prevent insect outbreaks. Lemon Balm is the perfect companion for all plants, and its lemon scent repels mosquitoes, aphids and flies. Mint is very invasive very quickly, it is advisable to grow it in a pot. However, it can be grown in vats, planters, in the ground in the mountains, in borders or in gardens and orchards.

In the garden, it keeps many parasitic insects such as aphids and ants. Neum is a small tree of Indian and Burmese origin with many uses found in the tropics and arid regions. Its insecticidal properties have been the subject of anti-biopiracy efforts between India and the United States.


The biological method involves attracting private plot to combat aphids insects-predators. Natural enemies of aphids are ladybugs, hoverflies, lacewings, and many others.

For this purpose, plants are planted next to the problem crop, attracting the enemies of aphids. Also, to destroy the aphid population, plant repellents (garlic, dill, tobacco, lemon balm, marigolds) are planted. Birds can also cause significant damage to aphid colonies, however, in this case, the yield of berry crops can also be affected.

The burning leaves keep mosquitoes away. Its nuts, used as a detergent, do not need industrial processing and are composted after use. The decoction is also a good natural insecticide. Its cultivation is content with poor soil and the tree adapts to different climates, and the use of soap nuts has been found to increase during the war.

Likewise, it is used in beauty products. It is also used as an insect repellent. Ladybugs belong to the beetle order, the family of ladybugs. Recognizable by nature for their red body and seven blackheads, these small animals feed primarily on insect plants such as aphids and coccids.

Fight against aphids, insect pests, characterized by great gluttony, is also carried out with pesticides. This method is good when it comes to large agricultural land. Do not forget about the dangers of this method - chemicals tend to accumulate in the plant and eventually end up on our table.


Ladybugs' daily diet consists mainly of aphids and emitters. In the absence of food, the larvae, even if they survive, eat each other. To overcome the shortage of aphids, they are often produced in a laboratory and then thawed. Ladybugs eat an average of thirty aphids a day, using their strong jaws to grab prey and draw out the juice.

In the spring season, the ladybug goes in search of a companion. Through the antennas, the male recognizes the female, which has a special scent. After a week, the female lays eggs. After this phase, the woman dies, but leaves eggs, where she knows that the larvae will find aphids in the amount necessary for their survival.

Folk ways fight against aphids are spraying the affected plant with various herbal infusions, a solution of laundry soap with ash. It is noteworthy that good aphid remedy is the usual Coca-Cola. After irrigation of the leaves with this popular drink, aphids, as a rule, disappear.

Aphid feeding

Ladybug eggs are yellow and adhere to the leaf through the sticky substance that the egg itself provides. When the eggs turn white, they are about to open and the larvae, small as the head of a needle, will come out. The larva grows rapidly, the skin changes four times before acquiring a red color with peculiar black spots. The larvae are desperately looking for food, without which they do not grow.

The larva becomes pupae, the skin on the back is crumpled, and a new pupa can be seen. It has an orange color and is delicate, the next day a hard shell with black lilies begins to form, where the pupa remains motionless until it becomes an adult ladybug. Five days later, the pupa is an adult ladybug that pushes to get out of the shell. Once the ladybug is out, she has a delicate, moist body in a clear orange color, until she dries she must find environment to be safe.

Aphid is an insect almost omnivorous, it affects any vegetation. and only a few representatives of this suborder prefer certain types of grasses, shrubs or trees. Penetrating into the soft tissues of the plant through the proboscis, the aphid feeds on the amino acids contained in the juice.

Reproduction and lifespan of aphids

Everyone starts to wipe his wings, but he still can't fly. They are used to fly, but ladybirds do not fly very fast. In the winter season, ladybugs fall asleep under the leaf, then in the spring, the newly processed cycle takes off again. Very often, ladybugs, in order not to become predators, pretend to die, fall or disappear in the leaves. This phenomenon is a kind of catalase that occurs as a result of nervous reflection and is called tantalizing. It is the retreat of the antennae and paws that stick to the body, causing immobility.

In autumn, the female aphid lays eggs on the host plant. With the arrival of the warm season, larvae hatch from them, which grow into adults that reproduce without fertilization (parthenogenesis). The result of such reproduction will be female wingless aphids.

One female in a month can give birth to hundreds of thousands of her own kind. When the colony is overpopulated, winged specimens begin to appear in the offspring, capable of flying to another plant and occupying it.

Another "protective action" that beetles have when they are caught is called self-hemorrhage, which is to secrete yellowish lymph from the femoral-tibial joints, odorless odor and disgusting taste, toxic to vertebrates. As a result, some animals refuse to touch the ladybugs, while others eat them easily.

The worst enemies of ladybugs are predatory and parasitic insects that cause deadly disease and mass extermination. Before heading to lethargic, ladybugs accumulate a large number of fat and glycogen, which are then consumed during winter sleep.


Closer to autumn, males appear among the winged aphids and reproduction becomes bisexual. With this method of reproduction, the number of eggs becomes an order of magnitude lower, but only they are able to survive the harsh winter. In some species of aphids, not only eggs, but also larvae overwinter.

From spring, until the wintering of ladybirds, they make massive migrations and exciting gatherings, especially in the mountains, where they take refuge in the cracks of the rocks. What does bipunctate anatomy mean? This is a multitude of local ladybugs to Europe. Therefore, there is no risk of environmental imbalance. What do ladybugs eat? Ladybugs love aphids. In the larval stage, they can consume up to 150 aphids per day. At maturity, they still eat 90 aphids daily.

If you have a garden, check to see if your garden plants are affected by aphids. If so, release them nearby. Otherwise, why not invite a neighbor to introduce them to his garden, or why not give it to a relative? So, it's worth introducing her to the places she needs! What are the plants and trees that need a bipunched Antalya?

The lifespan of aphids depends on the species and weather conditions. On average, it ranges from several days to a month. In a cooler environment (8-10 ° C), a female aphid can live up to 60 days.

How to get rid of aphids


If you release so many bonus beard of Adalia, is there a risk of environmental imbalance? When should I avoid getting rid of my ladybugs? What's the best time to get rid of ladybugs? While in the biological struggle, at the larval stage, the ladybug is more voracious. The ideal would be between March and September.

In any case, it is best to avoid letting them go during cold, windy or rainy climates. Its goal is to enable children and their parents to understand the world that inspires insects. It is widely recommended to use only this one. Regardless, if you decide to use the larvae for biological combat, you will have to go aphid hunting in the garden.

  1. Dandelion is an excellent means of combating aphid colonies, and not only, but also with copperheads. 300 g of finely chopped leaves and rhizomes are poured with water (10 l) and infused for 3 hours. After the infusion, strain and immediately process the affected plants.
  2. Celandine. Chop finely (3-4 medium bushes) and cover with warm water (1 bucket), add 20 g of dissolved soap or detergent, for example, Fairy, there. This solution must be insisted and filtered after three hours. Spray the infected areas with the finished preparation, so that it gets on the pests themselves, that is, from the bottom up. You can directly dip the affected shoots into the solution.
  3. Tomato tops. 500 g is finely chopped and poured with one bucket of water, all this is boiled for half an hour. The finished solution is diluted in 1 liter of water. Any plants can be sprayed. Tomato tops can be replaced with potato tops. 1.5 kg of chopped potato tops are poured into 10 liters of warm water and insisted for 3 hours, then filtered. Then you can spray.
  4. Makhorka. 100 g of tobacco need to be boiled for an hour in 1 liter of water, then strain. Before use, the resulting broth must be diluted with water: 300-400 g of broth for 1 bucket.
  5. Soda solution. 1 tbsp. l. soda needs to be dissolved in 1 liter of water and added to the adjusted laundry soap - a quarter of a piece.
  6. Bitter pepper. In one liter of water, you need to boil several pepper pods. Then the broth is insisted for two days. Before use, the solution must be diluted with water: 1 glass of infusion for 1 bucket of water.
  7. Ash infusion. It is considered the most effective folk remedy in the fight against aphid colonies. 200-300 g of ash is poured with boiling water, the cooled solution is filtered and soap or dishwashing detergent is added.


In fact, these maggots are packed with food only, which you must travel to your home in. If you don't have a garden or don't see aphid-infested plants, you run the risk of starving them quickly. Is Adalia's bipunal ladybug a risk to the biotope of European countries? Absolutely not, bipunactal Adalia is an indigenous species on the European continent. So there is no risk, on the contrary, if you introduce these ladybirds, you make a good ecological gesture!

My lamps are captured by lady cows. It is often a kind of ladybug of Asian origin. Its pronotum can have 3 types of designs: transparent with an M-shaped design, transparent with a gilded design without unnecessary spots, and, finally, black with two transparent wide stripes.

In order for the treatment to bring tangible benefits, the drug must necessarily get on the insect. And yet, all aphids do not like excess potassium. Therefore, generous feeding of plants with ash and abundant watering will spoil the taste of the favorite delicacy of aphids. Potassium is essential for plant health, and its proper use will only bring benefits.

But who is not trusted folk ways fight against aphids without chemicals, so I can advise several drugs sold in our stores. Aktofit - for it is harmless, but deadly for aphids.

There is also an indigenous species with a feline skeleton, but it is smaller, and native species, more than 5 mm in size, have a different design on the pronotum. Aphids, also known as plant lice, are especially poisonous and harmful insects for all household crops, from flowers to garden products. Is there any way to get rid of it permanently without resorting to chemicals or other pollutants?

Widespread throughout Italy, especially in warmer and more humid regions, these small weeds can cause significant damage to both cultivation and ornamental vegetation. Below are the features and natural solutions for their presence. Aphids are especially dangerous for ornamental plants, vegetables and any other type of vegetation. This is because, given their very high reproductive rate, they multiply rapidly and colonize the entire plant, not only destroying foliage but often causing death.

Fruits, after spraying with this preparation, can be eaten after 48 hours. This drug can be alternated with the insecticide bitoxibacillin. AKTARA 25WG possesses high destructive power.

And the last recommendations: plant repellent plants on the site, such as mint, lavender, thyme and others. And also, it is necessary, without fail, to get rid of ants that breed aphids and feed on their milk, otherwise the fight against aphids will be ineffective.




Plant on the site "odorous" plants that repel aphids: garlic and marigolds, peppermint and cilantro, fennel and - these fragrant herbs create a natural barrier to the penetration of aphids. Do not plant crops that are valuable to you under the "favorite" aphid trees - viburnum, linden and different varieties and plum hybrids.


Aphid chemicals (chemicals) are also effective against aphids. You can use tools such as:


Aphid species, names and photos.

Approximately 4000 species of aphids are known, and about 1000 of them are inhabitants of the European continent. Some species of aphids are omnivorous and feed on the juices of any plant, but gourmets are also found in this family, who prefer any particular type of plant, causing serious harm to it. Among the species of aphids are widespread:

  • . The oval body of the insect has a yellow and pale green hue, long antennae are dark brown, winged females have a pair of transparent wings. The size of individuals does not exceed 3 mm. The pest settles on white, black or red bushes, damaging its leaves, and a large population can completely destroy the plant in a short time. This type of aphid is widespread everywhere. Leafy gall aphids suck out the juices of the plant, which is why galls are formed - swellings on the leaves of a yellow or burgundy hue.



  • ... The oval body, slightly widened at the sides, can be of various colors - from green to brown or completely black. The chest and antennae of aphids are black, the abdomen is usually slightly lighter, the whole body is covered with a bloom that resembles wax. The pest has a size of 3-3.5 mm, affects crops of beets and legumes, poppy, bushes and viburnum, stems and leaves of sunflower. Especially numerous populations of this species are found in Central Asia, on the territory North America, in the Transcaucasia. Due to the beet aphid, the plant curls and shrivels, its growth slows down, and the plant may die.




  • Cucumber or melon aphids . The body of the insect is elongated, pointed towards the rear tip, painted in a variety of shades of green. The size of aphids is from 3 to 4 mm. Antennae and tarsi are dark brown or black. Aphids affect melons - watermelons, melons, harms plantings of pumpkins and cucumbers, affects tobacco, crops of peanuts and sesame seeds, beets, can settle on citrus or eucalyptus leaves. Cucumber aphid is widespread everywhere.



  • . The oval and rather wide body of the insect is colored light green, the head has short dark brown antennae, the size of the pest varies from 2 to 4 mm. This type of aphid lives on plants of the cruciferous family, especially prefers crops, radishes and cabbage. Massive and very rapid reproduction of the population quickly leads to the death of plants chosen by cabbage aphids. Cabbage aphids are widespread almost everywhere, with the exception of the regions of the subtropics.



  • ... The body of the insect is oval, yellowish or brown in color, with short antennae and a small proboscis. The size of the insect is very small and rarely exceeds 2 mm. This type of aphid lives only on, and completely avoids varieties with pubescence of the leaf plate or stem. Found in Africa, parts of Asia, damaging vineyards in North America and Europe. Galls appear on the roots, and the leaves of the plant are deformed.




  • The body of the insect is oval, painted in a pale green color, antennae and legs are much lighter than the body, short. The size of the aphid is 2.5-3 mm. This species harms crops and other plants from the umbrella family, sticking to the leaves and stems, thereby lowering the nutrition of the root crop and significantly reducing the yield. Carrot aphids are widespread everywhere.


  • The body of the aphid is oval green, antennae are brown. This species of aphid settles on both rose hips and. It affects rose bushes, which causes the leaves to curl, and the plant itself is weakened, it does not tolerate cold well, the plant's resistance to viral diseases decreases. Dwells everywhere.



  • has an oval body of green color, the head is colored reddish or chestnut. Winged females may have a green body and black legs, tail, head and chest. Distributed in the countries of East Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. This type of aphid affects apple, pear, cotoneaster, medlar, irga, quince, mountain ash, hawthorn.


  • The wingless species has a red or green body up to 4 mm long with long antennae and a tail. In the back, the body is pointed. The winged species have a light green body and chestnut legs and antennae. Distributed everywhere. It affects potatoes, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, indoor and greenhouse plants.


  • has a round, brownish-gray body up to 5 mm long, short antennae and a black head. The wingless species may also have orange legs and a black-spotted body. Inhabits the steppe regions and the Crimea. It affects nut and fruit trees such as peach, almond, cherry plum, plum and apricot. This type of aphid sucks up tree sap and reduces the protection of trees against fungi and viruses. Black wet spots appear on the leaves from fungi.


  • has a yellow-green body with a pink tint. Body length no more than 2.5 mm. Distributed in Europe, Asia, America. It affects plums, peaches, cherry plums, tobacco, cabbage, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, radishes, dill, cucumbers, parsley, lettuce, greenhouse crops.



  • Mealy (hairy) aphid (mealybug) has an oval creamy body with bristles on the sides. Aphids are covered with a snowy white bloom. Affects greenhouse and houseplants, grapes and citrus fruits. Because of this type of aphid, the leaves of the plant are covered with a mealy tint, the stems are deformed, the leaves and buds dry up and fall off.



  • Domestic (indoor) aphid can be white, red, green and black. Dwells everywhere. It affects any plants that gradually wither, dry up and die.