Its spring and my roses are covered in aphids. They’re destroying the new shoots, sucking the sap, withering the rosebuds. I love my roses. I love having huge bouquets in the lounge and on the dining table with their perfume filling the house. If I want my roses I must eliminate the aphids. I must spray.
I went outside to “kill the little suckers”. Instead I ended up watching them – and all the other little insects. Couldn’t help myself. I noticed black ants forming a trail up the rose plants to milk the aphids of their sweet excretions. I noticed brightly coloured lady birds and their larvae voraciously eating the aphids. I noticed green caterpillars eating holes through the middle of the rose buds (now I want to kill them too – but then I wouldn’t get the pretty butterflies) and a variety of tiny wasps buzzing around picking out prey. Now if I spray I will kill more than just aphids. To spray or not to spray – that is my dilemma.
I think I’ll just go and shoot them with the camera.
I always end up doing this too! I'm fascinated by the relationship between aphids and ants, but when they end up being "farmed" on my tired old lemon tree I have to spray them, otherwise the lemon tree will die.
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