permaculture

["paul wheaton" <paul@richsoil.com>]

>  Note that aphids are sometimes protected by ants -- you may need
>  a double-pronged attack against aphids in a tree, which is happily
>  far easier to orchestrate than aphids in, say, a sage bush near the
>  ground.  You get those strips that sit around the trunk, or the
>  little half-cylinder ring that you fill with water and that you caulk
>  up (so ants can't slip inside it).

I wrote an article about this a few years ago:
http://www.richsoil.com/antsandaphids

>  My understanding is that in the absence of ants, aphids can't
>  stand up to much of an attack from predator insects.

Yeah.  But you gotta get those predators interested.   I'm kinda
curious how aphid predators find the aphids.  Is it just random
wandering?

> Well your correct the adults do eat aphids but not like the juv. so i vote
> to use the best tool for the job ...buy the juv not the adults.

I don't think they sell ladybug larva.  I know that some outfits sell
"aphid lions" (I'm pretty sure that they are lacewing larvae).

> Who wants to eat surrounded by your (mangled) dead?

Me! Me! Me!  Mmmmmm ......  bacon!   Oh wait - maybe you're talking
about something else.   :)

> Observation is sometimes better that acting. You get a
> chance to learn something you might not if you did act and also a better 
> understanding
> on when to act. Acting meaning intervening with some 'cide' application.

I think that acting can come in many forms.  Pruning.  Mulching.
Fertilizing. Squishing aphids.  Planting guild plants.

I think you make a good point about observing.  I've squished a lot of
aphids over the years.  And usually, where there is a severe enough
aphid problem, I'll come take a look every day until the problem is
resolved.  And I don't recall seeing much difference in aphid count or
aphid predator account by squishing.  It usually seems random:  one
day there are no predators and the next day they are none.  One day
there are loads of aphids and the next day (sometimes) there are none.

In the end, I suppose squishing aphids doesn't do much.

I guess I was kinda hoping for something where somebody cited a study.
Or where somebody had some great anectdotal stories.