Aphids in short supply this year -

Not a problem that we don’t have our usual generous supply of aphids, but it is surprising. Usually by now the kale would be hit really hard, and we’d have lady bugs all over the place. Not this year. Seems like I read something here about somebody else experiencing the same.

I suppose that one of the unexpected potential upsides of climate change could be that undesirable species also take a beating!

But mainly I’m just asking if others have seen similar stuff going on.

I have a patch of milkweed for butterflies and they were covered with aphids. Apparently the aphids liked them better this year than my young fruit trees.

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Had a few aphids early (May), none since. Spittlebug and leafhopper populations down also. More SWD in traps than most years.

I find that each year varies some, I don’t think that it has to do with climate, most likely pesticides, and in some cases some plants repel aphids. Lady bugs always go where the food is, and the aphids being way less than normal in your area would explain why they are not around much either. Here we have seen no shortage of instincts eating our plants.

They could just find something in a neighbors yard/garden more interesting.

I am not sure about your area yet in some parts of the country the government is spraying for mosquitoes.

This year my peas are covered in aphids but they haven’t touched any other plants. Though the nice thing is the ladybugs moved in and are really getting them under control now. I have been trying to not have to spray them. The way they are going the lady bugs should have them under control in a couple weeks

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