How to Get Rid of Aphids on Roses Without Harsh Chemicals

Protect your roses and get rid of aphids without using harsh chemicals.

Aphids are drawn to roses. Once they attack a rose bush they often cover the bud and stems of the roses, destroying the parts they are feeding off of. When roses are badly infested, each stem near the flower looks like a living coat of aphids. Harsh chemicals work to get rid of aphids, but they are not good for local wildlife, children or pets to be around. They aren’t good for the environment either. This much milder aphid removal method is less destructive and safer to use. It just takes a little time.

Things You'll Need

• Liquid dish soap
• Large bowl
• Warm water
• Rubber gloves
• Old clean rag or washcloth

Instructions

1. Put a few squeezes of liquid dish soap in a large bowl. Then add the warm water and fill the bowl with so that it makes nice sudsy water. Don’t use hot water or you may hurt the roses. Just use a lukewarm water and dish soap mixture.

2. Put on your rubber gloves. Then take the bowl of warm sudsy water and the cloth out to your rose bushes. The gloves will protect your hands and you won’t have to touch the aphids if you are squeamish about smashing them. You don’t have to wear them though. Be careful of thorns, if you don’t wear gloves.

3. Start squeezing some soapy water down each branch and over each flower bud with the wet sudsy cloth.

4. Then with your gloves on, rub your fingers over the roses and rosebuds removing all the aphids. Smash them between your fingers as you remove them. Clean them off of each area completely.

5. Make sure you check all around the rosebush, along the branches and the flowers so that you get them all. Aphids spread and multiply quickly, look very unsightly and are extremely destructive, especially to new growth on roses. They can cover the surface of every rosebud and suck the life out of them. They are a kind of lice that lives off of plants.

6. Pour the rest of the sudsy mixture all over the new growth of the plant once you are done removing them. Aphids not only do damage to roses, but they also leave behind a residue that encourages the growth of other things on the roses like mold. Repeat the method again at a future date if you see aphids returning again.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish