A million aphids on my catmint - what do I do?

[Anonymous]

I have one bed that is entirely catmint with some inkberry bushes. I cut a bunch of the catmint to add to a bouquet, and then realized that there were thousands of aphids on the underside. I went out and looked at the bed, and at least half the plants have a lot of aphids. What do I do? Should I cut them back to the ground and let them start over with growing this spring? Do I need to spray them? I am an inexperienced gardener and try not to use pesticides, but I don’t want to lose my whole garden.

Also, the inkberry bushes are doing really poorly – is it possible that the catmint are taking up too much of the water, sunlight, or nutrients?

[Anonymous]

The catmint is tough. It will survive the aphids! I doubt it is impacting the inknerry - the inkberry has deeper roots and should be able to reach down into the soil and get what it needs. It may need water if it is still getting established.

I’d let the catmint be, aphids and all, and then cut it back after it is done with its first flush of bloom. It will come back and bloom again.

On the bright side, the aphids are feeding all sorts of other bugs, which are feeding baby birds. Those aphids are someone’s dinner! It’s a win!

[Anonymous]

Oh, this is such a big relief! Thank you. When I googled it, I saw guidance about how important it is to cut off all the affected leaves and make sure to kill the aphids and isolate the affected plants. I’m perfectly happy to leave them be, if it’s not going to damage the plants or other plants in the garden.

[Anonymous]

Buy a sack of 250 ladybugs on ebay and follow the instructions when you get them (how/when to release). The OG ladybugs won't get most of the aphids but they will lay eggs immediately and THOSE little buggers will hatch and go to town

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, this is such a big relief! Thank you. When I googled it, I saw guidance about how important it is to cut off all the affected leaves and make sure to kill the aphids and isolate the affected plants. I’m perfectly happy to leave them be, if it’s not going to damage the plants or other plants in the garden.

You are very welcome! I think 90% of gardening is watching and observing and not doing much of anything. Often things turn out just fine. They even turn out fine when your plant dies - that means it probably wasn’t the right plant for the spot. So try something else!

Vegetable plants are a little different, as you really do want them to produce food for you and sometimes you need to intervene. But everything else? Watch and wait. Someone is going to show up to eat those aphids. The plant will look lousy and then rebound. And on and on.

I have a huge aphid infestation on my major wheeler honey suckle. I’ve been watching newly fledged grackle babies learn to catch and eat bugs by pecking the aphids.