Aphids On Cabbage: Causes and Evicting The Aphid Threats

Aphids on cabbages is a serious issue that puts everyone on edge in terms of both food and farming. Cabbages are vegetables that are often included in many dishes, so the demand for them is high.

However, attacks by aphids make the plant lose much of its value, and a search for its removal must be done. Continue reading this article as we will lead you through the essentials of tackling the cabbage plants of the aphids that are infesting them.

Why Do Cabbages Have Aphids?

Cabbages have aphids because of the availability of ants, and having proper airflow around. You must also be keen that there are no natural predators, or the plants have poor spacing around, and stressed plants. In addition, it can be due to environmental inconsistency and infesting of the surrounding plants.

You must take into consideration how your cabbages are filled with aphids because the environmental conditions required for them to grow and infest have been met. Cabbage aphids thrive in locations that are warm, moist places with stagnated airflow, and your cabbage location satisfies these conditions, and notice how the aphids also feed on the cabbage plant and sap.

– Availability of Ants

The availability of ants also results in the infestation of aphids on your cabbages due to their unique relationship. Aphids have a life history of making a relationship with ants based on an exchange of protection against parasites for an extract.

This means that an ant colony on your cabbage plant or vegetable stores will attract aphids to infest them. The ant’s presence makes the aphids stay longer, allowing them to complete their life cycle multiple times and breed. You should always watch out for ants when observing your cabbages for cabbage aphids on broccoli and the cabbages themselves, and they would make the surrounding more cultural to their increase and growth.

– Improper Airflow

Poor airflow in the location where your cabbages are planted or stored is a great condition for cabbages to infest them. The improper airflow supports aphid breeding and gives them the perfect condition to multiply and increase their population, and the medium would be more applicable.

They get to stand firm on the leaves and other parts of the cabbages without worrying about the wind blowing them off. Moisture is also retained, creating a more suitable condition for their population to skyrocket, increasing their numbers.

In addition to this, you must also take into consideration that the locations with no airflow tend to be warm, which satisfies the optimal conditions for aphids to multiply effectively.

– No Natural Predators

Growing cabbages in their natural habitat allow natural predators to come around and keep the aphids at bay, and they wouldn’t be eaten, so they have the freedom to increase. However, this benefit is nonexistent when growing the plant in locations outside its natural habitat, making it susceptible to aphids.

The absence of these beneficial insects allows aphids to multiply and increase their numbers on your cabbages without any restraint. This makes your cabbages suffer more with the heightened infestation and die earlier than you can resolve it. These biological predators are very important for keeping your cabbage plant safe, and their absence shows it.

– Poor Plant Spacing

Improper plant spacing also contributes to the infestation of aphids since it supports other causes and creates the best breeding condition. Tightly packed plants have no room to receive enough air, which also translates to the improper airflow stated above, creating a damp environment.

You should also consider that it also prevents the plants from receiving enough nutrients, as other plants might shield your cabbage from sunlight. Water and other nutrients from the soil will also be limited, making the plant unhealthy and weakening its defenses. All these give aphids free room to attack, feed and multiply on your cabbages without facing any issues.

– Stressed Plants

Your cabbages get stressed when they don’t receive enough or get too many nutrients while they are growing. Too many nutrients create a buildup in the base of the cabbage plant, which attracts aphids and allows them to infest it. On the other hand, too few nutrients weaken the plant, and its defenses allow it to resist fewer attacks from aphids, so be mindful of this matter.

Weakened plants tend to have their cell structures compromised, allowing aphids to use them as food storage during the infestation. Also, note that lack of water contributes to the weakened state that your cabbages experience, satisfying breeding conditions even more.

– Environmental Inconsistencies

Aphids have certain conditions that promote their growth and are also affected by the environmental conditions in that location. You will likely notice the infestation of aphids in locations where the environment is warm and damp with little air ventilation.

The conditions become perfect for them to feed and breed on your cabbages during the spring and summer climates. Humidity also falls among the factors determining the successful infestation of aphids around your cabbage plant. If the humidity is high, you should expect to experience an infestation of aphids on the plant, and they would increase and grow strongly.

– Infested Surrounding Plants

Another reason your cabbages might be infested might be because you have set an infected plant next to it. The aphids can move over from the infested plant to the healthy cabbage plant you have in your garden.

Other times it might be a recurrence of an infestation from your cabbage plant that previously suffered from this issue, and if the ones surrounding are still exposed to it, they may come ahead on the cabbage again. You might experience an infestation again if you don’t completely eradicate aphids when they show up on your cabbage plant, so your experience might be due to any of these two reasons, either from a cabbage plant or not.

How to Prevent Aphids Infesting on Cabbages?

To prevent aphids infestation on cabbages, you must start breeding the right predators around it, and use insecticidal soaps. You can also try to plant some companion plants, use organic spray, water on them, place some reflective mulch, and lastly, spray neem oil.

Aphids breed to multiply and fully infest the cabbages that you have. However, there are solutions that you can implement to rid yourself of the infestation on your cabbages. These solutions aren’t exactly okay to use for stored cabbages but will serve you well when battling infestations for your cabbage plants.

– Breeding The Right Predators

One of the optimal solutions when resolving is to implement biological control by getting natural enemies of the aphids. When considering this method, you must prioritize getting insects like lacewing, ladybugs, and parasite wasps. The parasite wasp especially works well to resolve your aphid infestation issue.

These natural enemies help to prevent the aphids from multiplying and increasing their number by feeding on the cabbage aphid egg before they mature. Using this method works continuously as these natural predators will keep feeding on the aphids as long as they are on the plant.

Some of the natural predators you should prioritize to counter aphids are parasite wasps, ladybugs, and lacewings, as they give you the most results when combating aphids. Ensure you prioritize using them for consistent aphid removal from your cabbage plant, especially in its early stages, and as you breed them, and they grow, you will get rid of the aphids in no time.

– Insecticidal Soaps

You can also use homemade solutions like preparing an insecticidal soap to kill the small white bugs on cabbage. All you need to do is get a bit of liquid dish soap, dilute it with water, and then fill it in a spray bottle, and this will help the infestation to calm down, as it damage the bodies of the aphids.

Spray every section of the plant where you notice the cabbage aphids, especially underneath the leaves of the cabbage. Leave it for a few hours, then use water to wash off the soap from the body of the plant carefully. Repeat the process daily till all the cabbage aphids are completely removed, the plant is back to full health, and you will see the vegetation growing further.

– Companion Planting

It’s also important to consider using the companion planting method, as it keeps aphids away from your plant. Companion planting involves getting certain plants that counter pests and push them away from your cabbage.

These plants either give off a special scent or use a different method to ward these pests away. However, you will need to find the exact companion plant that chases aphids and doesn’t negatively affect your cabbage. Also, avoid planting them in locations that can easily destroy them, either by a walkway or with pet access.

– Organic Spray

You can use organic sprays to eliminate aphids as they also give you optimal results. It’s also a homemade process and involves using onions, hot peppers, garlic, and some others depending on your choice.

The next step is to mix these ingredients in soapy water to increase the potency of the spray against aphids. Blend and fill in a spray bottle to make the solution easy to use and carry about while attending to the infestation. Despite being environmentally safe, you should test it on a small area to avoid burning plant leaves during sunny days.

– Water Sprays

The use of water sprays also counts as an environmentally friendly method to use when resolving cabbage aphid infestation. It’s also a method that doesn’t attract any technical knowledge, and you can use it without being an expert, and in such a safe way, you will be free from them.

You only need to get a jet hose and connect it to a tank or tap of flowing water. Then you use the water spray to wash off the aphids that are settling on different sections of your cabbage plant. Ensure you prioritize the underneath of the leaves for optimal flushing, so you don’t miss out on any clog of aphids.

– Reflective Mulch

Using reflective mulch is also an effective method to use when working to repel aphids in your cabbage garden. The reflective mulch uses heat and light to deny the aphids access to your cabbage plant at all times, and this may also help your vegetation from different issues that would be affected through the soil.

Examples of reflective mulch that you should consider getting for this purpose are aluminum foils or plastics that are silver colored. With little spacing, you set these at the base of your cabbage plant and watch its wonders as it repels aphids. It also helps promote even nutrient, light, and water distribution while keeping weeds at bay.

– Neem Oil

Lastly, on the list of solutions you should consider is neem oil, with its insecticidal properties for treating aphid infestation. It is a substance derived from a neem tree that kills and wards off aphids from your cabbage plant. You must dilute the oil in water and make sure that you would abstain to use it when the weather is very hot.

Prioritize the areas you observe with more aphid infestations and apply the oil to those sections. Ensure you avoid spraying it when you notice that the environmental temperatures are high to avoid damaging the plant during the application.

Conclusion

Here are some of the things to note when resolving aphid damage and infestation to your cabbages:

• Biological insects remove aphids from your cabbage consistently.
• Homemade solutions are easier and cheaper to use compared to the other methods.
• Consider using the organic spray insecticidal soap and water spray as they are easy to use, and it will also not cost you much when getting the ingredients for the mixture.
• Washing off the soap after spraying your cabbage is essential to get rid of the aphids.
• Aphids breed the most in warm, damp environments, so try to get them as you place reflective mulch.

That’s a wrap on everything you need to know about aphid infestation regarding cabbages along with the solutions to implement. So, take charge and guarantee your plant protection with the solutions above to keep it healthy.