Aphids On Lettuce: Why They Attack and How to Control Them

Aphids on lettuce are hard to control because they are hardly noticeable. These tiny bugs camouflage well with lettuce leaves, and they can also easily hide deep in the center of the vegetable.

Aphids often attack lettuce due to their high nitrogen levels, soft-to-feed-on leaves, and weeds in the garden. Read on to see more causes and how to control them.

What Are the Causes To Have Aphids on Lettuce?

The causes to have aphids on lettuce are the crops having high nitrogen levels, and because of weeds present at the surrounding the lettuce garden. Aphids can also come because of weakened lettuce, or the leaves being softened, and lastly, the climate is to their favor to reproduce.

– High Nitrogen Levels in Lettuce

Aphids can attack your lettuce due to various reasons. First, these tiny bugs are attracted to high nitrogen levels, and the nutrient lettuce is rich in, and so they will be more than happy to grow the infestation. The vegetable also has soft leaves, which are easy to feed on by the aphids.

As a leafy vegetable, lettuce requires high nitrogen content in the soil for healthy produce. Keep in mind how nitrogen is essential because it is a significant component of chlorophyll which aids in photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll absorbs sunlight to produce energy, and plants, including lettuce, use the energy to develop. In addition, be keen that high nitrogen levels ensure enough chlorophyll, hence the development of healthy and nutritious leaves.

On the flip side, the high nitrogen levels can be hazardous to vegetables like lettuce. Aphids are attracted to areas with high nitrogen levels because of the rapid growth of delicate plant parts. The Green Peach aphid, also called Myzus persicae, is the most common lettuce aphid and will attack your vegetable.

– Weeds In the Lettuce Garden

Keeping weeds is another easy way to have aphid infestation in your lettuce garden. Weeds like sowthistle can be a breeding zone for aphids because of their soft plant parts. The insect’s mouth helps it pierce through the plant parts easily.

Since lettuce also has soft leaves that are not immune to aphids, destructive pests will attack your garden. One way to control the aphid population is by practicing weed control until you harvest the vegetables.

– Weak Lettuce

Failure to provide the right growing conditions for lettuce can cause them stress, encouraging pest problems. Also, lettuce grows in conducive climatic conditions for aphid reproduction, so the insects might be highly populated in the area.

Besides being attracted by weeds, aphids are also attracted to stressed plants. So know that their unfavorable growing conditions like drought, overwatering, and lack of nutrients cause plant stress. Weeds lead to nutrient competition with the vegetables, causing weakening and stress.

Stressed plants are attractive to pests because they lack vigor and are easy to feed on, and this way, they increase. Besides, these plants produce a chemical that benefits some pests by aiding their reproduction and helping in pesticide resistance. So, if you notice white bugs on lettuce, check if the plant is healthy before spraying insecticides.

– Soft Leaves

Aphid damage is slow because the bugs are hard to notice. However, as their population continues to increase on the vegetable, you will see wilting and yellowing of leaves and stunted growth. The soft leaves can be the tender and new growing ones, or the weekend ones that have been watered too much and now look mushy.

Most farmers grow lettuce because of the plant’s soft leaves. However, as delicious and soft the leaves feel in the human mouth, so do they in aphids.’ The brown bugs on romaine lettuce feed on the plant’s sap and more delicate parts.

But are bugs in lettuce harmful? These pests are dangerous, although you might not notice the damage at the onset. First, they transmit viruses from the weeds and other plants they feed on and destroy the leaves. They also weaken the plant with time and can cause its death.

– Conducive Climates for Their Survival

Lettuce grows in cool zones; the same climate aphids live in. The weather supports most aphid types, including the green shield bug. Others, like the stink bugs, survive mostly in warm climates, so lettuce growing in those areas are not immune to aphids.

Also, the pests reproduce fast, but their life cycle varies with the species. However, when you aim to start early pest management can stop their spread and keep your vegetables healthy.

How To Get Rid of Lettuce Aphids?

To get rid of lettuce aphids, you should crush the aphids between your fingers, or try to wash them away with a hose, and grow companion plants. You must also use neem oil to tackle them around the lettuce, place beneficial insects, and try to much the plant.

If there are dozens of aphids in your garden, use chemical methods like spraying insecticidal soap, applying commercial insecticides, or using essential oils. You should also ensure your lettuce are healthy to protect them from stress.

– Crush Aphids Between Your Fingers

There are many ways to get rid of aphids. Most farmers are keen to learn how to get rid of aphids on lettuce naturally to produce healthy vegetables. You can crush the tiny pests between your fingers, attract beneficial insects, wash them away with water, or use neem oil.

However, these methods are best used if the aphid population is low. Make sure that you are properly protected, so that you get them with all confidence, and they wouldn’t harm your fingers.

The easiest option for eliminating aphids from your garden is crushing them between your fingers. This aphid elimination method requires no tools, although some gardeners prefer to use a paper towel to pick up the pests.

Once you have crushed them, dispose of the tiny dead bodies in a garbage bag to avoid re-infestation. Also, be careful when crushing the pests. Don’t press them between the lettuce leaves because this destroys the cells and can cause damage to the leaves.

While the crushing method can help eliminate aphids, it is only effective if the population is low. The aphid elimination method is slow, and you won’t be able to kill all the aphids in your big lettuce garden.

– Wash Them Away with A Hose Pump

Aphids are tiny weak animals that can easily be swept away with strong water droplets. The hose pump method is perfect if you want to avoid using chemicals in your lettuce farm. Spray the water in the upper and underside of the lettuce leaves to remove and drown the bugs.

Also, if you notice the tiny bugs on lettuce stems, spray them. Besides feeding on the plant, they also cause lettuce bug diseases which can kill the plant. However, be careful when spraying the plants with water. The high pressure can destroy the weak lettuce leaves, reducing production.

– Grow Companion Plants

If you naturally want to control aphids, stop growing plants that attract pests near your lettuce. These insects mostly hide in big leafy plants like kale, broccoli, and others like potatoes and broccoli.

Instead, grow lettuce with plants that repel aphids. These can be chives, lavender, or basil the ones that are correctly aromatic and rich in fragrances that will limit them and repel.

Garlic and marigold are suitable plant options to protect your lettuce from aphid infestation. However, when choosing aphid-repelling plants, ensure the plants are good companions of lettuce.

– Use Neem Oil

Before using chemicals in your garden, ensure you do lettuce aphid identification. This is important because it helps you know the best insecticide and can save you money. Some aphids are easy to control, while others are immune to some pesticides, making sure that you use it in the earlier times during th day.

If you are not ready to use insecticides, control the aphids using neem oil. When you spray the oil on the plants, it covers aphids by smothering their skin. The oil blocks the insect’s body, causing an inability to breathe, and you will see how they die from suffocation.

Neem oil also has a compound called azadirachtin which prevents the insects from feeding on lettuce leaves. The good news is that this oil doesn’t kill beneficial insects like ladybugs and other pollinators.

You can also use alternative oils like peppermint, clove, and thyme to eliminate aphids. Mix them with water and use a garden sprayer to protect your crops. The essential oils also get rid of other destructive insects like mosquitoes and also work well to repel aphids.

– Use Beneficial Insects

And speaking of beneficial insects, you can use them to feed on aphids. These insects, like ladybugs and green lacewings, are aphid predators and will eliminate the pests from your gardens without environmental pollution, as they come and eat them and grow in your garden.

– Use Insecticides

If all the natural methods do not work, you can use insecticides to remove aphids from your garden. These can be homemade pesticides like mixing dish soap with water and spraying it on the plants.

The soap kills pests by destroying the cell membrane. This causes the cell content to leak, dehydrating and killing the insect. The soap also suffocates the aphids by blocking the pores in their body, preventing breathing, and this way, it will free the lettuce.

Alternatively, you can use factory-made insecticides if you have a heavy aphid infestation. These are best applied once you notice the first wingless nymphs just before the insects start reproducing.

However, most farmers avoid this pest control method because it causes environmental pollution. When it rains, the insecticide remains are washed into rivers contaminating the water. The chemicals could also lead to the production of unhealthy lettuces.

– Mulch The Plants

While aphids can seem unproblematic on lettuce, they feed on the plant slowly and can destroy it with a heavy infestation, so mulching is another excellent method to stop the spread of insects in your plants. You can use reflective mulch to prevent the net-winged insects and aphids from attacking your garden.

The mulching also keeps the ground hot for aphids to survive. When the mulch material decomposes, it increases soil structure and adds nutrients to the soil hence the growth of healthy plants.

Instead of using chemicals to control aphids, you can prevent their attack by ensuring your lettuces are healthy. Unhealthy plants are stressed and become a breeding zone for insects and pests.

Keep your vegetables healthy by providing the best growing conditions, like enough light, water, and temperatures. Avoid overwatering and keep weeds away from the garden. The weeds compete for nutrients with the plants, causing their weakening.

Conclusion

There are many ways to control lettuce aphids, including crushing them between your fingers, using insecticides, and washing them with water. Some essential points you will get from this article are;

• Aphids can attack your lettuce due to the vegetable’s high nitrogen levels, weak lettuces, conducive climatic conditions, and weeds.
• You can use natural methods to control aphids, like killing them with your fingers, washing them with water, and using neem oil.
• Although pesticides help to control aphids, they lead to environmental pollution.
• Mulching lettuces and planting them with aphid-repelling plants are other natural methods of preventing aphid infestation.

Now that you know why aphids can attack your lettuce garden, prevent their infestation and use the provided methods to get rid of them.