source: Garden Myths
Aphid control is a real concern of gardeners and several options have been proposed including yellow sticky traps. These can be yellow cards or yellow drinking cups, both coated in some sticky material.
The concept is simple. Aphids are attracted to the color yellow and head for the trap. once they get they become stuck and die. Problem solved.
Aphid Control – Do Yellow Sticky Traps Work?,
photo source: The Fervent Gardener
You can buy these commercially, or make your own following many DIY online recipes. But do they work? Will they solve an aphid problem in the garden?
Let's find out.
Yellow Sticky Cups for Aphid Control
This investigation started when someone posted a meme in our Garden Fundamental Facebook Group, which showed a yellow drinking cup like the one pictured above. It had been coated with Vaseline and the meme claimed that, ” it will save your plants from aphid damage.” A good way to control aphids would be a real benefit for gardeners.
You can easily make your own aphid yellow sticky cup: Instructions.
Commercial yellow sticky card in action, photo source: Park Seeds
You can also buy commercial products to do the same thing. These are normally small cards which are coated with a sticky material. They don’t use Vaseline, so would a Vaseline cup work as well?
How Do Aphids Harm Plants? From a gardeners perspective, their main harm is in damaging the tip of plants, especially flowers. They like to congregate near new growth and suck the juices right out of the plant. When a large number do this at the same time, the tip of the plant dies and more importantly for the gardener, the plant does not flower.
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