If you’ve spotted small, soft-bodied, oval-shaped insects in shades of green, orange, black, black-orange, or white on your Jade plant, unfortunately, your plant is involved with aphids. You must deal with them quickly because they will appear in large numbers overnight and completely swamp your plant and can kill it.
Hi, I’m a horticultural consultant, I want to share with you my ultimate solution to get rid of aphids on Jade plants and other succulents which I found after trying an incredible number of treatments over the years.
Don’t worry about your lovely Jade plant, Aphids are quite easy to control if you detect them early, I recommend the nursery dealing with Aphids every Spring, Autumn and Winter. Anyway, here, I first tell you about the Aphids on jade plants and then show you how to deal with them. so, scroll down to the bottom of the article to find out how to get rid of Aphids fast, keep reading.
| Read my Other Posts about Jade Plant Problems:
Botrytis on Jade Plants Jade Plant Edema + Remedies to Fix Dark Bumps on Jade Plant Leaves |
Aphids on Jade Plants: How to Detect them?
As I told you above Aphids are tiny bugs on houseplants with soft oval-shaped bodies. You will find them differ in size and colour. Grab your magnifying glass and see them under it, yeah, they have six legs, a small head and a wide body. You will be surprised if I tell you there are about 5000 species of Aphids around the world.
Two Aphid Managing points:
- Female Aphids breed extremely fast and may already be pregnant themselves! So, a few female Aphids can wreak havoc.
- Aphids may also have wings in particular of their life cycle. So, they will fly to more distances and can spread rapidly to new plants.
- So early detection and treatment of infested plants are necessary.
Why Aphid on My Jade Plant Can Be Dangerous?
Aphids are similar to vampires; they suck the sap of your plants!!!!!! It will cause several problems for your plant:
- Your plant will weak more and more
- Its leaves will be deformed and ugly
- The leaves will turn discolour.
- They can transfer some diseases to your lovely plant.
- Aphids excrete a sticky sap that sticks to the leaves. It’s called ‘honeydew’ and provides a suitable environment for growing black sooty mold on your Jade plant foliage.
The bad news is “None of this damage will heal”. But your jade plant after treatment will produce new foliage.
How to Detect Aphids on My Jade Plants Early?
Here I listed the signs which I look for to detect Aphids on plants:
The first sign: I look for tiny little bugs on the most tender growth part of plants such as young leaves, the centre of the rosette, the flower stalk and especially on the bottom side of the leaves). The Aphids often do not move because they are sucking the plant sap!!!
Second sign: Ants!!!!!! Yeah, Aphid and ants are close friends, are you shocked? Aphids produce a delicious food for ants (‘honeydew’) and vice versa, ants move them from one plant to another!!!!!
Third Sign: as I told you above, growing sooty mold on the foliage.
Fourth sign: some leaves show wet or oiled marks on their leaves.
Fifth sign: Deformed leaves
How to Get Rid of Aphids on Jade Plants Naturally?
I often perform the following manners to deal with aphids on Jade plants and others. You can choose the best based on your properties. All of these treatments are environmentally friendly and organic. However, you can use chemical pesticides, but I think they are not safe for use in houses.
Squashing Aphids on Jade plants
If there are only a few aphids on your plant, squashing them is an effective and environmentally friendly way of controlling aphids on Jade plants. I do this with long skewers with pointed ends but you can do it with a Handkerchief!
Anyway, in a full-blown infestation, this way will be time-consuming to get rid of individual aphids.
Predatory Bugs to Control Aphids
Using predatory bugs like ladybug larvae, predatory wasps and hoverflies is a fantastic way of keeping aphids at bay for those who have a Greenhouse.
Planting the Aphids Repelling Plants
Flowers like lavender, herb flowers or marigolds with their strong scent can mask the scent of succulents and confuse aphids. You can grow them around your Jade. Although this is not a 100% solution but can work well together with other aphid-controlling ways, in addition, their flowers also look lovely.
Spraying the Pyrethrum based pesticides (organic)
Pyrethrum-based pesticides are almost effective aphid killers. You can buy Organic pyrethrum sprays or synthetic ones from garden centres. They are low toxic for humans and pets and completely break down fast in environments.
Unfortunately, it can kill beneficial insects too, so, If you want to use them in your garden or houseplant, I recommend spraying it only in full-blown infestations.
To Get the Best result:
- isolate the infested plants and move them out.
- spray your Jade plant in the evening because Aphids do not fly in the dark.
- Never use any pesticide in the middle of the day when the sun shines the strongest and can cause leaf burn.
My Quickest Way to Get Rid of Aphids on Jade Plants and Other Succulents
If there are only a few aphids, I recommend squashing them. It will be a fast and effective way; you should repeat it throughout the aphid months.
Anyway, in a huge infestation, by far the quickest way to kill aphids on succulents is by using Pesticides. Organic or synthetic versions of pyrethrum-based pesticides can work well if used in the dosage right.
However, some people suggest applying vinegar to kill aphids according to my tests it can knock down young aphids but not all aphids would die and heavy infestations would be unaffected.
Conclusion
Here, I told you how to detect Aphids on Jade plants and get rid of them, however, based on my experiences, the Aphids appear periodically and there is nothing you can do to completely get rid of them. Due to their tiny size, they can easily fly into greenhouses and indoors. I discussed it in my other post about where aphids come from indoors.
The only thing that can be done is to keep your eye on them to detect them early and deal with them quickly by organic methods.
Elahe Rabiei
Hi, I’m Elaheh. My Academic major is plant protection, and houseplants are my expertise. As a houseplant lover, my house is full of indoor plants and it is my passion to take care of them. Hence, I’m here to share my knowledge and experience about growing healthy houseplants. I am also a plant protection advisor, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.