Bill I never use any chemicals in my garden I have too many little frogs among the petals and leaves at different times of the year,and bearded dragons on the ground and trees the only natural thing I find that works is squashing them by hand, or a strong jet of water from the hose.

But seeing we are not permitted to use a hose or exterior mains water tap that idea is out as the water pressure from the rain water tank is too low to push them off..

Roses are the Queen of flowers.. Mary-Anne

If washing plants off with a hose is out, I might resort to just brushing
the aphids off with my fingers.
Also, many birds (hummingbirds and others) relish aphids, which are sweet.
So attracting birds to your garden is a big boost to insect control.

Jeri

A soft paintbrush works too. I've used the brush in areas where I can't easily get a hose (and I didn't want to *ick* my fingers). IÂve gotten braver though and sometimes do squish by hand now.

Hi Jeri my garden is planted with lots of Aussie Native flora and I have plenty of birds in my garden at present, with Spring here there are baby chicks hatching here too all they seem to be interested in is having baths in their drinking water or diving into the lily pond for a bit of a swim...

These Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets come for there Annual visit 2 days ago they are seed/nectar eaters and the only work they do in the garden is the pruning off of the pretty flowers.

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The local residents seem to go for the moths that are around at this time of the year, mind you the Ladybird larvae do a good job of trying to keep those numbers of aphids down but what a marvelous idea Joan I will try that with a paint brush..

Thanks .. Mary-Anne.

Mary-Anne, your beautiful birds are living in Paradise. I had to call DH over
to see how beautiful they are.

Our local birds are terribly drab by comparison -- but the little dears DO eat insects.

Can you buy some extra lady bug larvae?

Jeri

The not so pretty ones the Noisy Miners and the Butcherbirds are the ones for the moths and Caterpillars.
Strange that none of the birds seem to eat the Aphids.

I am sure you can buy all sorts of insects/larvae here,

This is Bill er Billie as we reckon its a girl now that its a adult, one of the local Butcherbirds.
They fly up and catch flying insects on the wing, fantastic to watch.

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And these Noisy Miners seem to go more for the Caterpillars and grubs on the roses..

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Thankfully they eat a few, sure wish we had a bird that devoured aphids though, as the rose buds are now covered in them.

Cheers Mary-Anne.