I have recently moved and actually have a garden. I have never had much of a green thumb, but I thought since I have the space, I want to at least try and make it look pretty and to grow some vegetation and extra places for nature. I mostly have shrubs at the moment, but a few little flowers are beginning to emerge so I am now a plant mother.
But with this has come a new dilema: aphids.
One of my rose bushes has become covered in aphids. I do genuinely believe that this an aphid farm, as there are also quite a number of ants circling the plant, and I think we all know my thoughts on animal agriculture so not sure I am too pleased with the ants about this entire situation. The issue I am having though is what do I do about this? If anything at all? Ethically, what is the right option?
Aphids can be very damaging to plants, especially young plants as aphids enjoy eating the sap from very young, fresh plants. This means that they are taking nutrients away from the plant and the plant will very likely suffer as a result. Aphids also produce a waste by product that is like a sugary glaze, which the ants absolutely love and hence why they will farm the aphids and protect them so that they can have an unlimited supply of this sweet by product. As an animal nerd, this was a very fascinating aspect of nature to learn about, and it is really cool to think that this very intricate ecosystem has developed in my garden simply because I decided to buy a little rose bush for my very new garden. But the by product that the aphids produce leaves a shiny wax over the plant, which can stop the plant being able to photosynthesise as effectively, and thus further damages the plant. If left unchecked (at least according to the internet), it is likely that the plant will die. Aphids can breed very quickly and can easily overwhelm a plant.
When I looked at possible solutions, these all seemed super barbaric ways of killing the aphids off. Which of course brought up the very interesting moral dilema of ‘Can vegans use pest control?’ On the one hand, I do want my plants to grow because I really love the idea of a big, blooming garden to enjoy in the summer months, so therefore the removal of the aphids would be ideal. However, I don’t feel comfortable killing them: They are a part of nature and they clearly feed into a wider ecosystem that is no doubt far more complicated than I can possibly comprehend. To kill them seems wrong, especially when the only methods I have seen suggested appear to kill the aphids in pretty brutal and barbaric ways – one way involves using an oil that essentially suffocates the aphid within it’s exoskeleton.
Aphids are a big food source for a lot of carnivorous bugs, but those natural predators do not tend to start appearing until late spring, early summer, and therefore the aphids have a good few months of predator free time to grow into huge swarms and wreck plants. This is why human intervention is usually required, as by the time the predators arrive, the majority of the damage has already been caused and the plant is likely going to die. I have seen online that some garden centres do sell these predators (most commonly, these are ladybugs) but that also raises a bit of a dilema because I am definitely not going to condone to likely farming and selling of these predator bugs. I don’t believe that we should use animals in this way, and I do feel that if we are breeding more predator bugs to then release them into our gardens as a means of pest control, then the ecosystem of predator and prey will become very unbalanced, which will in turn damage the ecosystem further.
My only solution so far had been to give the bush a little bit of a shake, as this seems to dislodge a lot of the aphids and ants from the plant and they then have to spend about a week getting back up onto the plant to resume their business. I don’t know how effective this really is, but it did make me feel like I was doing something to protect my plant, whilst also causing as little harm as possible to the aphids. I feel quite torn with it all though, because whist I do want the very pretty garden in full bloom, I don’t necessarily want to disrupt an entire ecosystem just for the sake of one plant. All of my plants are in pots, so I am not really concerned about them spreading further through my garden, and I am quietly hopeful that with the very big bird population and the very large green spaces surrounding me will help to provide some natural predators that will soon keep any aphid populations under control. So do I just wait and hope that these predators arrive, and just simply accept that there will likely be one sacrificial plant for the aphid community every year moving forward, or do I intervene and prevent the existing population from expanding so I can best protect my plant?
This is definitely a siutation that the vegan guides do not prepare you for, and is just another example of how a vegan lifestyle can influence every aspect of your life. This is a brand new scenario for me and so I welcome any input or perspectives that others may have for this!
Taylor Talks Vegan 