Mites, Ants, Aphids, and Other Plant Pests

They suck, they spin, they crawl and creep…on the ground, in the ground, in and on the flowers, and…they show up where you least expect them. Bugs!!

In an effort to expand my world of healing I am employing homeopathic remedies to help cure my lovely annuals and perennials from all that would prevent them from living their purpose here on earth…to bloom in freedom! This is my year to tackle the mites, ants, and aphids that are growing in numbers. Let’s see if homeopathy works for plants.

Earlier this spring season I bought the book Homeopathy for Plants by Christiane Maute with the faint hope that I could solve the bug problem without resorting to chemicals that would harm the busy bees and butterflies.

Aphids and Ants: An Eerie Alliance

The Virginia Creeper that grows on the east side of the front porch has always had aphids. So many aphids that whenever you passed by the vine, a cloud of white would rise up. The leaves would become papery and brittle, eventually falling off. My solution to the aphid problem for the last four years? Cut the creeper. But I always felt badly for poor Virginia Creeper. She kept choosing life by putting out new leaves every spring from the stump. Surely there was something I could do to prevent the aphids from returning and honour her persistent attempts to grow?

Then last year I noticed a collection of ants in one of the barrels. The foot-long stake, holding up the scented geranium, had a three-inch clustering of ants around the middle…thick and rippling with ant gyrations. Weird. A quick blast with the garden hose and ants gone…but the creepy feeling never left.

This year, I learn from my homeopathy and plant book that ants and aphids have an unusual partnership in the garden. Seems like this was old news to the gardeners I spoke with, but for me, this was like finding myself in an alternate universe where aliens fed upon another species…keep a species alive so you can use them as food! Big yuck! Then my mind goes into overdrive and I contemplate: what if we as humans are being farmed and used to feed aliens?! OK…too much sci-fi, but you have to ask these questions. Life is so amazing and…weird.

“Ants keep colonies of aphids, which they treat like a ‘herd of cows,’ looking after them and milking them.” (Never mind aliens farming humans…as humans we farm all kinds of other species!)

“Aphids produce sugar-rich honey-dew from excess plant sap. This is rich in carbohydrates and constitutes a major source of nutrition for the ants.”

If you buy the book, on page 26, figure 15, you will see a disturbing photo of an ant milking an aphid. Gorgeous photo with a halo of lighting around the ant’s head but angelic? Not so much.

Well, if nothing else, I have an explanation for the hordes of aphids from previous years and the current infestation of ants under, in, over, and below the annuals, rocks, and perennials. They are tag-teaming my flowerbeds!

While I go about life in the human realm, a whole other world creates, recreates, and flourishes at a microscopic level. Agreements are made as to who feeds what, what feeds upon what, and how they live together in a mutual, weird, and elegant relationship.

Now…go down even deeper to the electron microscope level and you begin to understand the extreme complexity of the relationships between virus, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and protozoa that live inside us! We are 90% bacteria, virus, and other cellular organisms. Wait… Just a minute! Maybe we are being farmed! Not by aliens ‘out there in space’ but by the single cell organisms inside…whoa! Just way too creepy. (If you want to learn more about bacteria and how they communicate, check out Bonnie Bassler’s Ted Talk.)

The Challenge: Make Peace not War

Much like my attempts to use a different metaphor for the immune system and infection (a system of cooperative house cleaning, not a battle — with thanks to Dr. Philip Incao for introducing this concept), I am now challenged to find a new way to live with these aphids, ants, and mites. Something needs healing support — the soil, the plant. Rather than simply ‘treating’ the infestations, the visible symptoms, I have to go deeper. Rather than ‘kill’ or ‘destroy’ the pests, how do I make the soil healthier and the plant stronger so that the numbers of ants and aphids reduce?

The mites on the rose bush only showed up when the bush itself struggled to emerge this spring.

Enter Homeopathy

So…the big test for homeopathy and the ‘placebo’ argument! If babies, pre-verbal or non-verbal children, and animals can self-heal with homeopathy, what is possible for plants? According to Christiane Maute, healing is possible and I am game to try anything. There are too many pesticides and herbicides in use already, and if there is an alternative that is cheaper, non-toxic, and supports healing rather than killing, I am all in!

Here you have the before pictures with the rose bush. No photos of the ants…too many, too fast, and too small to capture in a photo. And the Virginia Creeper? I’ll send a photo in August if it is healthy and aphid-free.

 

The Remedies for Aphids, Ants and Mites

For the Aphids, Maute recommends Camphora 30CH. Here is a link to some homeopathic materia medica from Kent. Have a read and spot in the indications for Camphora with ants!

I am not sure if I can see the connections yet, but like many parents who use Chamomilla with teething children, I don’t really care if I know how or why it works — I will just be happy if it does!

My Experiment

For Ants (everywhere): Camphora 30CH

“Transparent sticky honeydew, caused by aphids, which are farmed’ by ants. Black sooty-mould fungi or white, small-grained fungal spores on the leaves. For ants’ nests in garden beds and under garden slabs. Beekeepers: especially suitable for infestations of ants in beehives. In the potency 30C, Camphora is completely odourless.”
~ Homeopathy for Plants

For Aphids (on the Virginia Creeper): Cimicifuga 30CH (also known as Actea racemosa)

“The leaves, blossoms and new shoots are curling and rolling up. There is a sticky coating (=honeydew) on the leaves. Works very well on roses and rose bushes, fruit trees and fruit shrubs.”
~ Homeopathy for Plants

For Spider Mites (on the rose bush): Petroleum 30CH

“The leaf surfaces appear speckled with a lighter colour; if the plant is badly infested, the leaves will dry up and fall off. Fine webs are visible in the leaf axils. Outdoor plants: weakened by crackling after frost and/or severe cold. Houseplants: warm, dry air in the room. After poor overwintering and insufficient light.”

Expect an update in mid to late summer. In the meantime, you can find the book at Nature Reveals and WholeHealthNow.

Yours in health and healing,

Donna