5

We have small, dark brown bugs on the underside of our mint plant (in a window box on our balcony). I noticed today these bugs on the underside of our leaves.

Could someone please help identify what these are, and how we could prevent them?bugs on mint leaves

anotherdave
  • 185
  • 1
  • 8
  • 1
    Clearly aphids. – Stephie Apr 22 '18 at 13:45
  • thanks @Stephie, any time I searched on images for aphids they were green rather than brown, so wasn't sure. Plus something else I was reading said that aphids disliike mint! – anotherdave Apr 22 '18 at 13:53
  • 2
    They come in grey to black as well. And unfortunately aphids tend to ignore what they officially eat or not.... – Stephie Apr 22 '18 at 13:55
  • Haha, @Stephie. Do you imply that these creatures are ignorant? – benn Apr 23 '18 at 10:48
  • Aphids like mint. We've had light green ones on our spearmint. Well, they're probably still there, but they stay hidden unless I take cuttings and bring them inside. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Apr 24 '18 at 05:12

1 Answers1

2

Looks like a black bean aphid . I usually make a solution of soft soap and water, around 7 parts water 1 part soap. You can also add some paprika or something rather spicy to it, but that's not completely necessary.

Simpler solution would be to spray them out of the plant with cold water ensuring that they are not falling on other plants or in the vicinity of the boxes.

Ladybugs are natural predators to the aphids, you might attract some and have them around your boxes. You can find more info and treatments here

trox
  • 76
  • 5