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[nafex] underground aphids



I was weeding near my currants this morning, and when I pulled out some
oxalis (wood sorrel) I noticed that there was a cluster of little bugs
sucking at the roots.  They looked just like aphids.  The smallest one
were about the size of the tip of a pin (if you cut it off just where it
starts to thin down) and were white.  The largest ones were about the
size of the head of a pin, and yellowish.  Every oxalis I pulled in that
area had these bugs, but the other weeds (grass, a little wild violet,
assorted odds and ends) didn't.  The rest of the soil fauna seemed
ordinary - a few worms, a grub, some pill bugs, and a bunch of yellow
ants - the ones with the distinctive citrusy odor.  Are they aphids, or
do the underground ones have a different name?  Do you think the ants
put them there?  I didn't find aphids a few feet away when I pulled up
oxalis, and didn't see ants, either.

The oxalis is a weed, and I don't much care what eats it, but I'm
worried what else might have roots covered with little sucking
critters.  The currants are just breaking dormancy and look dandy.  Are
currants susceptible to ground aphids?  Should I dig up a few roots and
see if they appear infested?  Are there non-toxic treatments available?

Thanks,
Ginda Fisher
eastern Mass, zone 6
where spring has sprung.  Daffodils, forsythia, some ornamental
cherries, magnolias all in bloom.  Apples, currants, raspberries, bush
cherries just at green tip, and asparagus poking out of the ground.

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