I have washed the container, everything. They are ruining my beautiful cyclamen. Formerly the manager of interpretation and plant records at The New York Botanical Garden, Bruce is an expert on a wide range of indoor and outdoor plants, insects, and pests. Melanie Menachem-Riggs is a garden designer and lecturer with a degree in horticulture and botany. She works on residential landscapes using garden structures and plants including perennials, annuals, herbs, vines, and shrubs to create interest and enhance flowering in the garden.
Aphids are tender-bodied sucking insects that usually feed on new plant growth.
All bear numerous young, and spread rapidly by crawling or being transported by wind and ants. Some female aphids even bear live young, which in quick turn bear more live young and so on. The ants spread the aphids because they feed off the sweet exudates called honeydew, which drips from the aphids' abdomens. There are many compounds that are effective against aphids. They include citrus-peel extract, fungi, garlic, growth regulators, horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps, neem, and pyrethrum.