The tobacco aphid is found in the tobacco growing regions of the United States. Green peach aphids have been collected from over 100 plants, including a wide variety of vegetable and ornamental crops. Tobacco aphids will be pests primarily on tobacco and closely related plants such as flowering tobacco and Nicotiana. It is probably not a major pest, but will feed on pepper and eggplant as well as cold crops such as turnips, kale, and collards. Both aphids suck plant sap and contaminate the host with honeydew and cast skins.
Some hospitals refuse to allow cut flowers in patients' rooms because of the mess by aphids.
They are also the vectors of a number of plant viruses including tobacco, tomato, lettuce, dahlia, canna, and bee mosaics as well as tuber spindle, rugose mosaic, and leaf roll diseases of potato. In the northern United States, green peach aphids overwinter as eggs, but in the Southeast, no eggs are laid. Instead, female aphids give birth to young females during the growing season. High reproductive rate and resistance to pesticides make the green peach aphid a formidable pest in the greenhouse. Up to 30 generations per year may take place in this pest's southernmost range.