Pests & diseases › Lettuce Root Aphid
Lettuce Root Aphid
Pale yellow aphids that colonise lettuce roots. Plants wilt and collapse in hot weather.
Symptoms
- Lettuce wilting badly in sunshine even when soil is moist
- Yellow waxy aphids around roots when you lift the plant
- White waxy fluff at base of stem
Lifecycle
Migrates from poplar trees in summer. Worst in dry years.
What to do
- Drench the soil with strong soapy water around the base
- Pull and bin worst plants
If it's bad
- None for home use
Stop it coming back
- Resistant varieties: Avoncrisp, Avondefiance, Sabine, Lakeland
- Keep lettuce well watered in hot spells
- Rotate lettuce beds
Crops it goes for
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.