If you’ve noticed the swarms of aphids that have shown up in Calgary over the last few weeks, you aren’t alone.
Bill Martin with Martin’s Pest Control says calls to the company about the tiny, pear-shaped, green, brown or black insects have been “exploding.”
“Most people are calling because they can’t go outside and have dinner, they’re in their nose, they are breathing them in, they’re all over their pets when they bring them in the house,” he said.
But although the “nuisance pest” may be annoying, they won’t harm people.
According to experts, what the city is experiencing right now are “mating flights,” and “dispersal flights.”
“The next generation gets wings when the females determine that it’s getting on to winter, so shortening day length, cooler temperatures stimulates the females to give birth to young that have wings,” said Ken Fry, an instructor in the School of Animal Science and Horticulture at Olds College.
“Then this generation that’s winged will go out and find mates. They mate, then the females will go off to a tree to lay an egg that is the over-wintering stage, said
Martin warns the problem may get worse before it gets better.
“They have so many generations and they'll just keep reproducing until we get a good, hard frost,” he said.
“I think we need -7 C or -10 C before they're going to stop, but you're going to find that the aphid situation here, if the weather stays nice, it's going to keep growing.”
