Aphid Control on Apple Flowers

Q. I have a Granny apple and Meyer lemon tree. I just saw that I have a bunch of these bugs on the flowers. I would like to know if I should kill them or leave them alone. I also have bees pollinating the flowers so I don’t want to spray any chemicals that may harm them. If I have to remove the bugs is there any way to do it without harming the tree or the bees?

A. Those are aphids sucking plant juices to feed their young. Their numbers will continue to grow until it gets hot. 

Horticultural oil or dormant oil is sprayed on trees and shrubs during warm and windless days in the winter. It eliminates soft bodied insects like aphids.

You missed the winter application of dormant oil or you would have eliminated nearly all of them. Not much you can spray now without hitting some bees once the flowers are open like that. Wait until the flowers have formed apples and then spray. 

Alternative: You can use an oil spray like a dormant oil or soap sprays if it is below about 90F and the flowers are gone and fruit has started to form. Or pull off the flowers and spray and let the flowers reform again later. They will.

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