[[Image:Aphids.jpg|right|thumb|250px|'''Aphid''' on rose foliage]] [[Image:Spidermites-gardenia.jpg|right|thumb|250px|'''Two-spotted mite''' ''Tetranychus urticae'' on ''Gardenia spp.'']] [[Image:Ponticulothrips diospyrosi.jpg|right|thumb|250px|'''Thrips''' ''Thysanoptera sp.'']] [[Image:Icerya-purchasi.jpg|right|thumb|250px|'''Cottony cushion scale''' ''Icerya purchasi'']] [[Image:Megachile rotundata.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Leaf damage caused by '''Leaf cutting bee''' ''Megachile'' sp.]] ===Aphids=== Likely to be found on new shoots and buds, aphids are soft bodied insects 1-2mm long. Often green but occasionally light-brown, and sometimes with wings, they may cover (in a colony) the complete growing tip of the plant. Aphids are most active in spring and summer and multiply at a prodigious rate feeding on the sap of the plant by piercing the plant cells via a proboscis. In large quantities they may seriously retard the growth of the plant and ruin buds. They are particularly damaging to the new shoots with subsequent damage to the emerging leaves which become malformed with much the same appearance as leaf-curl in peaches.
