 | There are many ways to protect your lawn, flowers, vegetables and trees against tiny predators—which are historically safe and efficient. The following article examines small garden pests and ways to rid them from your landscape.
Aphids are small, soft-bodied threats to foliage; these pests suck your plant’s sap and cause the plant to wither. Worse, they carry and transmit disease and are of particular concern for tomato plants. You can control them from wreaking extensive damage to your garden by introducing ladybugs to the organic arena. You can buy ladybugs from many different suppliers.
The apple maggot, similar to the common housefly, is also known as a railroad worm and apple fruitfly. Whatever you name it, it is responsible for messy pulpy apples. A novel way to thwart these creatures is to hang plastic fruit coated with Tanglefoot which will render useless the feet of the insect keeping them from your rosy apples.
Protect your beans from bean thrips—dark thin pests that leave plants leaves wilted and visibly spotted with excrement. To keep their population under control, keep your garden as free from weeds as possible. Also, try incorporating lacewings, bugs that prey on thrips.
A major enemy of cabbage and its relatives is the harlequin bug—a black bug with red-orange markings that quite literally…smells. It also causes the plant to wilt and turn brown. You’ll need a decoy crop of mustard greens nearby to lure these smelly pests over. Remove the bugs here and drop them in a jar of kerosene-topped water.
Vegetable weevils attack many kinds of veggies such as cabbage, carrots and cauliflower. You can best control them by rotating your crops. The cultivation should destroy their underground eggs.
Serious pests for your lawn are chinch bugs. Introduce bigeyed bugs to munch down their numbers and keep your grass looking green and healthy.
Cutworms will threaten your carnation population, but they will threaten just about everything else in your garden too. Luckily, many predators find this ghastly looking creature appetizing—fireflies, meadowlarks and toads among them. Also, if you can handpick them after dark with a flashlight.
A garden hose is a good way to protect your evergreens from spider mites. If you see yellow needles, there is good chance you’ve got them. A forceful blast from the hose up and down the center of the tree periodically will help wash them away.
A water spray is an effective way to rid many plants, such as your English ivy, from various mites. A small squirt can wash the creature and its web away.
Help protect a variety of garden plants by mulching with aluminum foil. It will repel many types of pesky aphids.
Termites are pests indoors and out. Pour kerosene on outdoor colonies.
Grasshoppers are big trouble for gardeners. Luckily they have lots of naturally predators you can add to your garden. Spiders do an admirable job of hunting them down. Snakes and toads like to eat them as well.
The Japanese beetle is a great nemesis to many species of plants in many U.S. states since it’s importaton was first noticed in 1916 in New Jersey. Weather, disease, wasps and birds are naturally-occurring remedies to combat them. If you catch them early, you may be able to handpick them from plants and drop them in some kerosene water. Larkspur is also deadly for the Japanese beetle.
Bulb flies infest and ruin most bulbs. Best way to control them is to dig up and burn the infested bulbs to keep the pests from spreading.
The nematode, often known as roundworms, is a threat to a variety of plants. Best bet to combat them is to sterilize the soil—if you’re operating on a small scale. Otherwise, grow something with your other plants that they are not known to like such as marigolds.
The larvae of the gypsy moth, to put it bluntly, is a big pig. They devour foliage. The native ground beetle is a natural enemy that may help combat them. You may need to consider non-toxic, non-chemical sprays concocted to rid you of an infestation.
Millipedes are injurious to plants and seedlings in particular. Bring them into vision with a nicotine solution. Then rake them up and destroy them.
Snails and slugs are other garden pests. They can often be repelled with wood shavings. They are also known to avoid a soil doused with wormwood tea.
Many insects can be combated simply by keeping your garden free of weeds that attract and shelter the pests.
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