Garden Pests
Every gardener knows that various garden pests, bugs, and insects can spoil the pleasure of taking care of plants. It is important to be able to identify these plant enemies and to know how to deal with them in the most efficient way.
Before you start, remember that not all insects are potential threats to your plants: there are a great number of beneficial insects too.
To make things even more complicated, some of the good insects can’t exist without the bad ones. If you get rid of the bad insects completely, the beneficial insects will lose a good source of food. Read on to find out more about different kinds.
Generally speaking, garden pests can be divided into a few groups according to their habits and the way they damage plants.
Some insects, such as cutworms, mole crickets, and white grubs, ruin plant roots, especially if the roots are tender and unprotected. They are also famous for their love of seeds. If the soil contains too many of these pests, it is highly unlikely your plants will grow to their full potential due to root damage.
Garden pests such as squash bugs, stinkbugs, spider mites, aphids, and leafhoppers, can be extremely unpleasant as they have a tendency to attack plants by piercing their skin and sucking the juices. Eventually the plant starts looking deformed, lifeless and drooped, and can often just die off.
Lots of caterpillars, slugs, snails, and leaf miners webworms are famous as chewing pests. The damage they cause to the plants is enormous; they are probably the most dangerous of the different pests in gardening. These insects just chew off leaves and flowers until you are left with bare stalks.
To protect your garden from these irritating creatures, examine your plants regularly and take immediate action when needed.
Try to choose insect and disease resistant plants from the very beginning. There are no plants which would be completely protected from garden pests, but there are many varieties that are not so tempting for insects.
Dig and till your soil from time to time in order to give birds’ access to the soil insects and they will eat some of them.
If you are not experienced with insecticides, be very careful while applying them, especially if they are toxic. Follow the instructions and make sure it is safe to use a substance in case you have pets and small children. If you have a severe infestation, consider hiring a pest exterminator.
It is much better if you can stick to a natural solution for fighting pests so use good insecticides or Diatomaceous Earth – it is one of the best natural pest control products and is made of prehistoric diatoms.
Getting rid of pests is not the most pleasant part of gardening, but it is inevitable if you want your plants to be healthy and beautiful.