How To Spot And Destroy Vegetable Garden Pests
Any vegetable gardener will inform you that bugs and pests are their biggest battle. The majority of insects tend to be more of a bother than intentionally destructive, yet when you discover a garden pest devouring your crop, you're not likely to be too happy. Following are several of the most common garden pests and strategies to eliminate them.
A corn earworm will assault your corn cobs and make a meal of the kernels. Likewise, a tomato fruitworm eats the insides of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Kill them off by means of an insecticide intended specifically for earworms.
Among the most unsightly garden pests may be the tomato hornworm. It is a fat, white and green worm with a large horn that looks like a stinger. It can be killed by picking it off the plant using gloved hands and dunking it in soap and water. Alternatively, you can spritz the worm with stomach poison insecticide, neem oil, or Bacillus thuringiensis.
The next aggravating bug is the beetle, which loves to dine on the leaves on your plants. You will want to eliminate them because they are able to do a tremendous amount of destruction to your garden. It is possible to either spray them with pesticide or simply pluck them off the plants.
Aphids are frequently present in a vegetable garden as well. Typically, you'll come across clusters of very small insects in various colors. To eradicate aphids, use insecticidal soap or neem oil.
Cutworms are a kind of pest that generally chops off the plant's stem close to the base. The one effective technique for overcoming them is to place a paper collar around the plants.
Snails and slugs can devour the foliage on your plants, and they always leave a slimy trail as evidence. You can buy bait to attract and kill them, but you can achieve the same thing with a shallow container of beer; they'll be drawn to it and drown.
Those plump white worms which you find in the ground are more than likely grubs. When grubs attack your plants they start to wilt and their growth is going to be cut short. Grubs can be held in check by adding milky spore to the soil. Grubs ultimately mature into beetles, which you can eradicate by means of stomach poison insecticide.
Thrips prefer various plants. You'll be able to know if they've been there by the haphazard white marks you see on the leaves. You can wash them off by spraying them with a hose, and then spray contact poison onto the plant.
You'll find borers in thick stemmed vine plants including squash and pumpkin. You have to hack them out of the plant in order to eradicate them. You might end up needing to pull up and destroy the plant it if you discover a borer near the bottom of it. You can typically overcome this type of garden pest by means of pesticide.
Eating healthfully doesn't have to be expensive when you plant a vegetable garden. From container vegetable gardening to edible landscaping, you'll find the information you need at the Vegetable Gardening Site.
