Common Vegetable Garden Pests
Pesky insects and bugs are a problem for most vegetable gardeners. Most bugs aren’t particularly destructive, they’re just annoying. However, discovering a garden pest making a meal of your crop would make anybody furious.
The tomato hornworm is one of the most unsightly pests you’ll find in the garden. This fat worm is green and white in color and has a horn like a stinger. You can pull it off the plant while wearing gloves, and kill it by dunking it in soapy water. Alternatively, you could spray the tomato hornworm with stomach poison insecticide, neem oil, or Bacillus thuringiensis.
Thrips overrun numerous plants and create uneven white markings on the plant’s leaves. You can wash the bugs off by using a hose, and then apply contact poison to the plant.
Snails and slugs will devour the leaves 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 dish of beer; they’ll be drawn to it and drown.
Those plump white worms that you see in the ground are most likely grubs. When grubs attack your plants they start to droop and their growth will be stunted. They can be held in check by adding milky spore to the soil. Grubs eventually grow into beetles, which you can rid of with stomach poison insecticide.
Cutworms typically cut down the stem near the bottom of the plant. The only successful means of controlling them is by placing a paper collar around your plants.
A corn earworm will attack your corn cobs and make a meal of the kernels. Similarly, the tomato fruitworm will chow down on the interior of eggplants, peppers and tomatoes. Choose an insecticide targeted to the elimination of earworms.
Borers are found in many vine plants with thick stems. The only way to eliminate them is to cut them out of the plant. If the borer is discovered near the base, you will have to remove the entire plant and destroy it. Try using insecticide to discourage them.
Beetles are bothersome pests that enjoy munching on leaves. You have to get rid of them because they can do a tremendous amount of damage to your garden. You can either spray them with insecticide or just pick them off the plants.
Aphids are a common sight in any vegetable garden. Usually you’ll spot them as a group of small bugs in a variety of colors. To eliminate aphids, use neem oil or insecticidal soap.