Vegetable Pests and Contorls

Vegetable garden insect pests are vulnerable to many controls. Restrict insect harm by means of understanding pests quickly and recognizing the damage and tear they inflict.

Not unusual visits to the garden will assist you to spot pests previous than they become established. Then choose among the best regulate given the infestation.

The quickest controls for delicate infestations are listed underneath underneath “prevention and controls.” The “natural insecticides” listed here are without equal line of defense; natural insecticides can harm advisable insects if now not used reasonably. Encourage advisable insects–listed underneath “biological controls”–as insect pest controls.

 

Aphid

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  Description. Tiny soft-bodied, pear-shaped insects may be pale green, brown, yellow, crimson, blue, or black. Maximum steadily wingless then again some ladies may be winged. Adults not up to 1/10 inch long.

• Emergence time. Eggs over-winter hatch in early spring, far and wide emerging season.
• Susceptible plants. Near to all vegetables, finish end result, and various other plants.
• Damage. Sucks sap from leaves, fruit, stems causing foliage to curl, pucker, and yellow; loss of plant vigor; some transmits diseases identical to mosaic; excrement is helping black, sooty mold; attract ants.
• Prevention and controls. Spray away with powerful water; soapy water spray; aluminum foil place on ground underneath more youthful plants shows the sky and confuses insets; as a lure, use yellow containers of soapy water, trade yellow stick traps, or a board painted yellows an lined with sticky answer identical to Tanglefoot; cover plant with Spun polyester blanket or other row cover.
• Natural controls. Ladybugs; spiders; syrphid flies; lacewings.
• Natural insecticides. Insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap; nicotine. Pyrethrum; sabadilla; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects. Delicate horticultural oil spray.
• Plant companions. Plant aster and parsley family plants moreover alyssum or clover to attract aphid-easting advisable insects. Onions and garlic would most likely repel aphids. Entice crops: early cabbage, marigolds, and nasturtiums.

Asparagus Beetle

Blister Beetle

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  Description. Slender, elongated metal blue-gray, black, or black and yellow striped insect about ¾ inch long, long legs and slender neck. Soil-dwelling larvae do not devour vegetables.

• Emergence time. Over-winter in garden; adults emerge in early to mid-summer.
• Susceptible plants. Adults feed on leaves, blossoms, and fruit of with regards to all vegetables—beans, beets, melons, peas, potatoes, tomatoes.
• Damage. Chews leaves, plants, finish end result.
• Prevention and controls. Remove plants and debris after harvest; handpick or shake beetles from foliage into soapy water (always placed on gloves because of they secrete harmful oil that can blister the outdoor; use row covers as barrier early in season; spray with canola oil; use rock phosphate or bone meal dust on plants.
• Natural controls. Ladybugs, predatory flies.
• Natural insecticides. Pyrethrum, rotenone dust for critical problems; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects.
• Plant companions. Beetles dislike nasturtiums, and calendula.

Cabbage Looper

Cabbage Maggot

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  Description. Small, gray-white, legless computer virus to ⅓ inch long, blunt end. Adult turns out like a housefly.

• Emergence time. Early spring to fall, plenty of generations.
• Susceptible plants. Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese language language cabbage, collards, parsnips, radishes, turnips.
• Damage. Brown tunnels into stems relatively beneath soil, seedlings wilt and die.
• Prevention and controls. Apply lime or picket ashes spherical base of plants; time planting to avoid insect growth cycle.
• Natural controls. Actually helpful nematodes, chalcid wasps, trichogramma wasps.
• Natural insecticides. Lime-water mix drench: 2 pounds of lime in line with 5-gallons of water.
• Plant companions. Radishes and turnips as lure crops. Mint, rosemary, sage, tomatoes repel cabbage maggot.

Carrot Rust Fly

Colorado Potato Beetle

Corn Earworm

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  Description. Spiny caterpillar, white, green, or crimson to 1½ inches long. Adult is brown moth.

• Emergence time. Past due spring.
• Susceptible plants. Corn
• Damage. Feed buds and leaves and later on silks and kernels at tip of ear.
• Prevention and controls. Hand make a choice from husk after silks brown. When silks tassels brown, practice 10-20 drops of mineral oil with eye dropper to tassels or spray mineral oil on tassels. Remove debris from garden in fall and cultivate utterly.
• Natural controls. Trichogramma wasps, Bacillus thuringiensis, advisable nematodes.
• Natural insecticides. Spray more youthful plants with horticultural oil mixed with Bacillus thuringiensis every 2 weeks. Rotenone; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects.
• Plant companions. Plant smartweed as lure crop.

Cutworm

Earwig

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  Description. Elongated to a few/4 inch reddish-brown, leathery forewings, pincers on the pointers of abdomen. Duvet all the way through the day and feed at night time.

• Emergence time. Past due spring.
• Susceptible plants. Many garden plants and vegetables.
• Damage. Feed leaves, plants petals, refined fruit; cross away ragged holes. Only a pest in large numbers.
• Prevention and controls. Rolled wet newspaper or cardboard as traps.
• Natural controls. Tachinid fly.
• Natural insecticides. Spray more youthful plants with natural pyrethrin insecticides; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects. Entice in low-side can with section inch of vegetable oil.
• Plant companions. None.

Eu Corn Borer

• Description. Gray to pink-flesh colored caterpillar with dark head and small brown spots on every phase to a minimum of one inch long. Adult moth has zigzag pattern on wings.
• Emergence time. Caterpillars in spring, moths in early summer time.
• Susceptible plants. Corn, chard, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes.
• Damage. More youthful larvae bite on leaves and tassels; older larvae bore into stalks.
• Prevention and controls. Remove earlier stalks and plant debris in fall or early spring previous than adults emerge; keep grass and weeds down; time planting to avoid insect growth cycle; hand make a choice caterpillars.
• Natural controls. Ladybugs; braconid wasps; tachinid flies; Bacillus thuringiensis.
• Natural insecticides. Ryania; rotenone; sabadilla. Use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects.
• Plant companions. Expand sunflowers as a lure crop.

Flea Beetle

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  Description. Shiny black, brown, or bronze beetles with large hind legs to ⅛ inch long. Leap like fleas when disturbed.

• Emergence time. Over-winter in garden; emerge in spring.
• Susceptible plants. Beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, collards, corn, eggplants, kohlrabi, muskmelons, peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, tomatoes, turnips, watermelons.
• Damage. Chews tiny holes in leaves; causes wilting and slows plant growth.
• Prevention and controls. Cultivate continuously to disturbs eggs; remove earlier plants and debris from garden after harvest; plant inclined plants on the subject of shade-giving crops, beetles do not like color; sprinkle picket ashes on plants; use garlic or scorching pepper spray; cover with spun polyester blanket or other row cover; plant resistant sorts; time planting to avoid insect growth cycle.
• Natural controls. Actually helpful nematodes.
• Natural insecticides. Diatomaceous earth; rotenone; pyrethrum; sabadilla; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects.
• Plant companions. Use bok choy, Chinese language language cabbage, and radishes as lure crops. Interplant crops with collards and tomatoes.

Harlequin Pc virus

Hornworm, Tomato Hornworm

Jap Beetle

Leafhopper

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  Description. Green, brown, or yellow bugs to ⅓-inch long with wedge-shaped wings; bugs switch sideways.

• Emergence time. Spring.
• Susceptible plants. Potatoes, beans, carrots, celery, chard, eggplant, rhubarb, beets, lettuce, spinach, squash, roses.
• Damage. Suck juices from leaves and stems causing stunted, crinkled, mottled, curled leaves; some transmit viruses.
• Prevention and controls. Insect prefers open areas so safe haven inclined plants; cover with spun polyester blanket or other row cover for roughly 4 weeks after plants sprout; plant resistant sorts.
• Natural controls. Green lacewing, braconid wasps, trichogramma wasps.
• Natural insecticides. Diatomaceous earth; insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap; summer time horticultural spray oil; liquid rotenone or pyrethrum; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects.
• Plant companions. Expand corn as a lure crop.

Leaf Miner

Mexican Bean Beetle

Onion Maggot

Slug

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  Description. Mollusk; brown, gray, white, purple, or yellow snails without shells to 2-inches long.

• Emergence time. Early spring; need cool temperatures.
• Susceptible plants. Nearly all vegetables.
• Damage. Eat large, ragged holes in leaves, stems, and fruit.
• Prevention and controls. Hand make a choice and break; sprinkle slugs with salt; place protective borders of sand, lime, or ashes spherical plants; mulch with picket shavings or oak leaves; lure with saucers of stale beer set out at soil level; place boards or newspapers as traps; border with copper bands; protect plants in plastic tunnels.
• Natural controls. Garden birds, woodpeckers, robins; snakes, toads, turtles; black rove beetles, centipedes, ground beetles, soldier beetles devour slugs and slug eggs.
• Natural insecticides. Diatomaceous earth.
• Plant companions. Low-growing color plants will safe haven slugs; hand make a choice from beneath safe haven.

Spider Mite

Squash Pc virus

Squash Vine Borer

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  Description. Fat, white caterpillar with brown head. Adult is moth with crimson, black, and copper rings to 1½-inch long.

• Emergence time. Past due spring.
• Susceptible plants. Vine crops: cucumbers, muskmelons, pumpkins, squash, watermelons.
• Damage. Bores into stems, stems or plant wilts.
• Prevention and controls. Wrap strips of nylon stocking spherical stems to stick adults from laying eggs; mound soil up to blossoms and keep lined; cover with spun polyester blanket or other row cover; plant resistant sorts; time planting to avoid insect growth cycle.
• Natural controls. Trichogramma wasps.
• Natural insecticides. Rotenone; sabadilla; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects. Moreover diatomaceous earth.
• Plant companions. Plant early summer time squash spherical past due winter sorts as lure crop. Spoil infested early summer time squash and replant for past due crop.

Striped Cucumber Beetle

Tarnished Plant Pc virus

Thrips

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  Description. Very tiny to minute insects, yellow, brown, or black with slender, fringed wings; cross away dark fecal pellets in the back of.

• Emergence time. 5 to 15 generations in line with three hundred and sixty five days; sluggish copy in winter.
• Susceptible plants. Onions, beans, cucumbers, corn, melons, squash, tomatoes, many plants.
• Damage. Scrape plant tissue, scars leaves, stems, finish end result; transmit viruses.
• Prevention and controls. Keep garden free of weeds and debris; place aluminum foil mulch spherical plants; diatomaceous earth; soapy water sprays; yellow stick traps.
• Natural controls. Green lacewings, lady bugs, predatory mites.
• Natural insecticides. Liquid rotenone or pyrethrum; insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects; tobacco and sulfur dusts.
• Plant companions. None.

Tomato Fruitworm

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  Description. Spiny caterpillar, white, green, or crimson to 1½ inches long. Adult is brown moth.

• Emergence time. Past due spring.
• Susceptible plants. Tomatoes
• Damage. Feed buds and leaves and later bores into fruit.
• Prevention and controls. Hand make a choice from. Remove debris from garden in fall and cultivate utterly.
• Natural controls. Trichogramma wasps, Bacillus thuringiensis, advisable nematodes.
• Natural insecticides. Spray more youthful plants with horticultural oil mixed with Bacillus thuringiensis every 2 weeks. Rotenone; use with care, insecticides moreover kill advisable insects.
• Plant companions. Plant smartweed as lure crop.

Weevils

Whitefly

Wireworm

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  Description. Larvae of click on on beetles: ⅓ to 1½ inches long; dark brown to yellowish jointed, cylindrical, hard-shelled, legless computer virus continuously perplexed with a millipede.

• Emergence time. Beetles lay eggs in soil in spring; worms emerge and take 2 to 6 years to achieve adulthood.
• Susceptible plants. Potatoes, beets, beans, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, corn, onions, muskmelons, turnips.
• Damage. Chews roots, seeds and tubers; plants wilt and die.
• Prevention and controls. Cultivate to turn worms and discourage egg laying; plant green manure crop identical to clover. Potato lure: bury halved potatoes decrease side down in soil to lure worms then discard potatoes after two days.
• Natural controls. Actually helpful nematodes.
• Natural insecticides. Tobacco dust or tobacco tea.
• Plant companions. Alfalfa and clover crops repel wireworms.