Types of Insect Pests in Your Garden: Control Methods, Solutions, and Treatment

Types of Insect Pests in Your Garden: Control Methods, Solutions, and Treatment

Every gardener faces pest problems from time to time. Learning how to overcome the small hazards of leaf peeling without synthetic chemical pesticides is an essential step in developing a healthy, productive garden. The best method to maintain a healthy garden is to educate yourself and learn to find common “bad bugs.” Inspect the garden regularly for early detection of problems. The sooner an insect is identified, the easier it will be to manage it in earth-friendly ways. Below are the different types of insect pests in your garden, and their control tips can be given below;

Types of insect pests in your garden

Aphids 

Identification – Aphids are small, pear-shaped insects. There are both winged and non-winged aphids, depending on their species and stage of life. 

Precautions: Promote beneficial predatory insects by adding small flowering plants to the garden. You can remove aphids from plants by spraying a rapid stream of water from a hose. Aphids can easily squeeze by hand or cover the plants with floating rows to protect them from pests. 

Organic Control: Use horticultural oil, insecticide soap, or neem-based pesticides to eliminate challenging aphid infections. Use a natural pesticide, such as a basic insect repellent, which uses a simple soapy water solution to remove plants. If that doesn’t work, upgrade to a stronger acting neem oil. Also, encourage natural predators, such as lacewings, ladybugs, and aphids. 

Ants

These insects are rarely plants’ past; they are beneficial insects that feed on other insects. Ants are large carpenter ants (8-15 mm long) that can cause significant damage to homes, and very few cause trouble when entering homes. Carpenter ants need to be identified, and if they are indoors, a pest control company should be hired to control them. Little annoying ants build nests outside their homes to find food. 

Ant control – In the home, wash countertops and cupboards with soap and water to eliminate any food source. Place food in lightly covered containers. Rinse containers that need to be recycled. Get out and traps and bait in areas of high activity.

Asparagus beetle 

Identification: Adult asparagus beetles are 1/4 long. They are black with creamy yellow spots and a red mark just behind their head. Larvae are military green, gerbil-like creatures with blackheads. 

Preventive measures: Adult asparagus beetles live in the winter in the debris of the beetle garden, so cut the ferns and clean the fallen leaves in the asparagus patch in the fall. 

Control: Protect emerging spears from floating row coverings and keep them in place throughout the harvest season. Find small, deep eggs on spears and hold them by the hand. Remove larvae from plants daily with a soft broom – once on the ground, spiders and beneficial insects will find and eat them. Organic Control: Neem- or spinosad-based products effectively control garden pests.

Scales

You will see mostly adult female scale insects, which look like bumps on the stems, leaves, or fruits of plants. Scale insects suck plant sap, weakening the plant and causing the plants to turn yellow and fall off. Honeydew also accumulates on leaves and fruits. It is unsightly and can promote disease. 

Get rid of scales: With minor infections, remove and destroy infected plant parts or use soapy water to clean the scales from the twigs, then wash. Major infections should be treated with inert oil or summer oil spray. 

Squash bugs 

As the name implies, squash insects are found mostly on squash plants and pumpkins. They’re big, look like they’re wearing armor, and look like stink bugs. They suck the sap of plants and wither. 

Control: At the end of the growing season, clean the affected plants and throw them in the trash (this disrupts the squash bug life cycle). 

Scrape the egg cluster (found on the back of the leaf) or spray neem on egg clusters and juvenile squash worms. Because squash bugs are found early in the season, cover floating rows until pollination time is up. Insects are not the only insects in the garden. 

Mealybugs 

Mealybugs are common both indoors and outdoors, where they cause plants to grow, wither and turn yellow. The cotton protective cover easily identifies insects. In addition, insect repellent soap works well against insects. Mild infections on indoor plants can also be removed by dipping a toothpick or cotton swab in alcohol rubbing. 

Leaf rollers 

Leaf rollers are 10 to 15 small caterpillars of different colors that eat buds, leaves, and fruits from the first signs of plant growth in spring to mid-summer. These insects are usually tree and shrub insects and are most active in April, May, and June. Some feed individually, and some in colonies. Some drooping leaves feed on the top and others on the upper or lower surface of the open leaves. Some of these bugs cause significant damage, but most are just annoying.

Leaf Roller Control – Some leaf rollers and related caterpillars live on shrubs and trees in winter. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is the best control for this pest. Pyrethrins are also effective in controlling products. However, if the pests are stored inside the wrapped leaves, they can be difficult to control with any product.

Most caterpillars are adult insects. A worm whose larvae are very similar to leaf rollers is a beetroot; it is a viburnum beetle. Before spraying, check which plant the insects are eating as Bt beetle does not work on larvae. Pyrethrins will have to be used on this insect.