Bugs and insects are a huge pain for many 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 could purchase bait to get rid of them, but if you put a shallow dish containing beer in the garden, they will be attracted 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. You can usually eliminate them with some milky spore added to the earth. Grubs later become beetles, which can be wiped out using stomach poison insecticide.
Cutworms typically cut down the stem near the bottom of the plant. Putting a paper collar around the plants is really the only way to keep them away.
Corn earworms will infiltrate a cob of corn while it’s still on the stalk and consume the kernels. Likewise, a tomato fruitworm consumes the insides of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Try using an insecticide that specifically targets earworms.
Borers are found in many vine plants with thick stems. You have to cut them out of the plant in order to get rid of them. You might end up having to pull up the plant and destroying it if you find a borer near the base of the plant. You can usually get rid of them with insecticide.
Another annoying pest is the beetle, which likes to eat the leaves on your plants. 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 frequently found in a vegetable garden. Typically, you’ll come across bunches of tiny, soft bugs in assorted colors. Insecticide soap or neem oil gets rid of aphids.
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