Now that summer is here some gardeners are finding holes appearing in the leaves of their garden plants and are concerned that this damage will end up destroying their flowers or killing their plants. People want to know how to eliminate these worms, bugs and beetles that appear to be harming their plants. Many times it is not an easy task to identify what is causing the problem and the reason is that we cannot find any critters. Some bugs are active at night and only for a very short time so they cannot be seen. Others are tiny and it is hard to see them.
There are some caterpillars that may nibble on some of our plants and only cause cosmetic damage and will not weaken or kill them. Some of these caterpillars may even develop into butterflies so we don’t necessarily want to eliminate them. In general most insects will not cause serious damage to our plants if they only make a few holes in the leaves so there is no need to panic and try to kill them. On the other hand there are some insects that can cause a great deal of damage and we can normally see these bugs if we know what we are looking for and when to look for them.
Some insects that can be a serious threat to our plants are spider mites, bagworms, scales, borers and aphids. If you google these pests before they cause damage you will know what to look for and it will be easier to find a pesticide that will help you control them. Another option is to wait until you see the damage and then take a plant sample to your local nursery to have the bug identified so the correct control measure can be prescribed. If the damage is from a disease the control method will be different than if an insect is causing the problem. And sucking insect control will be different than that for chewing insects so it is important to properly identify what bug is causing the damage so the correct measures can be used to control them.
Remember it is not necessary to control every little nibble on our plants, this will help us avoid using too many chemicals that can cause problems to our pollinators and damage our environment.
Our pollinators are important for our food supply so let’s be sure to protect them and only apply pesticides when it is necessary and when we do use these plant protectors that we us them according to the label and handle them safely.
The MVG Gardening Team
meadowview.com
