Lawn Pests – My HostGator Blog

The more we understand synthetic chemicals, herbicides, and insecticides, the more we learn how harmful they are for the world and its people and animals. Pesticides create more problems than solutions. Spraying garden chemicals to get rid of pests cause health hazards, and sometimes they are not even that effective. They can kill off a lot of pests initially, but eventually, these pests will develop pesticide resistance and come back even stronger. The side effects several synthetic pesticides may have on unintended targets (think of DDT and birds) are another problem. But how can you naturally get rid of bugs in your plants? It depends on what insect you are concerned about. Before knowing exactly what works in your garden to get rid of the pests, Here's the rundown on eight particular pests in your garden. APHIDS Aphids are a common pest in the garden that can cause significant issues. They target a lot of different crops and can also cause a viral disease spread across your garden. Fortunately, aphids are fairly easy to manage organically! There are various natural predators for aphids, such as ladybugs, lacewings, and hoverflies. You may also use onions or other alliums as a companion plant to help repel aphids. Prevention But the following organic pest controls can be used if you have a major infestation to deal with: Neem Oil- diluted and sprayed to repel aphids on your plants Dilute a little dish soap and water to spray on contaminated plants. Soap and water Mix a few drops of essential peppermint, clove, and rosemary oils in a water-filled spray bottle and spray on the infected plants. Hornworms Hornworms are Fat green worms that are excellent at camouflage. Since they are so well hidden, it takes forever to find the little buggers! And though you can control hornworms with biological control such as Bacillus thuringiensis, good soil preparation, handpicking, and attracting beneficial insects are the best way to control them. Prevention A beneficial insect that can help you manage hornworms in your garden is the Braconid wasp. This wasp lays its eggs on the worm, and the larvae will feed on the hornworm when they hatch, so if you come across a white egg-covered hornworm-leave it! And make your garden home to more beneficial insects. To help attract these wasps, use a companion planting. The braconid wasp can be attracted by planting herbs such as basil, coriander, thyme, rosemary, and oregano in your garden. Flea Beetles Flea beetles are tiny black beetles which look like fleas, no surprise there! These common garden pests tend to target crops such as eggplants and brassicas, but they can also 'work' on tomato, pepper, and other nightshade seedlings. So if you're seeing little black bugs on your plants, you're probably dealing with flea beetles. Prevention Diatomaceous soil is the number one defense against flea beetles. From planting time until they begin to bloom, keep the plants heavily dusted with DE. They normally bloom enough that the flea beetles do not bother them anymore.be sure to reapply After heavy dew and storm Potato Beetles The potato can gulp your potato plant's beetle-and its larva. And although this garden insect prefers potatoes, other nightshades such as tomatoes and eggplant will also feed on them. Prevention A few of the ways in which you can control this garden pest are: Companion grow beans for potatoes and eggplants to help repel the beetles. Handpick any eggs, larvae, and adult beetles that you see. Using row covers in areas that are particularly hard hit Use thick mulch at the base of the plants to make finding the plants harder for the beetles. Cabbage worms We all hate steaming a fresh broccoli head and finding dead worms hidden in the pot! An efficient way to keep cabbage worms away from my plants is to plant early. This way, you can get a good harvest before getting infected. Prevention Companion plant to attract beneficial insects with herbs such as tansy, oregano, and thyme To prevent butterflies from laying their eggs on your crops, use floating row covers. Sprinkle cornmeal on the plants Spray tansy oil all over the plant. Or you can carry the plant inside and encourage the children to watch the worms turn into butterflies! If they can't beat you-learn from them! Squash bugs Squash bugs are one of the most feared pests in the garden. In a matter of hours, these guys can take down a large, safe plant. Prevention To get rid of squash bugs, the things to remember most are: Make a routine to Pick squash bugs eggs every day. Use diatomaceous earth to monitor the nymphs on the base of the plant and the underside of the leaves. Use a companion plant with nasturtiums. Attract beneficial Tachinid fly, by planting flowers and herbs Mexican Bean Beetles Garden pests that consume all kinds of beans are Mexican bean beetles- In size and appearance, they are identical to a big ladybug-only more orangish-colored copper. The larvae have odd-looking yellowish soft bodies with black spines around their backs. They will eat your beans, leaving the leaves with a lacy look. In the hot summer months of July and August, plants' damage is most serious, so planting early will help you get a harvest before the pests move in. Prevention A combination of soap or neem oil sprayed on the plants will assist with an infestation, similar to aphids. Companion planting with marigolds, like interplanting with potatoes, will provide some defense, beans will help deter the potato beetle, and the potatoes will help deter the bean beetles. And don't forget to add your daily chore list to pick bean beetles off the plants! Lawn beetles Unfortunately, in our country, these green and copper-colored beetles have very few natural predators, leading them to become one of the most widespread and dangerous garden pests in the United States Today. Get dirty with your hands. The most successful way of managing these pests is still the tried and tested method of handpicking beetles from your lawn or garden. It can take some time, but the impact it can have on your plants' health is well worth the effort. Do this in the early morning, when beetles are most active. Pick the beetles from the grass and other plant life using gloves, try not to pinch or crush them (doing so could attract more beetles). One of the most humane ways to kill beetles is to dispose of them by dumping them in a bucket of soapy water (2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap per 1 gallon of water). Cocktail fruit traps Most beetle traps are unsuccessful; typically, they just invite additional beetles. A can of fruit cocktail, however, may help remove active beetles from your yard quickly. Ferment the drink first by leaving it for a few days in the sun, which will make it more appealing to beetles. Next, put the can on top of a brick or bricks stacked inside a water-filled pail (it is recommended that this trap be kept away from the plants you are trying to protect). The drink attracts the Beatles, and the water drowns them. Drop the fabric Cover your plants with a big enough drop cloth at night. When the Beatles are most involved in the morning, cut the cloth and dispose of the attached beetles using the aforementioned soapy water bucket. Spraying soap and water Inside the spray bottle, mix four tablespoons of dish soap with water. A perfect, all-natural Beetle pesticide is made from this simple solution. Spray on any beetles you see on your lawn & garden or around it. There are thousands of pests in Florida, In general, you can use any of the following techniques: Barriers & Repellents Barriers and repellents can function like a wall that prevents crawling insects from your home, for instance; By planting carrots in toilet paper rolls, cutworms will not get to them. Plants can provide insects with a living barrier, too. Aphids and ants are naturally deterred by peppermint, spearmint, and pennyroyal, so plant them in your garden, and these pests will stay away. You can discourage cutworms, corn earworms, and other pests by simmering cedar twigs in water and then pouring the (cooled water over plants. Snails would not cross a line of lime. Similarly, cayenne pepper or iron phosphate, natural inorganic material, is typically used as a dietary substitute to keep ants away. Beneficial Insects Lady beetles, green lacewings, and praying mantis are only a handful of the handy insects that prey on the garden pests. These "good" bugs can be attracted into the garden with enticing habitat (food, shelter, and water), or they can be bought and released into the garden. For them to thrive, you would need to create a safe habitat. There are several reasons why you should welcome them into your garden. They are better and more reliable than pesticides over the long term, but first, you will need to do a little research to decide your particular pest problem and which beneficial insects to recruit to help. Luckily, the Internet, like your local extension service, offers a variety of services. Biological Pest Control naturally occurring pest diseases caused by protozoa, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, are non-toxic to humans, livestock, wildlife but effective against targetted insects. They are also less likely than chemical pesticides to develop insect resistance, and they even break down in the environment easily. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which is mostly used against leaf and needle feeding caterpillars, is one of the better-known biological pesticides. It is present in soils worldwide; this bacterium naturally paralyzes the insects' digestive tracts that consume it. Spinosad is an insecticide derived from the Saccharopolyspora Spinosa bacterium and can be used as an alternative to malathion. Spinosad has been found to kill medflies but not other pests that eat it. It is licensed for use on food crops. They can also control caterpillars, leafminers, fruit flies, borers. Milky spore powder aimed at Japanese beetles' white grubs is a third (of many) biological pest controls. They consume the bacteria when the grubs hit the lawn's surface to eat (usually in July or August). Within the fare, these milky spores germinate and spread, killing the beetle. Traps & Lures We are all familiar with traps with one with the big hunk of cheese that shows up in cartoons. But traps are also effective against insects. To attract pests and catch them, traps use visual lures, pheromones or food, without damaging other insects, animals, or the ecosystem. Traps may either be used to track a population or to regulate it. Insect traps can help decide when the insect appears, how many there are, and other valuable details in determining what to do with a particular pest when tracking a population. Traps used to monitor a population do precisely that; they trap and (usually kill insects or rodents. Often traps can take care of your pest problem alone; other times, they are better used in combination with another pest control method. For instance, Flytraps work well to attract and capture adult filth flies while attacking fly parasites and killing young fly pupae. Oils and Soaps For soft-bodied, sucking insects such as aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, and mealybugs, insecticidal soaps and oils are most powerful. They can be used to monitor their immature larval stages and eggs while being less successful against many hard-shelled, adult insects (such as beetles). Consequently, when using these natural insecticides, the timing of the application is an important factor. In Insecticidal Soap (this is not the same thing as dish soap), the fatty acids penetrate the insect's outer coating and cause their cells to collapse, killing the insect. It must be applied directly to the insect, and when it is dry, it will not be successful. Insecticidal soap, such as praying mantis and ladybugs, is considered a less-toxic pesticide and will not harm beneficial insects. Horticultural oil is a highly processed paraffinic oil that is sprayed on plant foliage until combined with water. It functions by covering and suffocating insect pests and their eggs and can be used as both a dormant and growing season spray throughout the year. D-Limonene, which is made from citrus rind oil, is a relatively new organic insecticide that works by destroying the waxy coating of an insect's respiratory system. D-Limonene can be used to kill fleas, ants, and cockroaches and is suitable for use in the kitchen and around the house. In a recent report, the toxic component in Raid®, d-Limonene (found in Orange Guard), has been shown to suppress cockroach populations more effectively than Dursban. Fungicides By ensuring good soil drainage and sufficient air circulation, plant infestation can also be prevented. It's time to apply a fungicide when it doesn't work and your plants begin to show signs of rust and rotted tissue. Sulfur and copper are two organic fungicides with a wide range of poor toxicity to mammals, including humans. However, before implementing them, you do need to exercise caution and read the directions. It's also necessary to respect their limitations on temperature. On vegetables, roses, fruits, and grass, a copper fungicide may be used. It should be used for the best results before the disease is noticeable or when it is first detected in the plant. Liquid Copper Fungicide is successful and is approved for organic gardening against peach leaf curl, powdery mildew, black spot, rust, anthracnose, fire blight, and bacterial leaf spot. Thoroughly spray all plant pieces, and repeat every 7-10 days. Sulfur fungicide is a wet powder that can be used on fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The extremely fine particle size provides better fruit and leaf surface coverage and adhesion, resulting in greater efficiency. The powdery mildew, rust, scab, brown rot, and much more are effective against Sulfur Plant Fungicide.