Pests That Go After Gardens and Plants

June 29, 2020

Summertime around here means pleasant nights spent outside with family and friends, but it also means an uptick in problem pests. This is a problem for any home or business, but it isn’t just the basements and walls of your home that you need to protect: gardens can also be a target for a specific type of pest. So what are the most common garden pests, and what can you do to stop them? We have some answers!

Animals

There are a few animals native to this region that can be the perpetrators of garden and plant damage. Rabbits, rats, and opossums are all drawn to leafy plants, so if you are seeing large chunks missing from the leaves of some of your plants, there’s a good chance it is one of these critters. Usually though, when you’re talking about garden pests, the more common damage-causers are a number of different insects, including...

Aphids

Aphids are a headache for almost any gardener. These tiny, pear-shaped insects feed on the juices of plants and will go after basically any part of a plant to get to them, including fruit, roots, stems, buds, flowers, and leaves. There are a few signs of an aphid presence in your garden, including misshapen or yellowing leaves, leaves and/or stems covered in a sticky substance, and a black fungus growing on your plants.

Caterpillars

Different types of caterpillars feast on different sorts of plants, which makes them a nuisance that can cause damage to nearly any garden! This includes everything from parsley, dill, and fennel to flowers, fruits, cabbages, and even mustard plants. In other words, if you have a pretty diverse garden, there’s a solid chance that caterpillar will come crawling to make your garden their feasting ground, so keep an eye out for these disruptive creatures this summer!

Grasshoppers

These herbivores aren’t just incredible leapers; they also have a major appetite for many plants. Unlike many of the other insects on this list so far, grasshoppers are a little bit pickier and tend to go after a few specific crops. This includes small grains, corn, alfalfa, soybeans, cotton, rice, clover, grasses, and tobacco. Grasshoppers will also sometimes eat lettuce, carrots, beans, sweet corn, and onions, so if you’re growing food in your garden, be on the lookout for a grasshopper presence.

Japanese Beetles

Japanese Beetles are active in North Carolina from mid-late May until late June, which means that right now is their peak season. While they can be annoying to see crawling all around your garden, Japanese Beetles rarely cause severe damage to plants but instead cause purely aesthetic damage. Still, if you want a nice looking garden, a Japanese Beetle presence can very quickly become a major nuisance.

Spiders

Spiders don’t cause actual damage to gardens, but they will lurk in the leafy shades of a garden, laying in wait to prey on insects that they can pounce on for a nice snack. So while spiders aren’t going to be a problem for your garden, they can very quickly move from the garden to the home. You have to weigh your tolerance for a spider presence with the possibility that they might move from the garden and into your house, and depending on the type of spider that you have on your hands, you may very quickly find a spider hunting pests isn’t worth the risk of it making its way indoors. 

Garden pests don’t just stay in the garden; some (like spiders) will start to make their way indoors, which you definitely don’t want. That’s why it’s so important to have a protection plan in place that will keep your home and property pest-free. A-1 Pest Control can help. While most garden pest control can be DIY projects, once those pests- especially animals- begin to move into the home, you’ll need professional pest control. That’s why we offer both wildlife control and rodent control to keep those pesky critters outside where they belong! Looking to schedule a free estimate? Just get in touch and we’ll help you take care of whatever pest problem you’re having as soon as possible.