Garden Green
 

Garden Pests

Garden pests such as bugs can ruin your garden by eating your plants. Holes in leaves or whole branches missing are a sure sign of garden pests.

To find out where your main bug problem is, check the undersides of leaves for eggs or immature bugs. You may need to use a magnifying glass for this. If you have holes in your leaves you have bugs, if the leave are yellowed, it is something else.

Once you realize that you have a garden pest problem, you have a few choices about how to proceed. Avoid toxic chemicals if at all possible. They are harmful to more that just the pests, including you. Try introducing good bugs to eat the bad ones. For example, ladybugs will eat aphids. You can also try spraying a soap and water solution on your plants.

If you must turn to a chemical insecticide, use the least toxic one you can find and make sure it is targeted to your particular pest. If it is not targeted, it will kill the good bugs as well. Test the insecticide on a few leaves of the plant and leave for a few days to see if it damages the plant. And remember to wear protective clothing when using chemicals.