It is a good idea to learn about garden pests most common in your area. This is the only way to keep your plants safe. By learning the signs left behind on your plants, you can often know what is ailing them by the evidence you find and finding the appropriate pesticide to combat any infestation. Some conditions can make your garden susceptible to infestation of lawn pests, such as inadequate drainage.
One way a lawn pest can harm a plant is by sucking nutrition from them. This will inevitably destroy their leaves, stems, roots, and buds. Some common garden pests are slugs, snails, mites and grasshoppers. A large infestation of grasshoppers can completely destroy a lawn because they will devour the stems, grass, vegetables, leaves and fruit.
Another common pest is called a spider mite. It is indigenous to North America and attacks both indoor and outdoor plants. This is an extremely destructive types of lawn pests. Keep an eye on your plant leaves, as spider mites live on the underside of leaves and feed off the leaf tissue, sucking away the plants nutrients. If you notice light colored dots on your leaves, these could be the feeding marks left behind. As the feeding continues, the leaves will turn yellow, dry up, and fall off. These garden pests are common in dry and hot conditions. An interesting thing to note is that they go through 3 molting stages. After the first molting stage they are called nymphs and have 8 legs. After mating, it is possible to produce up to 300 eggs over a couple of weeks. From egg to adult takes five days, which is very rapid reproduction, thus you can have a rather large infestation quickly.
There are others that are found on the underside of leaves as well. Whiteflies are another troublesome pest. They are found in large groups, and are also are sap-sucking insects. These garden pests are quite destructive creatures. They secrete honeydew, so leaves will be sticky, or covered in a black, sooty mold. There are 250 vegetable and ornamental plants that are among the host plants for these pests. Whiteflies reproduce rapidly as well, with 200 to 400 eggs being laid, and they go from eggs to adults in 25 days at room temperature. They have a life span of one to two months.
Ladybugs are great to have in your garden. Their food of choice is aphids. Aphids will destroy a plant right before your eyes. It is said that you can mix a bit of soda pop and water together and lightly spray the ladybugs. This makes the wings slightly sticky and wont open for them to fly away for a minimum of about a week. This will keep them around to feast on your menacing pests a little longer. You can keep ladybugs in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks releasing a few at a time. Just make sure you don't freeze them. Ladybugs will live up to a year.
Garden pests vary in size from deer, rabbit, squirrels, on down to micro pests. There are so many different pests that can attack your gardens. This is the reason you need to identify which pest to target. There are many forms of treatment for your garden, depending on the pest you have. If you contact a professional sales person, they can give you all the options available for your specific problems. Remember, the more information you can gather on the pest in your garden, the better chances of ridding your yard from them.
The professional sales person can help you determine if the pest you have are beneficial for your plants and flowers, as some garden visitors are actually natural helpers. They will also give you advice on whether or not you should plant some companion plants or flowers to help maintain a your garden.
