Don't let the euphoria of spring turn into the paranoia of summer. Gardeners shouldn't be panicking every time they see a hole in a leaf or bean that's been munched on. There will always be insects in your garden. Start to worry when there aren't. Some insects are pests, but it usually takes a whole lot of them to do real damage. So keep things in check. Most insects have their favorite plants; plant a lot of variety and confuse them. And even if your cosmos has a bad year, you can always enjoy your coreopsis.
Some insects are just around for a week or two. There's no sense spraying for Japanese beetles once they've burrowed into the ground to lay eggs. There's also no sense in spraying until you know what the problem is. Black mold on a leaf could man a plant fungus disease or it could be growing on aphid honeydew. Get rid of the aphids and you'll get rid of the mold.
This little guy to the right is a baby ladybug. She's going to be feasting on a whole lot of aphids during her lifetime. It's really important to start learning what insects are your allies in the garden and how to attract them. Then, even if you see one of the bad guys, you can relax and know that his time in your garden is going to be short.
- Easy Pest Management with Balance
- 10 Good Guy Insects
- How to Attract the Good Guys
- Recipes to Cook Up for Beneficial Insects
- Pest Control with Companion Planting
Photo: Lady Beetle Nymph © Marie Iannotti
Comments
this is my first time at gardening an i planted sweet corn by the seeds well my corn husk started to turn black an started swelling up i’ve been on line to try to see if i can fix the problem i still have no answer not sure what i did wrong i did how ever dig them all up an i will try agsin next year so i won’t make the same mistake twice what should i do different
Sounds like maybe it was corn smut, a fungus that grows on the corn kernels. Some people consider it a delicacy, but I don’t like the looks of it.
It’s hard to prevent. Your best bet is to plant a resistant variety. Getting rid of all the existing smut will help prevent the spores from lingering in the garden.
I’m a learning gardener. We bought our home in the summer of ’08, the rest year was limited exclusively to clearing brush from a yard that had been let go for 5 straight years. Come spring 2009 I got into putting in something attractive. We had left something we still cannot identify, but was clearly planted by the previous owners, it flowers something nice. I noticed leaves were being chomped on something fierce, most had holes eaten through and many leaves were nearly all gone. I examined closely and found the shrub was covered in hundreds of exactly those things in the photo. Hundreds. Convinced those were the cause, I got all “Better Living Through Chemistry” on them (the “guys” at Home Depot recommended it) and sprayed the shrub.
I got ‘em all!
Then I researched what those were.
I felt so awful.
The worst thing in my garden this year is an out of control situation with slugs on my hostas and daylilies. I’ve discovered they are fond fond fond of Budweiser. Is there a benefit to having slugs that I should tolerate them and not tempt them with drowning-through-beer?
Curmudgeon, that’s an excellent question. I certainly don’t know of any benefit from slugs. I rate them right up there with mosquitoes. I’m sure they have a place in the world somewhere, but they’re simply destructive in the garden.
Corn Smut – Try to plant the corn in a different location next time. Clean up all the old stalks and get them far out of the garden.
Slugs – Not a single use, drown them in beer.
Speaking of imperfections, I have had to get use to the fact that my tomatoes will never look as “pretty” and uniform as the ones at the store. Mine will have a spot or blemish and be all different sizes. But I do have some advantages:
1 Taste!
2 No pesticides used/No gasoline used to ship them in from far away.
I find some of the ugliest tomatoes are the tastiest. They’re for eating, not viewing, anyway. Right?
Of course, so far all I’ve gotten this year is one pathetic, little ripe tomato. What good is a heat wave if all the plants are going to shut down?
Instead of spraying pesticides on the bugs I don’t like, I invite predators, such as praying mantids or ladybugs, over to dine on the aphids. Every other year, I buy and release a new egg hatch of the beneficial insects. The praying mantids stay in the garden longer than the ladybugs and continue to reproduce, probably because they like the food supply. I also encourage bats to linger, with a bat house, to help control the mosquito population.
When I first moved into my house, we had some local bats and they were great. They’ve flown off, but the mosquitoes are still here.
I’ve never had a praying mantis. I should give them a try.
Slugs: I used to have lots of slugs, my yard is mostly shade and wet due to heavy clay soils. I found a fertilizer with beneficial soil microbes in it called Dr. Earth and the problem was solved! I think the microbes helped condition my soil to allow for better drainage so no more bad wet, slugs and fungus
I’ve heard of Dr. Earth. Nice to hear you like it. It certainly sounds good enough to try as a fertilzer alone, but what a nice bonus to cut back on the slugs.