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Garden Pests

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Garden Pests

Everyone who has ever planted a garden has met one or all of these garden pests. These animals need to eat our plants, vegetables and flowers to live. Under other circumstances we think deer, rabbits, squirrels and butterflies are cute, but, not when they invade our gardens. Here, we'll examine ways to control the harmful effects of these creatures.

I photographed this deer browsing through the landscaping behind a suburban California home. And I've seen deer roaming in the farmer's fields in rural Charlotte, Michigan.

Ants are garden pests because they feed on honeydew, a sugary sap produced by harmful garden insects. Aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, and soft scales make the honeydew. The ants fight off other beneficial insects that would otherwise destroy the aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, and soft scales.

The ants in this picture are from Yard Pest Problems on King County, Seattle, website . The website has lots of good advice. One thing that impressed me was the suggestion that you identify the insect pest in your garden, then use the least toxic remedy first. Strong chemicals from pesticides are being found in our water supply and they can eventually produce diseases in humans.

Garden Pest Identification

The greatest deterrent to every would-be gardener is coping with weeds and dealing with plants that fail to thrive no matter how well nurtured they have been. This is a guide to the most common garden problems, and some rarer ones also, and how to identify and eradicate them using organic and inorganic means. You have to know which pest has invaded your garden before you can eliminate it.

The Complete Illustrated Handbook of Garden Pests and Diseases and How to Get Rid of Them: A comprehensive guide to over 750 garden problems and how to identify, control and treat them successfully

by: Andrew Mikolajski

Amazon Price: $8.55 (as of 05/31/2012)

Squirrel Garden Pests

Squirrels go after flower bulbs like crocus and tulips. They also eat berries, fruits, nuts, seedlings, and bark. I had a small fig tree from which the squirrels took fruit just before it was ripe enough to pick. It was really frustrating and I never knew how to win the fight.

Organic Gardening for Dummies by Whitman and DeJohn suggests motion detector-activated water sprinklers could solve the problem. Squirrels do not like to get wet. We turn the hose on squirrels now when they bother wild birds at the bird feeder.

Rabbit Garden Pest

Rabbits are so cute to watch. I enjoy seeing their round white tails as they hop away across the yard. The rabbit in this picture lives on my street. It comes by every afternoon. Rabbits remain in a territory of about 10 acres in which they feed upon plant life. We aren't growing any vegetables, so, the rabbits just eat grass, which is OK with us.

But, if rabbits are eating the bark off your trees you can set a trap. After the animal is trapped, you will need to move it to a distant location before releasing the animal.

Pest Control Traps

Product Description
From the Manufacturer
"Installs in seconds with safe removal! If you need to catch a raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, etc. but you don't have the heart to shoot it, then use the HDC Animal Trap. You can Catch the little guy in your garden, and then release him in the woods."

Product Description
"Ready to use right out of the box. Use the large trap for raccoons, cats, opossums, and other large nuiscance animals. The medium is perfect for squirrels, rabbits, muskrats and more. Weight sensitive platform lets you tune to the weight class of the animal your after. Just place the trap in the infested area, set the bait behind the platform, and walk away. Once to a release location simple open the door, the handle guard keeps you and the animal from contact."

HDC 38875 2-Piece Humane Outdoor Live Animal Trap Set

Amazon Price: $49.95 (as of 05/31/2012)

Here's a user review of the trap:
" Did The Job Well, June 30, 2008
By D. Fender
We were having big problems with raccoons getting on our deck nightly and destroying flower pots, bird feeders, and anything else they thought might contain food. Got the two trap combination, as it was cheaper than buying the larger trap singly (?!?), and immediately set it out on the deck at dusk. The next morning I found the trap had been tripped externally (no 'coon), and dragged about 15 ft while being stripped of its bait (cat food). Changed the trap's location to a corner of the deck, placed a chair on the open side to prevent sliding and reach-ins, and reset it. Over the next four mornings I caught four raccoons, which I then spirited well away from the house. We have not had any raccoon incidents since. Be advised the trap door is spring-loaded, which traps better than gravity doors, but is more difficult to open when you want to release a scared and sometimes aggressive animal. Also be forewarned: trapped raccoons (and probably other animals) will seriously soil whatever the trap is placed on, and do they ever stink! Also, feral raccoons are a primary carrier of rabies, so use due care."

Garden Pest Traps on eBay

Insect Garden Pests

This type of garden pest includes aphids, bean leaf beetles, billbugs, black vine weevils, borers, cabbage loopers, cinch bugs, codling moths, Colorado potato beetles, corn earworms, tomato fruitworms, cucumber beetles, cutworms, armyworms, flea beetles, gypsy moths,cabbage moths, Japanese beetles, lace bugs, leaf miners, sawflies, leafhoppers, nematodes, plum curculios, root maggots, rose slugs, scales, spider mites, squash bugs, tent caterpillars, thrips, tomato hornworms, webworms, white grubs, whiteflies, and wireworms.

People often spray insecticides to eliminate insects. This sign was left on our grass after our home owner's association hired a company to spray insecticide. From this warning you can see that the chemicals used are dangerous.

Many of the insects can be controlled or eliminated by lizards, birds, or lady bugs. Hanging a bird feeder and keeping it full of seed will encourage the birds to visit. If you need ladybugs they can be ordered from Amazon or Ebay.

Live Ladybugs on eBay

Live Ladybugs on Amazon

Ladybugs, also called Lady Beetles, are beneficial insects that eat aphids and other destructive insects. They appear naturally in many gardens when the destructive insect population is large enough to attract them. If you buy ladybugs, you need to provide another source of food to keep them in your garden.

Green Anole - Beneficial animal in my garden on orchid trellis eats insects.

Garden Pest YouTube vids

Garden Girl TV: Natural Insect Control with Diatomaceous Earth: by GardenGirltv | video info

164 ratings | 57,441 views

Patti Moreno the Garden Girl shows you how she controls insects in her garden, by using diatomaceous earth! http://www.gardengirltv.com and http://www.urbansustainableliving.com Use the CC button to view subtitles in any language. Natural Garden Pest Insect Control Using Diatomaceous eEarth So a lot of people ask me, Patti you are an organic gardener, what do you do about all of this little bugs and slugs and all that stuffs that farmers for so long had been trying to come back. Well, I have one of the most amazing products that I discovered. It is actually been use for a really, really long time and it is called Diatomaceous earth Now, Diatomaceous earth is actually fertilized algae that is found in sedimentary rock and it forms of powdery substance pretty easily. If you are asking what are you doing right now? Why are you watering your garden and watering all the leaves of your garden? Well the reason why I am doing that because I am going to spread the Diatomaceous earth or DE as also known on of my plants. And I want my powder to stick to the leaves of the plants so they have to be moist; they have to have water on them. In order for the dust to stick to the plants, now this is the Diatomaceous earth . This is actually a duster and what we use to dust the crops and let me show you in here. That is the powdery substance, now this is a completely safe for humans and for animals. So really do not have to worry about it getting you know into any other animals that might be around and this is the fun part. [DEMO] And you can also use it indoor, this is great if you have got dogs and in the summer time they tend to get fleas you spread these all over there bedding and this is actually really, really safe for human consumption and also animal consumption. Not that I would recommend that you eat it but it is safe. Now Diatomaceous earth , the powder of the fossilized algae gets on to the insects and it is basically dehydrates them and they die. Of all you urbanized out their who are suffering your apartments with cockroaches go and get some DE. This is the organic all natural way to go to get the job done. I am Patti Moreno the Garden Girl. Thanks for watching. Distributed by Tubemogul.

automatically generated by YouTube

Garden Pest Flickr Photos

Make a photo of the pests in your garden. Upload your pests to Flickr and they may appear for all the world to see.

Formiga-dourada / Ants by Cesar e Camilla

automatically generated by Flickr

Garden Pest Blog Posts from Google

See what bloggers are saying about garden pests. Maybe you can find the answer to your garden problem here.

Garden pests can be repelled naturally: None of these are foolproof, but they do make your gardening against pests easier. Part II of repelling garden pests naturally will cover deer, rabbits, raccoons, and rodents. Aideen Vega-Van Auken is a Master Gardener. EDITOR'S NOTE: Questions are ...
Yardsmart: Ants are ranchers: Ants want to make your garden a home for their livestock. Ants favor two insects that they do not eat, but encourage to reproduce and spread into much larger colonies. Why? Because these pests that suck life out of your plants secrete a sweet liquid ...
[Ant Control] Common Pest Species of Ants: They are pests in structural, household, industrial, garden and turf in urban environments. To control such industrious pests, we must know which ants are being dealt with, as well as where they nest, how they behave, and what they are feeding on.
Gardening with Laurie: Taller grass means deeper roots, less watering: Your Spinosad or Bacillus thuringiensis insecticide products can safely get rid of these pests. Until next time, let's try to garden with nature, not against it, and maybe all our weeds will become wildflowers. Laurie Garretson is a Victoria gardener ...

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JohannTheDog Oct 6, 2009 @ 6:22 am | delete

Mum and I love organic gardening...many times if we leave the pests alone, they take care of each other :) Great ideas here.

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CoolFoto Aug 11, 2009 @ 11:30 am | delete

Evelyn, if you had ever been bitten by a red ant, I think you would consider them pests where ever you found them. :)

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Evelyn_Saenz Aug 11, 2009 @ 10:57 am | delete

I never considered ants to be pests in the garden before. They sure are amazing creatures.

I have heard that chickens can be allowed to roam in a garden to eat the bugs. Do you know anything about that? I would be afraid that they might eat the vegetables along with the bugs.

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aj2008 Aug 11, 2009 @ 3:11 am | delete

I like the humane methods you have outlined. We have squirrels nesting in our garden but as they cause no damage we are leaving them be - it probably helps that we feed the birds and of course the squirrels eat some of it too!

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sittonbull Jul 23, 2009 @ 12:17 am | delete

As you so aptly point out...It's a splendid battle out there with Mother Nature when you try to grow a garden. Of course the effort, if successful, is really worthwhile when the garden is ready for harvest. Nothing like the taste and value of "home grown" vegetables and fruits!
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