Scarlet Lily Beetle – Lilioceris lilii – by Julie Herne
Scarlet Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) is a relative newcomer to the gardens of the northern states of North America, the scarlet lily beetle may look attractive, but its tenacity and appetite for your lilies will soon cause you to “unfriend” it. Of all the garden pests you might find in your back yard, this is both one [...]
Woolly Vine Scale on Ribes – Black Current – Pulvinaria vitis syn. P. ribesiae – Pulvinaria scales
Woolly Vine Scale on Ribes (or Black Currents) is best controled by physical removal of the insect. Spinosad is a natural pesticide that can be sprayed on the Ribes. If you can catch an infestation in its early stages, the scales can be brushed off bark with an old toothbrush and soapy water, or scraped off leaves with [...]
Mealy bug – woolly aphid
Mealy bugs are certainly the worst and more common insect that attack cactus and succulents, They can live on the plant or on the roots in the soil and are capable of very rapidly killing large specimens. It is easier to keep mealy bugs out of a collection of cacti and succulents than to control [...]
Lygus
The insects appear as small oval creatures. Adult lygus are approximately 3 mm wide and 6 mm long, colored anything in a range from pale green to reddish brown or black. The bugs can be solid shaded or mottled, and have a distinctive triangle or V-shape on their backs. Adults are capable of flight, and will often [...]
Locusts – grasshoppers
Locusts are part of a large group of insects commonly called grasshoppers which have big hind legs for jumping. Locusts belong to the family called Acrididae. Locusts differ from grasshoppers in that they have the ability to change their behaviour and habits and can migrate over large distances. When conditions are favourable for reproduction, locust [...]
Leafminers – Sawfly Leafminers – Elm leafminer
Leafminers are insects that have a habit of feeding within leaves or needles, producing tunneling injuries. Several kinds of insects have developed this habit, including larvae of moths (Lepidoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), sawflies (Hymenoptera) and flies (Diptera). Most of these insects feed for their entire larval period within the leaf. Some will also pupate within the [...]
Leafhopper
Leafhopper adults are elongated, wedge shaped and somewhat triangular in cross-section. They jump and fly off readily. Depending on species, they range in size from 1/8 to 1/2-inch and their bodies are colored yellow, green, gray or they may be marked with color patterns. Nymphs resemble adults but are wingless. They can run rapidly, occasionally [...]
Leaf-feeding beetles/insects
Beetles are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings. The beetle’s exoskeleton is made up of numerous plates called sclerites, separated by thin sutures. This design provides armored defenses while maintaining flexibility. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform, although specific organs and appendages may vary greatly in appearance and function between the many families in the [...]
Leaf beetle larvae
Adults are 1/4” to 3/8” long, oval, yellow to olive-green, with longitudinal dark stripes running the length of the wing covers. There are three black spots behind the head. Larvae are worm-like, up to 1/2” long when mature, and dull yellow with black stripes. Eggs are yellow-orange, pointed and laid in clusters. Eggs turn purple-black [...]
Imported cabbageworm
Wingspan about 2 inches (5.1 cm) (male slightly smaller), with a black area near the tip of the forewing and a small black spot on the front edge of each hind wing. Female has two black spots on each forewing; male has only one. Velvet-like green, with a faint yellow stripe down their back, a [...]
Grasshoppers
Found throughout North America, the 200+ species of grasshoppers range in size from 1″ to 2 1/2″ and in color from brown to yellow to the familiar green. Some do not fly at all although some are excellent flyers and all have enlarged hind leg bones that enable them to leap and jump over relatively [...]
Fungus gnat
Fungus gnats are tiny mosquito-like insects, about 1/8 inch in length. You will generally first notice them darting about new seedlings. Adult fungus gnats are mostly an annoyance, but the larva can do damage to young plants and seedlings by feeding on the new, tender roots. It is also thought that they feed on the [...]
Fruit flies
There are four stages in this growth process; egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Following is a (very) brief description of each of them. Stage 1: Egg – Fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs in their lifetime of less than two weeks! They will only lay their eggs in the surface of moist, organic [...]
Fleahoppers
Nymphs and adults frequent the stems and surfaces of plant leaves, sucking the sap from individual cells and and causing their death. The result is a whitish or yellowish speckling on the foliage. Extensive feeding may cause stunting of plant growth and death of seedlings. Deposition of black spots of fecal material on the plant [...]
Fire Ants – Solenopsis wagneri or Solenopsis invicta
Fire ants are nasty, stinging, swarming ants. Every year they cost Americans more than $6 Billion in property damage, hospital trips, skin treatments and fire ant control efforts. Because of their attraction to electricity, fire ants are responsible for knocking out street lights, airport runway lights and countless household electrical devices. Every year, fire [...]
Fall Webworm
The large silk webs enclosing tips of branches are sure signs of fall webworms. The caterpillars remain inside the webbing, and if food runs out new foliage is encased. The caterpillars are covered with long white to yellowish tan hairs. Two races of fall webworms occur in North America, the blackheaded and redheaded races. The [...]
European Corn Borer
During its lifetime, the European corn borer goes through four stages of development : egg, larva (borer), pupa, and adult (moth). These four stages constitute a generation. The larva goes through five instars, or larval stages, of development. During the fifth instar, all larvae either prepare to pupate and become adults or enter diapause. Diapause, [...]
Elm Leaf Beetle
Elm leaf beetle is a serious defoliator of elms. Insect predators, such as predacious stink bugs and plant bugs, may feed on various stages of the elm leaf beetle. Pupae may be killed by a small wasp that develops in the insects. Small numbers of pupae also may be killed by fungus disease. Weather probably [...]
Diamondback Moth
Total development time from the egg to pupal stage averages 25 to 30 days, depending on weather, with a range of about 17 to 51 days. The number of generations varies from four in cold climates such as southern Canada to perhaps eight to 12 in the south. Overwintering survival is positively correlated with the [...]
Colorado Potato Beetle
The Colorado potato beetle, a yellow insect with ten black stripes down its back is probably one of the best known insects in the United States today. The insect overwinters in the adult stage a few inches beneath the soil surface. In the spring the one-half inch beetle emerges from the soil and searches for [...]
Chinch
Chinch bugs are a complex of three different species within the Lygaeidae family. They have piercing-sucking mouthparts and they feed on the sap of grass plants. They reside in the thatch area of the turfgrass stand and prefer to feed on the lower leaf sheath and crown area of the plant. The chinch bug can [...]
Natural Mosquito Repellent – Citronella Oil
Citronella oil is made from the plant (grass) Cybopogon nardus or Citronella winterianus. If you are going to grow the grass, make sure to get these two types. There are over 30 varieties of Citronella. The distinct odor of citronella makes it difficult for insects to locate a host. The main components of citronella—geraniol and [...]
Trichoderma
mycoparasitic fungi Trichoderma viride For Identifying pests by pictures or by names (this also includes solutions), Click here For more Information on other Natural Pest Controls, Click here Where to buy this, Click here Trichoderma when introduced along with seeds or at root zone protect the seedlings from attack by soil borne pathogens that cause [...]
Spinosad
Spinosad is a new chemical class of insecticides. The active ingredient is derived from a naturally occurring soil dwelling bacterium called Saccharopolyspora spinosa, a rare actinomycete reportedly collected from soil in an abandoned rum distillery on a Caribbean Island in 1982. (Perhaps while drunk) For Identifying pests by pictures or by names (this also includes [...]