Insects are a severe threat to any gardener. They eat up the leaves, stems, and roots of your plants and stunt their growth. Moreover, they also spread many harmful plant diseases that can kill the entire batch of crops growing in your garden.
It’s a heartbreaking sight to witness your months of effort going down the drain. Therefore, you need to identify the insects that infest your garden to take preventative measures like insect mesh netting to get rid of them.
These are the common insects that infest your crops:
1. Aphids
These are tiny pear-shaped insects that are found in your garden in many colors including, green, black, and red. They pierce deep, making holes into the plant tissues and suck the juices out of them. Aphids attack all kinds of plants ranging from unripe to weak and fragile plants, but they are mostly found on cauliflower plants.
2. Thrips
These are tiny, slender-bodied insects that damage all soft parts of fruit and vegetable plants, including leaves, roots, and flowers. To detect an infestation of thrips, look for leaves with silver or white discolored patches and distorted fruits and flowers. They mostly infest turnips and swede.
3. White Flies
These insects resemble white moths and suck plant sap. They are carries of many plant diseases, and the infected plants release clouds of them when disturbed. The whiteflies usually infest courgettes and similar crops.
4. Cutworms
These cutworm caterpillars are 1-2 inches long and chew the stems of young plants. They typically attack the plants on the night and kill them. In the day time, they remain curled up in the nearby soil.
5. Colorado Potato and Potato Beetles
The Colorado potato beetle is a yellow and black-striped insect that lays its eggs on the underside of the potato leaves. It devours the plant leaves and thrives on it for maturing. On the other hand, the cucumber beetle is striped, and they are usually found chewing large holes in the leaves and vegetables. They are also a carrier of many harmful viral and bacterial diseases.
6. Gypsy and Cabbage Moth
The gypsy moth lays eggs that produce caterpillars that are 2 inches long gray with brown hair and red and blue spots. The cabbage moths can be identified with a distinctive black dot on each wing. Both of these moths feed on leaves and developing flower buds.
7. Bugs
These are the common types of bugs found in gardens:
- Lace Bugs: These are long insects measuring 1/8 inch that suck the sap from the underside of the foliage. The lace bug infestation can be identified by leaves that have a yellow or whitish blotchy appearance with sticky droppings under the leaves.
- Squashed Bugs: These are found in green, brown or grey colors. Their nymphs attack the leaves of the pumpkin plants in summer when they are produced in a large number. Tarnished Plant Bugs: These are very dangerous bugs that pierce through the plant tissues and suck the sap. They are flattened, brownish, and oval-shaped bugs that carry many harmful plant diseases.
8. Cabbage Loopers
These 1-inch long gray moth-like insects lay eggs on cabbages and similar kinds of crops.
9. Leafhoppers
These are tiny, wedge-shaped insects that hop on from one crop to another. They distort the plant growth by sucking plant juices and spreading diseases.
10. Snail, Slugs and Root Maggots
The snails and slugs hide in damp areas under rocks and other garden debris. The root maggots are small flies that lay eggs in the soil near the base of the plant. They attack the roots of the plants stunting the plant growth.
These are some of the insects that are commonly found in the garden. If you’ve spotted any of these and are looking for insect netting to protect your crops, use Ultra Fine Insect Protection Netting for screening out even the tiniest of insects and prevent spreading of diseases.
