Plant Disorders

Insects and Pest

Snails/Slugs

Slug baits although messy, are probably the most effective tool for management. Baits containing metaldehyde (Deadline M-Ps, Deadline Bullets) work by stimulating water loss in slugs through excessive mucus secretion and through partial paralysis.

Treatment: Insecticide

Aphids

Aphids are small pear-shaped, soft-bodied insects with long, slender mouth parts that they use to pierce stems, leaves, and other tender plant parts and suck out plant fluids.

Treatment: Insecticidal soap, neem oil, and narrow-range oil

Whiteflies

Whiteflies are tiny, sap-sucking insects that are frequently abundant in vegetable and ornamental plantings.

Whiteflies usually occur in groups on the undersides of leaves.

Treatment: Insecticides have only a limited effect on whiteflies. Most kill only those whiteflies that come in direct contact with them. For particularly troublesome situations, try insecticidal soap or an insecticidal oil such as neem oil or narrow-range oil.

Spider mites

To the naked eye, spider mites look like tiny, moving dots.

If a treatment for mites is necessary, use selective materials, preferably insecticidal soap or insecticidal oil.

Fungas gnat

Fungus gnats are flies. Adult fungus gnats are dark, delicate-looking insects, similar in appearance to mosquitoes. Adult fungus gnats have slender legs with segmented antennae that are longer than their head.

Treatment: Spray with insecticide.

Scale

Scales are unusual looking and many people do not at first recognize them as insects. Adult female scales and most immatures (nymphs) are immobile, wingless, and lack a separate head or other recognizable body parts.

Treatment: Horticultural oil (where plants can be sprayed) and certain systemic insecticides are preferred chemicals for most situations when scales are numerous enough to cause damage.

Mealybug

Mealybugs and have wings and are rarely seen. Mealybugs are tiny and delicate; the body is commonly yellow or red with two long whitish tail filaments.

Treatment: Spray with Insecticide

Thrips

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First Sign: Leaf surfaces finely speckled with yellow spots. Later, a silvery metallic looking sheen may cover leaf surfaces. Not all Thrips create this sheen. With or without the sheen, you'll also see black specks (Thrip fecal material). Only on close inspection is the pest itself found. About 1/16" long,

Chemical Control of Thrips Using Least-toxic Treatments:Thrips have been shown to develop resistance to most insecticides used on a regular basis,yet least-toxic options like insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils can aid the gardener with thrip control until beneficial insect populations are thriving or supplemented.