Garden pests: what to look for in your beds

Look

UMN Extension (Minnesota): aphids are small, 1/16- to 1/8-inch-long, pear-shaped, soft-bodied insects; color may be green, black, red, yellow, brown, or gray. Identification on their home yards and gardens sheet — not a diagnosis of a given garden.

Look

UMN Extension (Minnesota): the best way to identify aphids on their sheet is to check for two tail pipes (cornicles) at the end of the abdomen. Identification trait — not a ranking and not a treatment.

Containment

UMN Extension (Minnesota): you can physically knock aphids off plants with a strong spray of water from a garden hose. Water-spray as cited — not a pesticide, rate, or efficacy ranking.

Containment

UMN Extension (Minnesota): their home yards and gardens aphid sheet lists weed removal as sanitation context; sowthistle and mustard are named as weeds that can support large numbers of aphids. Sanitation on their sheet — not an attack-reduction outcome, not a treatment, and not a BioArva weed program.

Limit

Minnesota home yards and gardens aphid sheet. Observation and sanitation only. Not a lettuce-sheet transfer.

Look

UMN Extension (Minnesota): slugs can be described as snails without shells; they are slimy and soft-bodied, without any legs, generally brownish or grayish, 1/4 inch to two inches or longer; a dried slime trail indicates slugs are active in your garden. Identification on their home-garden sheet — not a diagnosis.

Look

UMN Extension (Minnesota): slugs are generally active at night when it is cool and damp; in the evening, use a flashlight to locate slugs. Look-context on their sheet — not a treatment.

Containment

UMN Extension (Minnesota): remove or relocate materials where slugs hide such as containers, boards, pavers and flat stones; too much chopped-leaf mulch can encourage slug habitat. Sanitation on their sheet — not a product barrier or bait.

Limit

Minnesota home-garden slug sheet. Size range is this sheet’s — not Maryland’s. Not bait.

Look

Maryland Extension (Maryland): adults 1.5–5 inches long, slimy, fleshy body that tapers at both ends; colors range from black or brown or gray to yellowish or creamy; do not have a shell (“naked snails”). Appearance on their vegetable-slug sheet — not a diagnosis.

Look

Maryland Extension (Maryland): slugs prefer cool, wet environments and are active primarily at night or on heavily overcast days; they seek shelter during the day under debris or objects. Look-context — not a treatment.

Setting

Maryland Extension (Maryland): host plants include soft-leaved herbaceous plants, especially asparagus, leafy crops (beets, cabbage, Swiss chard, lettuce, spinach), and solanaceous plants such as eggplant, pepper, potato, or tomato. Setting as named on their vegetable sheet — not a crop-pest page and not a ranking.

Look

Maryland Extension (Maryland): slugs chew ragged, small to large holes primarily in leaf interiors, instead of along the edge, and typically leave silvery slime trails. Pattern on their vegetable-slug sheet — not a diagnosis of a given garden.

Containment

Maryland Extension (Maryland): sanitation is important — remove low-growing weeds, debris, rocks, and any other object slugs may hide beneath. Sanitation on their sheet — not a bait or rate.

Containment

Maryland Extension (Maryland): use row cover to protect seedlings. Exclusion as cited on their vegetable-slug sheet — not a growth outcome, feeding-reduction promise, or product SKU.

Limit

Maryland vegetables slug sheet. Adult size 1.5–5 inches is this sheet’s — not Minnesota’s. Not bait.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): the first thing to do is to look carefully at the damage and any signs left behind. Scouting step on their home vegetable sheet — not a diagnosis and not a treatment sequence.

Limit

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): if holes or ragged chunks of leaves disappear slowly, with a little feeding each night, beetles, caterpillars, earwigs or slugs may be the culprits; their sheet says to distinguish among these four by looking for signs left behind. Source-scoped possibility — not a diagnosis of a given garden and not inferred ID from holes alone.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): caterpillars leave fecal droppings under the leaves or around the damage; droppings look like small pellets. Sign on their sheet — not a ranking.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): cutworm caterpillars feed at night on both stems and leaves; during the day look for the curled up caterpillars just under the soil surface near plant stems. Look-context — not a treatment.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): if plants have wilted, drooping leaves or small yellow spots, look carefully for tiny, soft-bodied insects in groups along the stems or under the leaves. Look-instruction — not an inferred ID from yellow spots alone.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): aphids and whiteflies don’t grow more than about 1/8 inch long; look for a sticky residue called honeydew on leaves below or close to where they feed. Size and residue as cited — not a diagnosis and not a food-safety claim.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): squash bugs emerge from bronze colored eggs usually laid in clusters on the bottom surface of squash leaves; about 1/8 inch long, grey and soft at first, they grow into brown, hard-shelled adults nearly 3/4 inch. Identification on their vegetable sheet with squash as the named setting — not a squash-pest page and not a ranking.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): on spinach, beets, and Swiss chard, you can pull off the top surface of a mine and find the little white maggot, if it is still active. The required observation is that active maggot in the mine — tan blotches alone are not an identification.

Look

UMass Extension (Massachusetts): sprinkle a layer of finely ground limestone around the damaged plants and look for animal tracks left in the powder the next day. Scouting context only — not a list of animals, not a damage-pattern diagnosis, and not a deterrent or treatment.

Limit

Massachusetts home vegetable sheet. Look-first. Not inferred ID from damage. Limestone is a scouting surface, not control.