5 Common Garden Pests and How to Remove Them

Gardening is a great activity, and it’s an excellent way to grow your produce and decorate your house. However, if you want your garden to flourish you have to watch out for various pests which can destroy your plants.Here are some pests to avoid, and how to prevent or remove them from your garden.

1. Aphids

Aphids can be found in almost every garden, and they multiply quickly. They cause damage to the plant by sucking on plant juices, attacking flowers, fruits, stems, among others. After Aphids feed, the plants or fruits would usually look distorted or deformed. Luckily, you can get rid of them by:

• Spraying colder water on leaves or plants infested with Aphids, to dislodge them. Most of the time, they won’t be able to find their way back to the same plant.
• Spraying the leaves with a water and dish soap solution.

1. Caterpillars

Caterpillars tend to be destructive, and they can devour your plants within a few days, which can lead to your plant's eventual death. If your garden is starting to have a caterpillar infestation, here are some easy ways to get rid of them:

• Put a small bird feeding area to attract birds, because they offer the best solution of removing caterpillars.
• Use natural pesticides like Pyrethrins, which is toxic for caterpillars.

1. Flea Beetles

Flea Beetles look like small beetles, and they enjoy feeding on young plants. They most enjoy eating vegetables, which is why you have to watch out for them if you’re trying to grow some produce. You’ll know if there are flea beetle’s if your plants have holes in the middle of the leaves. Here’s how you can get rid of them:

• Dust your plants with talcum powder.
• Use a spray made of rubbing alcohol, water, and liquid soap.
• Immediately cut off your crops, so they have nothing to feast on.

1. Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers eat a lot of plants, and they can chew on the leaves and stem of a plant. They can even devour an entire field, and it's unpredictable how much they can actually eat. You can get rid of them by:

• Spraying your leaves with a garlic odor.
• Dusting leaves with flour to make it harder for the Grasshoppers to eat the leaves

1. Snails and Slugs

Snails and Slugs are pests and happen to be most active at night. You can wake up the next day and find your plant dead because they’ve already eaten its leaves during the night. Here’s what you can do to prevent this from happening:

• Set up traps where they could hide. Snails and slugs enjoy hiding under dark and damp spaces, such as wood.
• Scatter eggshells because snails and slugs hate its sharp edges.

References:

https://www.almanac.com/pest/aphids

https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Caterpillars

https://www.almanac.com/pest/flea-beetles

https://www.organiclesson.com/get-rid-of-grasshoppers/