pest control Archives - Page 6 of 6

Droppings and munching are a clear sign you have tomato hornworms.

YouTube: How to Find Tomato Hornworms

You know it's summer when you see holes in your tomatoes. Tomato hornworms can ruin a perfectly good tomato plant (and experience). We're here to show you how to find them amid the chaos of tomato foliage. There's a trick. Watch below as we demonstrate (or at least try) to hunt for tomato worms in our latest YouTube video: How To Find Tomato Hornworms Finding pests takes diligence. Check your plants regularly to stop critters before they do too much…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 14, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

Ask Gardenerd: What’s Eating My Cabbage and Spinach?

Ah, pests. Here at Gardenerd, we like to say that having a garden without pests is like having children and expecting them to be well behaved all the time. It's unrealistic. Most garden pests are telling us something, and the rest we can usually deal with easily without chemicals or harmful pesticides. Here's a question that came into Ask Gardenerd this week: "Hello, I am very new to gardening and I just started my first vegetable garden in February. It…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 8, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:3 Comments

Ask Gardenerd: Preventing Bugs Next Year

As we start over with a fall garden in warm-winter climates, or put the garden away in more temperate regions, the question arises once again: "How can I prevent bugs that were problematic this year in my fruit and vegetable garden ie. aphids, sawflies, stink bugs from overwintering and becoming a problem next year?" - Fern Fried Well, Fern, it's all about interrupting the life cycle and creating competition when it comes to pests. It's also about boosting the vitality…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 7, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:1 Comment

Grasshoppers bite chunks out of the sides of leaves, but can consume entire leaves over time.

Ask Gardenerd: Are Grasshoppers Bad?

We love it when people ask about bugs before killing them. Better safe than sorry. You may be killing a beneficial insect, so please ask before taking action. Like Dora here: "Are grasshoppers bad for my garden? If so how can I get rid of [them] naturally?" Dora, we used to let grasshoppers wander the garden thinking they were good, until they eat one of our hibiscus plants down to a stick. Then they attacked our lemon tree and ate…

Post author:Christy
Post published:September 23, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:1 Comment

Invasive fruit flies plotting their attack

Homemade Fruit Fly Traps

They're everywhere! Tiny, annoying fruit flies, that is. They're trying to get into our tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, and plums. They're even breeding in our compost bucket. What to do? Break out the big guns. The lowly fruit fly has a very short reproductive cycle. The female Drosophila melanogaster (common fruit or vinegar fly) lays eggs about 5 at a time, which hatch and become adults in 4-19 days depending on the ambient temperature. Adults can live for up to 3…

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 24, 2014
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:8 Comments

Mittens likes cover crops

Cats in the Garden: Our New Addition

There's a new member of our garden's ecosystem, and her name is Mittens. This little black and white cat arrived to our neighborhood in November, and has been courting us ever since. She won us over with her gentle regard and loving disposition, and the fact that she'd sit in my lap all day if I let her. Mittens investigated our back yard, watching our chickens but not attacking. That was the big test. If they could get along, she…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 29, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

Beware the Citrus Psyllid

A not-so-new threat to America's citrus population has recently been found in Southern California. Almost 4,000 sightings of the Asian Citrus Psyllid, including in Riverside and Mar Vista, have been reported in 2011. The damage from the Psyllid can potentially send a citrus tree to its grave.

The Citrus Psyllid can be a carrier of a bacterial disease called Huanglongbing (HBL) or Citrus Greening disease, which causes the leaves to appear yellow with green veins, and the fruit becomes misshapen. Eventually the trees die.

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Post author:Christy
Post published:November 10, 2011
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments