A beautiful garden,  waiting for the fruits and vegetables to harvest, such a stress reliever from a hard earned effort to eat healthy, a beautiful sight to the eyes.

But, not everyone knows that even the best gardener or farmer in town faces the nightmare before the consolation.  And that nightmare are the insects and pests that is the number one enemy of gardeners.

Here are some of the insects or pests that we need to control to keep our plant healthy:

• Aphids – these pear-shaped insects are very small are either green, yellow, orange, gray, black or white in appearance. Aphids suck the fluids from leaves and flowers of the plant uses to distribute nutrients. They live on especially on the new plant growth and buds.

 

• Asparagus Beetle – is a colorful kind of beetle. It has  blue-black body, green tipped antennae, a reddish thorax, and three yellow patches or spots on both sides of its wings. It eats the shoots of the young, green asparagus plants and the leaves.

 

• Cabbage Loopers – in the caterpillar stage, it can cause damage to a variety of crops, most notably cabbages. Cabbage also feed on a wide range of plants. They chew holes in the leaves and often attack the heads of cabbage. Cabbage looper infested vegetables and crops can cause money loss to farmers and waste to gardeners because they can no longer enjoy their harvest.

 

• Colorado Potato Beetle - the rounded bodies and yellow and black striped beetle does not only feed on potatoes alone but if harvested potatoes are mixed with other fruits and vegetables, specially tomatoes and eggplants, these will become their preference food. The damages a colorado potato beetle do to your plants are destroying leaves weaken the plant’s growth.

 

• Cucumber Beetle - this striped beetle has a yellow body sporting three black stripes down the back on its wing covers is a very destructive kind of beetle. Eggs of this beetle will be lay down near plants and its larvae will get its nourishment from the plant until it is hatched. The larvae will feed on the stems and the roots for almost a month. From larvae to adulthood, cucumber beetle infested plant may not reach its full maturity.  And if its not controlled, it may affect other crops or plants. Your entire crop may eventually die from this infestation.
  

 

• Diamondback Moth Larvae - are light green in color and an adult diamondback moths are grayish in color with light diamond marks on its wings. Their favorite food are broccolis, cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussel sprouts and kale.The larvae may damage the buds of plants that may result in poorly developed crops.

 

• Grasshopper - feeds on a variety of vegetative plants,  grasses and weeds, and its damage can be widespread and diverse.Their preferences include beans, sweet corn, lettuce and carrots. They make holes in your plants and leaves dark droppings. Plants may not develop correctly if its infested by grasshoppers.

 

• Harlequin Bugs – its a shield-shaped bug with bright red, orange, and black markings. Its favorite foods include cabbage, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, wild mustard, peppergrass and watercress. It also feed on corn, tomatoes, squash, asparagus and beans. Damages in the plants that harlequin bugs are affecting the growth or worst plants may die.
  

 

• Japanese Beetle - are voracious leaf-feeders and cause damage to a large variety of plant. Japanese Beetle have shiny bluish green bodies that appear metallic and copper or bronze colored wings in appearance. This kind of beetle are most attracted to plants in direct sunlight. Once you start seeing evidence of Japanese Beetles on flowers or other plants in your garden, it’s important to be vigilant ant to get rid immediately of these pests to prevent further damage. Japanese Beetle tend to eat the top of the plants first all the way down and can damage the plant tissue that may leave the leaves a skeleton like look in appearance.

 

• Leafhopper – are found in almost all leafy vegetables. They drink the juices of fruits and vegetables. Leaves may become yellowed and curled and plant growth may be slowed or halted.  It is also a factor in plant viruses that may spread to other plants.

 

• Spider Mite - are tiny plant pests that are actually a type of arachnid.They can live and eat on fruits, vegetables, shrubbery and ornamental plants. If your plants are infested with spider mite, the result may be the fruits will not develop correctly, and may die eventually.

• Whiteflies - a female whitefly can lay hundreds of eggs on the underside of leaves, usually in a circular pattern. Whiteflies takeits nourishment from plant juices. The plant becomes weak and is more prone to viral diseases that whiteflies carry.