Treating diseases and pests - page 2

Strange growth appears on leaves or stems of your favorite tree or plant? This is possibly due to one of several species of gall wasps. Here’s how to control gall wasps so they don’t endanger

Nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, iron… plants need nutrients to grow. Yellowing leaves might be due to lack of one of them!

One of the most aggressive killers in the garden, Botrytis is a fungal disease that can attack all sorts of plants. It forms gray mold after it enters through wounds

Also known simply as spot anthracnose, this disease infects strawberry trees. Symptoms are the presence of brown spots with a red or purple

This fungus impacts the leafage and forms black spots on the topside of maple tree leaves. Black fruiting pods may appear on these leaves,

A long, thin body with terrifying plier-like pinchers at the tip, anybody will instantly recognize an earwig when it crawls along! In the garden, people often accuse it of damaging plants.

Armillaria (or root rot) is a disease caused by a fungus that attacks ligneous plants. Ligneous plants are all those plants made of wood.

Green lacewing also goes by more dramatic and telling names: golden-eyed fairy, aphid lion, aphid wolf… and each name reveals how much of a beneficial insect this is to a gardener trying to control pests. Larvae from this insect family seem to have a single goal in life: to devour aphids.

A 10th century legend, over a thousand years ago, relates the story of a man condemned to death for having murdered someone. As he claimed his innocence, a ladybug landed on his neck and the executioner stayed his ax.

Septoria is a species of fungus that infects vegetables, trees and ornamental plants. In some cases damage is insignificant, in others there’s no hope.

Chlorosis isn’t actually a disease. It is actually a physiological deficiency that plants endure when certain minerals or trace elements are found lacking in the soil. This occurs often when there is too much active lime.

Fireblight is a fast-spreading bacterial disease. It’s crucial to cut off and remove any infection before it spreads too far.

The Good Lord’s beetle is an incredible bug that feeds on aphids. It is the best of the gardener’s friends.

Photinia shrubs sometimes contract a disease called Photinia leaf spot or Photinia black spot. Leaves are dotted with black spots that slowly spread

Does your Sunpatiens look wilted? Does it seem like it’s rotting away?

Whether in the vegetable patch, around fruit trees or near rose trees,

Caterpillars are butterfly larvae that come in many different shapes, colors and sizes, but the damage they do is always the same.

Though it loves water, in cases where drainage is bad you’ll have to fight off root rot because your Vinca is

Weed tea, prepared by simply fermenting weeds in a pail, is excellent to treat plants against diseases. Here are the different types of weed tea and their uses.

Many houseplants come from tropical areas where air moisture levels are very high. In apartments and homes, increase air moisture

Transplant shock is a combination of three factors. Upon moving a tree or plant, it undergoes:

A natural pest control solution, use fermented rhubarb tea during the plant’s entire growth phase. It is also possible to keep using the fermented tea after maceration for

What do a vacuum, aluminum foil, and a hose have in common? They’re great tricks to get rid of thrips – naturally! Thrips are teeny-tiny bugs that are sometimes dangerous for your plants. When you’ve got a small colony on a houseplant or just the start of an infection in the vegetable patch, these handy […]

Codling moth is often called “fruit worm”. It is actually a type of caterpillar that feeds on the fruit’s flesh.

Very small flies score the fruits with their ovipositor to deposit their eggs inside. These eggs will hatch inside the fruit, and the larvae will eat

Thrips species exist by the thousands, but they can all be sorted out into three major types of thrips: pest thrips, predatory thrips, and

Thrips reproduce through egg-laying. Learn to recognize these tiny egg nests to prevent the pests from spreading across your plants!

There are nearly 6,500 identified species of thrips, but many more have yet to be discovered and named!

Thrips are often considered pests for gardens, houseplants, and vegetable patches.

Damage and wounding cannot be avoided when transplanting a favorite tree, shrub or plant. But there are definitely ways to reduce

This well-known oak tree parasite is a caterpillar that devours the leaves, until it gathers to form a nest that looks like a spider web.

Peach leaf curl symptoms are waffled reddish leaves appearing on the peach tree. Preventive care is required to avoid it.

Even though the number of fungal diseases called “rust” is very high, they almost always share the same symptom: brown-orange blisters

Minimize transplant shock upon purchasing or moving a new tree or shrub. This will make your garden a welcoming place

The sycamore lace bug can potentially devastate all plane trees. It is actually a stink bug that comes to “suck” the sap from the underside of leaves.

This little larvae, a kind of white worm, is also called “weevil”. It sets up its nest in root crowns of flowers, ornamental plants and vegetables.

It protects the ground from weeds and enriches the soil with nitrogen and humus: green manure scores perfect on all counts!