We gardeners are all plagued to a varying extent by blood sucking, disease-spreading, itchy Mosquitoes in the Houston area. Currently they’re not especially annoying at WCG until dusk. But this will likely change with heavy rains & absent lovely summer breezes. I’ve read that rubbing native American Beautyberry leaves on your skin is a natural […]
Archive | Pests
Lady Bugs
One of our most beneficial garden bugs are here at the Garden in increasing numbers. They are being attracted by Aphids and other soft body insects that are on our remaining winter and some early spring plants. I’ve left some Dill plants to seed in a growing bed, which also attracted Aphids, which attracted to […]
Watch For Hawaiian Beet Webworm
Retired Texas A&M professor and advisor to Plant-It-Forward-Farms, Joe Novak, alerted us to an infestation of garden plantings of the Hawaiian Beet Webworm moth larvae. This pest has also sadly begun attacking the new beet seedlings in adjacent plots. The Hawaiian Beet Webworm will attack Beets, Chard and Spinach plants. It devastated PIFF crops last year. Joe suggests that plants in the […]
Cucumber Beetles
This garden pest, the Spotted Cucumber Beetle, has been seen at Westbury Community Garden beginning in May. We also may see the smaller Striped Cucumber Beetle and Green Banded Cucumber Beetle. All three of these have small black heads. They are evasive and hard to catch/kill, as they fly off quickly. Their eggs are yellow, oval and […]
Leaf-Footed Stink Bugs
If you still have tomatoes on your vines, they are likely being stung by the leaf footed stink bug, which makes them feel hard, have yellow tint, and taste terrible. I’m taking out my tomato plants today.
Squash Vine Borers
Have you seen this moth flitting around your squash plants? Look closely. It is has a greenish black top wing and transparent, black-veined bottom wing and is often confused with a wasp. It buzzes when it flies. Unlike most moths, it flies in the daytime. The Squash Vine Borer, Melitta curcurbitae, is a serious pest of vine […]
Garlic-Pepper-Onion Bug Spray
This safe and effective spray the can be made at home. It makes the vegetables or leaves tasty nasty to the bugs so they stop munching. You must wash your veggies before eating them if you use this stuff! It will taste nasty to you, too! I have made a large batch of the concentrate. […]
Harlequin Bugs
The first week of May, 2014, many gardeners reported seeing this bug on broccoli that had bolted and other plants in the brassica family. This pest is Murgantia histrionica, also known as the Harlequin Bug or Cabbage Bug. Harlequin bugs come because there are plants that are past their prime. They especially like all the brassica […]
Crop Rotation
Rotating your planting scheme is one of the things that hasn’t really gotten a lot of discussion yet, but everyone should give it some serious consideration this year. Different plant families use up different things from the soil, are attractive to different pests, harbor different diseases, etc. Crop rotation helps address these issues and keep […]