Questions tagged [pests]

For questions about garden pests such as insects, birds and mammals.

In horticulture, the word "pests" is usually used for macroscopic animals, although smaller organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes) could be considered pests, as well as invasive plants (e.g. vines and parasitic plants).

Macroscopic animal pests are dominated by insects and mammals, although other arthropods, reptiles, and birds could all be pests.

All of these groups primarily contain beneficial or neutral organisms, so generally control methods should be limited and in the form of deterrents rather than chemical poisons.

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Dark spots on plant with heart-shaped leaves

I have an indoor plant with thick, dark green heart-shaped leaves that has developed some small black and brown spots. Does anyone know what this is? I asked a question earlier this week about a problem on young indoor morning glory plants, and I…
JoshuaTree
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Help! Tiny black eggs on thyme stem

I wonder if gardening gurus here can help? The thyme plant I bought from the garden centre has tiny little black dots all along the stems, though the leaves all look untouched and the plant seems generally fine, for now. No insects flying around…
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What are these pests? Harmful? How to get rid of?

I recently decided to have a vegetable and herb garden and put in raised planters along my house. Two of the 4 raised gardens have a TON of these tiny pests in the soil. Interestingly enough they don’t seem to be on the plants, just in the soil. I…
Mc1123
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White spikes under water spinach leaves

My water spinach plants are covered with these spikes. They are hard when I poke at them with a knife. They are mostly on the underside of leaves but sometimes also break to the topside. The leaves are still green. Does anyone know what kind of…
minhle_r7
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What is this pest on my oregano?

I recently bought an oregano plant at the supermarket. Today I noticed that one stalk is brown (presumably dead) and covered with some kind of pest, see picture below. The white spots don't seem to move, and apart from this pest the plant looks…
AlbiP
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Mealybug infection or not?

I bought a succulent from a huge display advertised as "succulent, mix". There were few types and I liked this one because it looks like it has a spider web on it. But after showing the picture to my mother she said it is probably infested. I…
Affaltar
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Possible pest identification on Weeping Blue Atlas cedar

Location is Portland, Oregon, USA. We have a blue atlas cedar that's at least 20 years old. It was recently pruned (by an arborist) and now the needles are turning brown. To check for insect pests we shook the branches over a sheet of white…
Jim Garrison
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Is this scale on my English ivy? How to prevent spreading to other outdoor and indoor plants ? Should I just uproot and throw them out?

I live in an apartment. I have a few climbing plants - English ivy, star jasmine and lonicera out on the balcony in the setup shown here. Last year I got aphids on my outdoor plants - there were a few other plants outside, which I had to throw out…
ag14
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How to get rid of mosquitoes in the garden?

We have a modest garden, about 90 sq.m, with a large, shady tree in the corner. Of late, we've noticed a lot of insects emanating from that corner, particularly some nasty mosquitoes that hang around at all hours of day and night, and make it very…
Shaul Behr
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Pest on Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea Recurvata)

Today I discovered a pest on my Ponytail Palm. I noticed that it has been getting dry leaves and losing them since 2 weeks ago. I hope someone can help me to identify the pest and a possible solution for it. Thanks a lot for your time! Here are some…
Erick
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What are these insects on my iris and is it bad?

I have many plants in pots at my windows, and only my irises are affected (I have other parasites on other plants, but I usually don't really care as long as the plants are OK, as I am for bio-diversity, I let wild things like grass develop…
Kaddath
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mealybugs, spider mites, on ALL of my plants!

So I am currently dealing with essentially a houseplant massacre: boston fern is infested with (I believe) mealybugs bonsai cape mallow is infested with (confirmed) mealybugs bonsai south african ficus is infested with (I believe) spider…
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UK Bug Identification: Silver/Black Aphid?

I spotted these bugs circling on of my pots today, pics below. I didn't recognise them so was hoping someone could help identify these critters? I wasn't sure if they were some kind of tick, want to be cautious with kids in the…
Peter Hough
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Treating a wasp nest

We have a wasp nest in a very awkward position. It is in the side top of the roof above the porch. I have attached some images showing where the nest is. There is a window next to the nest but not very close, it would be a struggle to get some…
user29514
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Need help! What's wrong with my peppers? Brown on underside of leaves

I'm a beginner and this is my first year growing hot peppers. A few of my peppers have started to become brown under the leaves and the plants slowly begin to look sickly. I've looked for similar issues online but I cannot find any answers to this…