Your garden is n’t just yours — it ’s an all - you - can - eat buffet for the Mountain West ’s hungry troublemaker .

Tiny jaw , dateless appetites , and zero regard for your hard body of work — voice familiar ? Before you bed it , beetles , stone drill , and creepy - crawlies are throw a feast at your expense . And chemical warfare is n’t the only style to fight back .

Nature has its own arsenal . You just involve to experience which allies to call and which plants to plant . Think ladybeetle , neem oil , clever trap , and the sort of garden discernment that keeps the bad cat guessing .

quick to close down the all - you - can - eat snack bar without poisoning your backyard ? rent ’s meet the 11 most coarse pests — and the instinctive fixing that send them pack .

Aphids

Aphids , with their petite green body , bunch on new plant growth , sucking the biography out of tender leaf . These little sap - sucking insect can rapidly reproduce , covering plants in a viscid message call honeydew . Ladybugs are innate predators of aphid . Introducing them into your garden can help control aphid populations effectively . Additionally , a impregnable bam of piss from a hosepipe can dislodge these pests from plants . Aphids tend to thrive in areas with less airflow . Ensuring right spacing between plants can reduce their numbers .

Slugs

Slow - go yet voracious , slugs depart behind a trail of demolition and slime . They feast on tender leave , often under the cover of night , leaving ragged holes in their wake . To discourage slugs , consider using copper tape measure around garden beds . The metal reacts with slug slime , create a mild electric shock . Another innate method is range beer traps in the garden . punch are pull in to the yeast and drown in the liquid . Removing garden debris and maintain dry conditions also discourages them .

Spider Mites

Spider mites may be small , but their impingement is significant . These tiny pests spin frail web under parting , where they feed and multiply . To combat spider mites , usher in predatory mite , which by nature keep their numbers in hitch . Regularly spraying plant with water can also help , as spider mites favour ironical surround . Maintaining a humid environment and using insecticidal max are extra preventive measures . These pests boom in dusty conditions ; hold open plants blank can deter them .

Colorado Potato Beetle

With bold stripes and a rapacious appetite , the Colorado Potato Beetle is a gardener ’s nemesis . This mallet aim potato industrial plant , devouring lead voraciously . Handpicking these beetles is a straight method of control . Simply remove them and drop them into soapy water . Crop rotation can also forestall infestations by interrupt their life cycle . innovate good worm like ladybugs can further reduce beetle populations . hold industrial plant health is key to resisting infestation .

Cutworms

Cutworms are furtive Nox tributary , known for cutting young plants at the base . Emerging in the even , they can wipe out seedlings in a single dark . A simple collar made from cardboard or aluminum foil around flora stems can dissuade these pests . Tilling the dirt before planting can expose and dilute overwintering larvae . advance natural piranha , such as birds , to visit your garden can also help keep cutworm populations under control . Regular garden inspections are recommend .

Earwigs

Earwigs , with their intimidate pincers , can be both friend and foe . While they feed on plague like aphids , they can also damage supply ship plant parts . To manage earwig , make trap using rolled - up newspaper or cardboard tubes . Earwigs will shelter within , allowing you to easily fling of them . Maintaining a tidy garden by hit rubble and mulching can repress concealing spots . encourage predatory insects can also assist in keeping their population in bridle .

Flea Beetles

Flea beetle might be small , but their wallop is mighty . They chew flyspeck holes in leaves , leave industrial plant with a dead reckoning - hole appearance . Floating quarrel cover version can protect plants from flea beetle , specially during their combat-ready months . Planting trap crop like radishes can hive off them away from main crop . Keeping the garden gage - complimentary and using diatomaceous ground around plant basis are extra methods to deter these insect . tidy plants can better withstand flea beetle tone-beginning .

Cabbage Loopers

lolly loopers , identifiable by their green measuring worm - like body , depredation cabbage leaves , create ragged holes . Handpicking inchworm and dropping them into unctuous weewee can control small population . Introducing born predators like parasitic white Anglo-Saxon Protestant helps keep their routine down . Floating wrangle cover can preclude grownup moth from set testis on plants . Regularly arrest flora for eggs and caterpillars can mitigate damage . Rotate crops to preclude re - infestation .

Whiteflies

Whiteflies , resembling tiny moths , gather on the undersides of leave , give suck out plant juices . Their mien can lead to yellowing leaves and stunted development . Introducing beneficial dirt ball like ladybugs and lacewing fly can assist control whitefly population . Yellow sticky traps are effective in capturing these flee pests . maintain healthy plants with decent spatial arrangement and public discussion contract whitefly infestations . veritable review and removal of infested leafage are important strategy .

Japanese Beetles

Japanese beetles , with their metallic unripened and copper consistency , are a sight to lay eyes on , but their appetite is destructive . They skeletonize leaves , leaving only vein . Handpicking beetles early in the morning into soapy water is effective for little populations . Neem oil atomizer can dissuade feed . Introducing nematodes into the ground can naturally reduce grub populations . advance doll in the garden also helps handle beetle numbers . Healthy , diverse plantings dissent damage .

Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers , with their powerful hind legs , can annihilate a garden if left unbridled . Their insatiable appetite spare few plant . Using floating row covers can physically block grasshoppers from reach plants . put on Allium sativum nebulizer on foliage can deter feeding . Introducing innate predators , like birds and good insects , can aid control hopper universe . observe grassy areas mowed reduces breeding ground . steady monitoring tending in early detection .

11 Common Garden Pests in the Mountain West—and Natural Ways to Control Them

Aphids

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Slugs

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Slugs

Spider Mites

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Colorado Potato Beetle

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Cutworms

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Earwigs

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Flea Beetles

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Cabbage Loopers

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Whiteflies

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Japanese Beetles

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Grasshoppers

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