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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What are yellow balls in the soil?

In the first picture you can find my fingers, a ladybug and small yellow balls. I found them in the soil, close to roots of a plant (Hardy Kiwi) that died last year, probably because of heat stress (I've described the problem also on…
dzieciou
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How to protect vegetable garden from pests (possibly squirrels or possums)?

I don't know if it's squirrels or possums or what, but some pesky varmints keep eating my produce. How can I stop them from getting to it? Since they can climb the fence around the yard, obviously putting a fence around the garden would not…
psusi
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How can I stop an urban fox from using my garden as its toilet?

I live in the UK, in an urban terraced street where all of the back gardens are next to each other with fairly low walls. Recently what I believe to be an urban fox has started using our lawn as its own personal toilet (it's not a cat - the faeces…
Matt Hogan-Jones
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Why are there wasps in my garden?

I tend to my garden once a day and about half the time see one or more wasps crawling on one of my lettuce heads. I've always been told that wasps are predators so I presume they aren't there to eat the lettuce. Why are they frequenting my…
Scott Mitchell
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What keeps digging up my veggies?

The last two mornings I have come out to find 4 or 5 of my newly planted vegetables dug up out of their holes. The plants themselves appear to be undamaged so I just keep replanting them in the hole that some creature dug it out of. What could be…
Abe Miessler
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Information on killing yellow jackets at the end of summer

I've got yellow jackets at my house in the Pacific Northwest. Normally I wouldn't mind terribly much, they can be aggressive but if you don't go near their hives they're fine. And if you need to get somewhere they have a hive, it's generally easy to…
Sean Long
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What kind of spider is covering my olive trees in these Halloween style webs?

These extreme webs have appeared over many of my young olive trees. They are pretty all engulfing and I can’t see any spiders. Last spring I saw a bush that had some kind of moth caterpillar population living in it and they’d created the most…
Nicola
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Identify ant-like pests under rock

I turned up a rock just outside my house in the garden and found these ant-like creatures. Are these termites or ghost ants or what? And see the video
P.Brian.Mackey
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Height of deer fencing

I live on the Washington coast in an area with a large population of quite tame deer. There is a 6 foot wooden fence along once side of my back yard. The deer have never jumped over this fence, but they can easily go around. Along this fence I…
Anne
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What are the little bugs at my foundation?

The north side of my house is in the shade of some big spruces, and we're in a valley, so the area that they come from is quite shaded. They are little red ant-like insects that I never see until they swarm. A couple times a year they come above…
J. Musser
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What are these yellowish flecks?

I have something on many of my plants. It started on the purple passion plant and I thought it was pollen coming from the flowers, but I also see it now on some other plants. When I google yellow spots or flecks, I keep getting articles on leaf…
Daniel
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Need help with Guava Tree Insect

This bug seems attached to my guava tree under leaf. I only found one. And there are holes in some leaves. The affected leaves are clustered together. I'm in Hawaii at 1300 windy feet.
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Venus flytrap to catch fungus gnats and mosquitos

Is it a good idea to use a Venus flytrap to catch flying pests?
ina
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Aglaonema attracts fruit flies

We've had a minor fruit fly infestation for a couple of weeks now, and we've been setting out traps and paper and being more careful about keeping food under wraps. But they've persisted... A couple of days ago, looking for high-traffic areas, I…
Luke Sawczak
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Getting Rid of Pill Bugs and Earwigs, Kindly

I've planted a lot of seeds this year, (marigold, green beans, cornflower, poppy, sunflower, etc.) I started with 50+ green beans plants and now have 2 left, countless marigolds and now have 4 plants, half of my sunflowers were eaten, along with a…
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