When a beautiful spring day presents the perfect opportunity for throwing on your work gloves and digging your fingers into the rich soil for the first time, the last thing you want to deal with is a host of garden pests. From caterpillars and cutworms to maggots and beetles, there are a number of unwelcome invaders that could chew up your fresh vegetable plants and lovely blooming flowers. However, one of a variety of beetles may just be the most likely to come crawling through your plants.
Colorado potato beetles
There are a number of different kinds of beetles known to be a nuisance for anyone with a garden. According to Rodale's Organic Life, the Colorado potato beetle can create a lot of damage by reducing yields, defoliating plants and even killing young plants. Yellow-orange in color, these adult beetles typically have 10 black stripes on their wings. Feeding on eggplants, petunias, tomatoes and - you guessed it - potatoes, they're found throughout much of North America.
Prevention methods include using deep straw mulches, placing floating row covers over your garden and spraying plants with neem or spinosad.
Ground beetles
While there are several hundred species of beetles found throughout Canada, the largest family is the ground beetle. According to the Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, ground beetles account for close to 930 different species. Ground beetles, or Carabid beetles, are very fast with long legs and usually only come out at night. Mostly found under damp stones, wood and leaves, they are dark in color and therefore difficult to spot. Unlike other beetles however, ground beetles actually feed on other pests - making them useful for insect control.
Flea beetles
The flea beetle is extremely common and is usually found on vegetables and flowers, and occasionally on shrubbery. Very small in size, flea beetles can be gray, brown, black or blue and some of them will have stripes, according to the University of Minnesota Extension. When disturbed, they use large black legs for jumping. Feeding on a variety of plants, beetles leave rounded but irregular-shaped holes in leaves. If heavy enough, beetles will cause plants to droop.
Found in gardens across the entire region of Canada, these beetles cause the most damage during the spring so be sure to keep a close eye out. Careful inspection can help spot these beetles and sticky traps can help to catch them.
Japanese beetles
Rodale's Organic Life reported that Japanese beetles are typically a 1/2-inch in size with dark metallic bodies and bronzed wings. Attacking small fruits, flowers and some vegetables, they have been known to cause significant damage. According to Canadian Gardening, the hot spot for Japanese beetles is on turfgrass roots in regions across Southern Ontario over to Eastern Canada.
In the early morning, these beetles can be easily shaken off most of the plants in your garden and if they aren't, spray them with an insecticidal soap. Floating covers work for preventing this beetle as well. The larvae of Japanese beetles can also cause damage to plants in your surrounding property as they feed on garden plant roots as well as your grass.
You probably already know that most people are repulsed by the simple sight of cockroaches. If you are personally dealing with a cockroach infestation, the feelings of disgust are probably even more intense. Unfortunately, the cold winter weather tends to be one of the reasons this pest ends up in your home in the first place, according to Any Pest. While you may know that you don't want to share your home with cockroaches this winter, there are a number of interesting facts about this pest that you've probably never heard.
Because of the high amount of traffic and the versatility of the facilities, pests are naturally attracted to long-term care institutions. Many nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other care facilities include on-site kitchens and cafeterias as well as private rooms and common spaces. All of these places are susceptible to attracting pests because of the presence of food, water and viable habitats.
During the summer months, some people love to go camping with family and friends. Yet this fun trip can be ruined with a few unwanted visitors, most notably different types of bugs. Crawling spiders, hungry mosquitoes and buzzing flies can become annoying quickly. How can you avoid these pests when you're outdoors? Consider these tips to keep bugs out of your campsite.
Carpenter ants can chew through the strongest studs and stringers in a house as they hollow the wooden beams out for nesting. The resulting damage can weaken the home's structural support and require expensive repairs. Professional pest control workers can remove a colony of ants, but the best practice for homeowners is to learn the best ways to keep out an ant colony and prevent the problem before it begins.
As the weather cools, you'll probably see fewer pests than you did during the warmer months, but that doesn't mean they're all gone just yet. Some insects can actually come out in full force during the autumn, while others might seek refuge in your warm home. Here are some key tips to keep in mind as fall gets underway:
As the middle of summer approaches, you need to be vigilant about keeping your garden free of pests. Many insects breed during the summertime, which means they're on the lookout for great places to lay their eggs. For many bugs, that means near a source of food. In fact, some species of insects will lay their eggs inside budding vegetables and fruit so their larvae have something to eat as soon as they hatch. That's why you have to keep harmful bugs out without damaging the bugs that could help you, such as bumble bees.
You might have noticed that, with the exception of the kitchen, you find more pests in your bathroom than in the rest of your home. This is because insects and rodents see the bathroom as a convenient watering hole. Pests love leaky pipes and standing water because these offer them a hydrating oasis in the otherwise dry biome that is your house or apartment. And if your bathroom develops mold, all the better for pests, who may eat fungus or use it to lay their eggs.
