Your garden is a beautiful place and you owe it to yourself to take care of it. Gone are the days when your orange and lemon trees were safe from the ravages of bugs and diseases. Today, the most common pests are tomato worms, slugs, aphids, flea beetles, whiteflies, potato bugs, Colorado potato beetles, Japanese beetle larvae and more! To prevent these problems from ruining your vegetables or plants you should use some different techniques so as to completely avoid them.
There are four main and serious problems to your plants:
- Tomato worms;
- Aphids;
- Flea beetles;
- Whiteflies.
Treating your plants appropriately will ensure that you eliminate any possibility of them arriving upon the garden in the first place.
Tomato Worms
Tomato worms have an appearance that resembles a horned caterpillar. They are greenish yellow on the top half with black stripes along the bottom half. They are extremely destructive to tomatoes as well as eggplants and peppers. The way to control them is to use floating row covers as soon as you notice the buds on your tomato plants.
Aphids
Aphids are tiny insects that can be green, gray or black. They suck the juice out of your plants, which causes the leaves and buds to become distorted and turn yellow. Unfortunately, in order to get rid of them you will have to spray your entire crop with an insecticidal soap. You should also check for eggs as well as adults on you plants after every three days and squish them if you find any.
Flea Beetles
Flea beetles come in different colors but tend to be metallic green or bronze. They are extremely small and can therefore be a challenge to catch. You will clearly know if they have attacked your plants once you notice the damage on them. The best way to avoid flea beetles is to put down a floating row cover as soon as possible before they ever get near your plants.
Whiteflies
Whiteflies love tomatoes and cucumbers. They are generally white, with black eyes and one pair of wings. They leave a sticky substance on the leaves of your plants which eventually makes them turn yellow and fall off. You will know that they have infested your plants when you notice clusters of small insects flying around them or resting on their leaves.
Conclusion
There are many different types of flea beetles and the way to get rid of them is to use a floating row cover. Row covers are very easy to maintain and will save you a lot of time, effort, money and frustration. Let’s look at how they work. Row covers are thin and lightweight sheets which you can quickly put over your plants without causing any damage or damage to your plants.
The best part is that they are easy to remove or put down if you want your garden to receive direct sunlight or rain. In addition, they offer resistance against pests as well as weeds so that you don’t have to use any harmful pesticides which would eventually find their way into your food.
