Early Detection and Management of Pests and Diseases in Your Garden

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Every morning, clad in my pajamas with a cup of coffee in hand, I journey outside to attend to my plants. I shift from one plant bed to the other, providing the necessary care.

On most days, my routine check reveals delightful transformations, such as the blossoming of the first Madame Julia Correvon clematis for the season or the sudden appearance of a fresh, bumpy Voyager tomato. But occasionally, I encounter troubling surprises.

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During one such morning inspection of the Domingo, Voyager, and RW Cephei tomatoes in my Earth Boxes, I spotted tiny, dark dots on their stems. Hoping it was just soil, I inspected closely using my phone camera only to find three types of aphids feeding on them. Despite not seeing their puncturing, sucking mouths, I knew they were buried in the delicate tissue of the plants I had painstakingly grown from seeds since March.

Quick action is vital when addressing garden pests and diseases. If ignored, they can escalate rapidly, leading to diminished vitality, reduced flower and fruit yield, or even total devastation.

My response always starts with the gentlest treatment, escalating only if required. I have my boundaries and would prefer to forfeit a plant than resort to harsh chemicals.

For my tomatoes, since I detected the aphids promptly, I managed to wash them off using a hose, physically removing the resilient ones with my fingers under a moderate water flow. They haven’t reappeared, but I remain vigilant.

If the infestation had been more severe or if the water and rubbing method had failed, I would have employed a Neem spray, which eradicates aphids by suffocation. This organic oil, sourced from Neem tree seeds, is safe for edibles and harmless to humans, pets, and birds. However, it’s best applied after dusk when beneficial insects are less active.

On the same day, I discovered adult scarlet lily beetles on my Asiatic lilies, a first in my garden, which I found quite offensive. These red pests feed on the leaves, stems, buds, and flowers of all true lilies and fritillaries.

Their larvae stage, which I overlooked in spring, is particularly troublesome. They protect themselves from predators and pesticides by coating themselves in feces – a repellent, yet highly effective defensive mechanism.

Having missed the small excrement-covered larvae earlier, some of my plants were completely destroyed, left stripped, brown, and wilted at the back of the garden. To prevent further damage, I had to eliminate the adult beetles by knocking them into a bucket filled with a mixture of soap and vinegar.

Near my front door, I checked my rhododendron, which had been previously attacked by azalea bark scale. Indeed, the white, fuzzy pests had returned. I trimmed the heavily infested leaves and treated the few pests on the remaining leaves using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol.

If the infestation had covered all the leaves, this method would have been unfeasible. In such a scenario, the sap-draining insects could cause yellowing, wilting, and stunting, and in extreme cases, the plant’s demise.

My prompt actions halted or slowed infestations that could have proved fatal. Early intervention is equally effective against diseases.

Consider blossom end rot, a condition affecting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squash due to insufficient calcium, usually from irregular watering or drought stress. The first sign is a water-soaked spot at the bottom end of the fruit which darkens and sinks as it expands.

If caught early, a calcium spray on the entire plant can almost instantly correct the deficiency. Typically, fruit produced after treatment is healthy, but a second application may be necessary if issues persist.

Regular monitoring of ornamental plants like lilacs, roses, asters, phlox, bee balm, peonies, black-eyed Susans, and crops like melons, pumpkins, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and artichokes can help detect powdery mildew, a fungal infection causing plant weakness, stunting, and leaf drop if unnoticed.

Early treatment with a spray made by combining 3 tablespoons of baking soda and light horticultural oil in a gallon of water can prevent the spread of spores throughout the plant and to others nearby. Neem oil is another potential early treatment.

Prevention is the best cure, and frequent examinations can keep your plants healthy. They require little effort, and if you’re like me, you won’t even have to get dressed for it.

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Jessica Damiano is an award-winning author of the Weekly Dirt Newsletter and a regular gardening columnist for The AP. Click here for weekly gardening tips and advice in your inbox.

For additional AP gardening stories, visit https://bigbignews.net/gardening.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Garden Pests and Diseases Management

More about Garden Pests and Diseases Management

• Gardening Tips from AP
• Blossom End Rot: Causes and Treatment
• Dealing with Powdery Mildew
• Aphid Control and Treatment
• Neem Oil: An Organic Pest Control Solution