BLECH! 5 nasty critters out to devour YOUR garden & how to stop them
Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer
Spring has sprung all over the Miami Valley, and gardeners are itching to get out there and grow.
Betty Hoevel knows this more than most. The Five Rivers MetroParks education supervisor also knows that we humans are not the only ones excited about the change of season and all the growth that comes with it. Critters large and small are in the market to devour everything from tulip leaves to tree bark. But don’t pull out that pest killing chemical yet.
“A lot of peoples’ knee-jerk reaction to anything that eats anything is to kill it (with a chemical),” Betty said. “You are killing good bugs and bad bugs.” Instead, Betty recommends keeping a clean yard (remove debris that can attract pests) and letting good ole Mother Nature do the deadly work for you when you can. She is a pretty vicious mother at that.
Here are some of the creatures that might want to chew on your secret and not-so-secret gardens this year and how you can possibly stop them.
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Tomato Hornworms (AKA Tobacco Hornworm)
Tomato Hornworms are ravenous little green S.O.Bs.
Betty said they can take down tomato plants — fruit and leaves — in what can seem like the blink of an eye.
Luckily, something also can take them out.
Attracted to yards by plants like sweet alyssum, parasitic wasps can be your garden’s hit men.
The larvae is no bigger than grains of rice, but they really like the taste of Tomato Hornworm flesh.
“It is really gross, and it is amazing,” Betty said. “You don’t have to do a thing. They attach to it, and they kill it.”
Check out this video to see what Betty says about these green nasties.
Photo: Shutterstock
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Aphids
They might be small, but depending on the variety these little buggers can cause big damage to plants from leaf to root.
They are the first things you’ll likely see.
“They are going to come; they are going to eat,” she said.
To combat, Betty recommends attracting birds to your yard. Also, don’t kill aphid munchers like lady bugs, green lacewings and parasitic wasps.
Click here for more info from Ohio State Extension
Photo: Shutterstock
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Japanese beetles
Let’s hope time is on your side when it comes to Japanese beetles. Betty said they eat for two weeks in June and then enter another life stage. The C-shaped larvae feed mostly on grass roots, according to the Ohio State Extension.
They are food for several parasitic wasps and flies.
Click here for more info on Japanese beetles.
Photo: Shutterstock
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Deer, rabbits and squirrels
They might be cute, but these four-legged beasts can also be very damaging.
Betty said that an easy way to tell what animal is dining on your bulbs as tasty new growth emerges is by the bite.
Rabbit and squirrel teeth make cuts at an angle.
“If it is a deer, it looks like it was munched by a pair of pliers,” Betty said.
They are far from vampire, but neither deer, bunny nor squirrels like the smell of garlic.
Betty recommends trying repellent garlic clips found at the garden store to protect cherished plants from these furry pests.
You can also try planting bulbs that deer find yummy like tulips and daylilies with those they can’t stand like daffodils and alliums.
Put netting or chicken wire around young trees to protect vulnerable bark from deer
Click here for more info on deer.
Click here for more on wildlife in your yard.
Photo: Shutterstock
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Potato Beetles
Betty called potato beetles “the nastiest things you are ever going to see.”
Those hard-shelled (as adults) creatures feed on potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant. They have also been known to go after peppers and tobacco.
They are a hard one to defeat, but the Ohio State Extension says they are preyed on by two types of stink bug (goody). Ladybugs eat their eggs.
Click here for more on the potato beetles
Photo: Shutterstock
