Insects in the Garden

Have you ever wondered what insects are crawling through the garden? Many insects damage plants by feeding activity, but this is not always grounds for elimination. Most plants can tolerate this amount of natural damage. 99% of insects are harmless or beneficial to crops. This is why it is important to properly learn insect identification. Observing the insect is the first step that can help, followed by asking questions about it’s looks and activity. What mouthparts does the insect have? What stage of life is the insect in? How widespread is the insect? These questions can help you properly identify the subject, and determine best management strategies if any are needed. In this Flora Friday, we will walk through three examples of plant pest identification.

Example 1

This insect appears to be a worm of some type. The first question to ask is what the unidentified garden guest is eating, and how it is feeding. Investigating further, we know that this worm is feeding on anise by slowly munching the leaves. There do not appear to be many of the worms, so we conclude that this case is limited or isolated. Finally, we recognize this insect is not actually a worm - but an immature butterfly, also known as a caterpillar. Specifically, we checked our insect book and found this animal to be a black swallowtail caterpillar. It is best left alone, as we now know the species does little damage and is a beneficial pollinator.

Example 2

What are these small spherical insects? It is clear that these are in the beginning stages of life, as eggs. It can be tough to identify an insect by its eggs, but checking an insect guide can help solve the case. In this situation, we identify the eggs as those of a stinkbug. These are pest insects, and this is the best time to eliminate them - before they hatch! Simply scraping off or popping the eggs on a regular basis can help keep these pests out of your garden space.

Example 3

Here, we have a clear view of an insect causing damage to a plant. The damage we see is a constellation of yellow spots, also called stippling. Stippling can be caused by a number of insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts, like the culprit we see here. This wingless insect is likely an immature aphid, which is a pest. A good way to eliminate this pest is by first attempting to remove them with a jet of water. After the leaf area dries, the remaining insects can be sprayed with neem oil or insecticidal soap. These products require good coverage of the insect to be effective, and are food-safe.

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