The Most Damaging Garden Pests.

For gardeners, there’s nothing worse than having a hoard of hungry pests take over your garden. However, if you learn to recognise the signs and symptoms of these various pests early on you should be able to tackle them directly, enabling your garden to go from strength to strength, year after year. Read on to find out more about the most damaging garden visitors and how to eradicate unwanted pests
Aphids
Stunted plants, yellowed leaves and sooty mould are a sign that your plants have been overtaken by aphids. These wingless pear-shaped bugs are found on pretty much everything but have a special fondness for beans, peas, tomatoes and potatoes. They draw sap from plants using their specially shaped mouthparts.The best way to get rid of these pests is through regular plant pruning, reducing your use of fertiliser and planting flowers which will attract aphid eating insects like ladybirds to your garden.
Ants
Small mounds of earth and holes in soil, lawns and by walls can be a sign that you have an ant problem. Although they aren’t harmful to plants, they can be a nuisance when mowing or trying to tend to growing saplings. To deal with these pests, hang feeders which will invite insectivorous birds to the garden, or follow ants back to the nest and dig it up, removing the queen in the process.
Slugs and snails
The dreaded sight of silvery slime trails is something most gardeners are familiar with. Collecting in dark, moist areas of the garden and wreaking havoc on everything in their path, slugs and snails are one of the most damaging garden pests out there. Deal with them by placing copper rings around vulnerable plants, catch them with tasty lettuce leaves before dropping them in to salt water or place shallow dishes of beer in to the ground. Molluscs will become attracted to the beer, grow intoxicated and drown.
Vine weevils
Any gardeners growing potted plants like strawberries will have probably come in to contact with this particularly destructive garden pest. At the grubstage, these bugs kill plants at the roots before becoming fully-fledged insects which chew through leaves.Deal with them by applying insect repellent barrier around the base of pot plants and look in to the suitability of pesticides. When growing plants designed to be eaten, extra caution must be exercised when using chemicals.
Wasps and Flies
Aside from being potentially dangerous to people, wasps and flies are a nuisance to your plants as well. Get a professional to help remove wasps as the dangers of being stung are very real.