Pests/Insects Eating my Mint
jwh_dsi
18 years ago
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Heathen1
18 years agousername_5
18 years agoRelated Discussions
whats eating my mint?
Comments (12)Several years ago we had some spearmint growing in a planter on a south wall (north-facing). It bloomed and spread for a few years. I wanted to do something else there so just stopped watering it until all the runners dried up. Right now I have two mint plants. This one is a curly mint, about two years old and pretty well packed in this little dollar-store 8X8 terracotta pot. It's starting to wake up after sitting neglected for the winter. I didn't really help it much last summer either, other than keeping it shaded and not letting it dry out completely. The main reason I haven't really nurtured it is because the foliage is coarse and fibrous -- not useful for culinary purposes. It's pretty and smells nice, though. Last year's foliage was not all frozen so I cleaned most of it out today and snapped this pic: This is an apple mint I bought last fall. It's in a 9" across x 10" deep glazed pot. I think mint likes a moisture-retentive soil and plenty of water, plus regular feeding. I just gave mine their first feeding for this year last Wednesday and they responded immediately. They go to a shadier spot in summer Something nibbles on my mints too but I haven't found the culprit. Keep it well fed and watered, and it seems to stay ahead....See MoreGarden Pest is eating my Pepper Plant
Comments (9)Slugs and snails love peppers. I keep a pepper plant in my orchid house as a "magnet plant" so that I can go out at night and remove any slugs that I find there. But really, your pepper in your photo looks quite good. You're not going to have pristine foliage and it isn't necessary. Sometimes the predation is so heavy that the leaves are almost skeletonized and the plants photosynthetic ability is diminished. Then you've got problems. You might also have leaf-cutting bees. They leave holes but it's not typically catastrophic damage....See MoreID this, pls: a red insect is eating my mint
Comments (8)I have been fighting the four-lined bug for about 5 years. I spray the small red ones with insecticidal soap and I also squish them when I am feeling fast. The older ones are yellow/green and black and have wings. Their population was greatly reduced this year I believe due to my fall clean-up last year. I cut off most of my perennials to the ground and threw the debris in the woods behind my house. The adults lay their eggs in the plant stalks in the fall. This bug will ruin the looks of many different plant, not just mint. It is a giant enemy in my yard and I have declared war. I search for them everyday and take great joy in squishing them. I will continue to cut back in fall. My neighbors have them too so I may never completely win. Good luck!...See Morewhat pest is this eating my Tomatoes?
Comments (7)What state is your "Lake County" located in? Those look like they are some sort of beetle. Do you have leaf damage as well? It's difficult to tell their size from your pictures, but there are several types of small beetles. Do they jump if you shake the plant? If so they are probably flea beetles, which can range in size from 1/16 to 1/8th inch long. There are over 4,000 varieties of flea beetles and I think this is the most likely culprit. If they are irridescent and about 5/16 to almost a half inch in length, they may be a Japanese beetle. Looking at your picture, I'm not sure, since there are also many varieties of Japanese beetles, and some are black. I don't think you have Colorado potato beetle, as they are rather distinctive in appearance since they are Yellowish-brown, oval, convex beetle about 1/2" long with 5 black longitudinal stripes on each wing cover and several black spots on the area behind the head. Unfortunately any kind of beetle is not easy to control since they are tough little buggers. Have you tried spraying with insecticidal soap (such as the Safer brand)? If you have just a few plants, a dust buster can be used to vaccuum them off the plants, but you'd have to be very vigilant for that to work. (Empty the vaccuum into a container of soapy water to kill them, I would do it outside because they will jump. I have heard of people who vaccuum up a little sevin dust to kill them, but I'd worry about inhaling it.) Using a trap crop can be effective, but that is probably too late to be useful this year, as would beneficial entomopathogenic nematodes, but they could really help next for year. The article I've linked below has some good management information in it. Betsy Here is a link that might be useful: Flea Beetle Organic Control Options...See Morekris
18 years agovissara
18 years agobatyabeth
18 years agokris
18 years agomonicas
16 years agoksrogers
16 years agoJhoan Aguilar
8 years agoDaixy
8 years ago
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