Pests That Damage Crops & Gardens Around Bryan & College Station
If you are planning on putting in a home garden or an extensive landscape this spring and summer, then you might want to consider the damage that plant eating pests can do. For the most part, we think of plant damage as being caused by insects and for good reason. There are many insects that eat plants. However, other pests can also cause significant crop damage, even in a home garden.
Birds As Pests
Birds will happily make a meal out of plants, not just the seeds, but leaves and fruit too. Blackbirds, starling, and even crow and raven will pick at fruit. Smaller songbirds will sometimes eat the leaves from leafy greens such as chard, spinach, and kale.
Bird can cause significant damage to home gardens and commercial crops, especially where fruit is concerned. Learn more about how to protect your crop and garden from birds by reaching out to our professionals.
Insects That Eat Plants
There are so many plant eating insects around Bryan and College Station. These include insects that chew and consumer leaves and those that suck saps. Male mosquitoes eat plant sap as do stink bugs, aphids, and other insects that have a piercing sucking mouth. Insects that eat plant tissue include caterpillars from both moths and butterflies. While some are generalist – they eat many types of plants – other consume only one type of plant. Beetles are another group of insects that eat plants – depending on the species. Some beetles are carnivorous, and some are pests because of their defense system. Bombardier beetles eject a caustic mixture of fluid from their backside and it can cause blistering if it comes into contact with your skin. These beetles are referred to as blister beetles and they can also cause serious injury and death to livestock if consumed.
There are some easy natural solutions to solving some insect pest problems. If your garden is prone to damage from moth larvae, then consider putting up a bat box. Moths are nocturnal and so are bats and bats will happily make a meal out of moths. Birds can be startled away by noise makers and other tools that help keep pest birds out of your garden and away from your crops.
Sometimes the hardest part about finding a solution to pest issues is understanding exactly which pest is involved. When it comes to plant damage caused by pests, the evidence can be very cryptic. For example, bird damage to leaves looks much like the leaf damaged caused by caterpillars. A withered and limp plant might seem like it has fallen prey to a gopher when the damage is caused by stinkbugs or aphids. Properly identifying the right pest helps you choose options to control that pest. In some cases, the damage might be caused by different types of pests. Reach out to our professionals and let us help you ID the pest responsible and find solutions that are safe to use in your garden or on your crops. Early spring is the perfect time to think about yard and garden pest control.
