Tag: Insect pests

This Week in the Garden (Aug 29)

This week in the garden is the proliferation of the monarch and swallowtail butterflies along with the dragonflies. These are good things; however, it also has been the week of squash bugs. These fleshy bugs run along the squash vines…

Inside Bugs Are Coming This Fall

Inside bugs are coming this fall to your home. It will be getting time for the outside bugs like spiders, ants, boxelder bugs, and others in being inside bugs. Many will be on your lawn to start with. So, keep…

Dog Ticks Around the House

This week there are questions about how to rid dog ticks around the house. Good question. Dog ticks survive in tall grassy areas with shade because they like humid, sheltered locations waiting for some animal to pick them up. The…

Neem Oil

Neem Oil pic

There is a “new” product making its way to the garden shelves called Neem oil or Neem oil extract. Actually, Neem oil has been around for thousands of years, however, is entering the garden area. It comes from the Neem…

Flies in the House

Flies and more flies in the house, I am getting sick of it! They say find the source and remove it, the source is the farm! So I need to kill them in the house. The best method I have…

Picnic Beetles

Have you ever found little black beetles with yellow spots on your overripe garden fruit? These little buggers are called picnic beetles and are instantly attracted to your ripening sweet corn, berries, cracking melons, and tomatoes. They burrow into the…

Leaf Miner Injury

This week I am hearing about leaf miner injury in various plants. You look at the leaf and see tunnels winding around between the tissues of the leaf. I have not seen heavy infestations that skeletonize the plant, however, they…

Mealybugs on Houseplants

I had a message from my cousin about fuzzy bumps on a houseplant followed by three other calls. Mealybugs are clever little devils, they like to hide and then come in for the sneak attack. It seems like overnight there’s…

Emerald Ash Borer

The City of Sioux Falls is dealing with the emerald ash borer, found in parts of the city in 2018. As a result, there is an emergency quarantine for Minnehaha and parts of Lincoln and Turner Counties, where wood cannot…

June Bugs

June bugs, also known as the June beetle or May beetle are flying around, can cause damage to many landscape plants and be a pest to the home gardener. June bugs are scarab beetles. These pests appear roughly around late…