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Table of Contents

• Weeds Around Veggies
• Problem Plants
• Garden Pests
• Spider Mites
• Fire Ants
• Slugs and Snails
• Aphids
• Ants
• Pest Holes in Plant Leaves
• Beneficial Bugs
• Plant Health Warning Signs
• Minor Nutrient Deficiency
• Soil Disease

Weeds Around Veggies

Don't Let Weeds Take a Bite out of Your Vegetable Garden.

Weeds just love vegetable gardens. There's plenty of sun, the soil is great, water is plentiful, and the competition is weak. Naturally, you want to discourage that attitude.

First, kill the existing weeds with a product such as Roundup® Weed & Grass Killer. It becomes inert when it touches the ground. Just be sure to use a cardboard sheet to shield your vegetable plants when you spray. If your garden is in the seedling stage, pinch off small weeds nearby.

Once the big weeds are gone, stop new weeds from sprouting. Black plastic stops all weeds from sprouting. But two to four inches of organic mulch puts nutrients in your soil while inhibiting weed growth. The more you control weeds this year, this less of a problem they'll be next year.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Problem Plants

People don't always know what they have in their yard. If somebody else put in most of the flowers and bushes in your landscaping, it's easy just to let them stay where they are. Trouble is, some plants that were popular in landscapes in the past are now recognized as being environmental problems. They spread fast and choke out native plants, reducing the food supply for birds and animals. Here are a few common ones, as well as tips on how to get rid of them.

These large bushes or small trees were introduced from Europe back in the 1840's for hedges and animal forage. With no natural enemies, the plants spread rapidly. They form large stands of bushes that green up sooner and stay green longer than native plants, so they choke them out. While buckthorn is illegal to buy in some states, it's sold in others. You can recognize Common or European Buckthorn by its black berries, grayish bark, and oval leaves with toothy ridges.

If you have buckthorn in your yard, make cuts in the trunk and spray them with a product such as Ortho® Max® Poison Ivy & Tough Brush Killer or Roundup® Poison Ivy Plus Tough Brush Killer.

You can replace your buckthorn with bushes that are friendly to birds and native plants. Chokeberry and Juneberry are good candidates and available at many garden centers.

These invaders from Europe first came over to North America as ship ballast and because they looked pretty in gardens. They long ago escaped their garden confines and now can be seen infesting wetlands, ditches, and streams all over the eastern US. Purple loosestrife stands from four to six feet tall with thin spikes of magenta flowers. Surprisingly, these plants are still sold in stores in many states. They're highly aggressive, and quickly dominate ecosystems, depriving wildlife of diverse food sources, and killing off native plants.

For purple loosestrife on dry ground, you can hand-pull it or spray it with a glysophate-containing herbicide, such as Roundup® Weed & Grass Killer. If you have some near a body of water, hand-pull them when they haven't yet produced seeds (one plant can produce 10,000 seeds).

Avoid buying cultivars of purple loosestrife, since even the so-called sterile ones can still pollinate their wild cousins. A better choice would be to plant blazing star, which has similar shape and coloring.

Honeysuckle bushes were introduced as garden plants as early as the 1700's. They didn't stay put. Nowadays, you often see Morrow, Armur, and Tartarian Honeysuckle Bushes in the wooded areas of city parks and roadsides. Spread by birds, they choke out lower-canopy trees, bushes, and flowers. You can recognize them by their oval leaves and small white flowers.

Since these bushes can just show up, thanks to birds, keep an eye out for baby bushes sprouting in your flower beds. Hand-pull the little ones, and treat the big ones with Roundup® Poison Ivy Plus Tough Brush Killer or Ortho® Max Poison Ivy and Tough Brush Killer with Pull 'N Spray Applicator. Be sure to cover all the leaves, taking care not to spray the plants you like.

If you want a dense, pretty bush that feeds birds and produces flowers, chokeberry, inkberry, and serviceberry will do the job.

There are over 50,000 exotic plants that have been introduced to this country. Most of them stay quiet, but some, like kudzu, garlic mustard, and aquatic milfoil, can cause serious problems. You state's department of natural resources has information on the biggest problem plants in your area. Visit their web site to find out what you can do to help.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Garden Pests

You plant a nice garden, you see sprouts and buds and birds and butterflies. Then suddenly, the wrong crowd shows up. Slugs, ants, mites, and other nasty critters treat your plants as if they were a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Here are a few of the more common uninvited guests you'll find in your garden and what to know about them.

Slugs are never going to win any beauty contests. There are over 30 species of these slimy creatures. They seek out damp, cool places to hide. Lift a rock or a piece of wood in your yard, and you might see a few. Slugs are active for two hours after sunset and two hours before sunrise. They munch on seedlings and ornamental plants, but they particularly love hostas. If you see large round holes in your plants' leaves, you're looking at the remains of a slug feast.

Spider mites are like little garden vampires. They bite and suck the fluids out of your plants. They can leave white or yellow spots on foliage, or even kill the entire plant. If you can't see them, look for fine silk webbing on your plants.

If you live in the south, these creatures can make being in the yard miserable for your family and pets. They're very aggressive, and will defend their nests against everything. If the nests are threatened, they might just relocate - to another part of your yard. If you haven't been bitten but suspect that you have fire ants, look for large, hard mounds in your yard.

These sap-sucking insects can weaken your plants. They can pass diseases from one plant to the next, and generally stunt your plants. Look for them under leaves and flowers. While they have natural predators, you can protect your plants from aphids with several products.

Ants seem to be everywhere in the summer. You'll see mounds in the yard, and little columns of them marching across your patio. Of course, it's no fun seeing them in the kitchen. While they usually don't get beyond the nuisance level, they can contaminate food. If you have carpenter ants, they can eat away at wooden structures in your yard, such as decks and furniture.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Spider Mites

Spider mites are hard to see, as they're only about the size of a grain of pepper. Still, for their size, they can really wallop your plants. If leaves of your plants look yellowed and have tiny webbing between them, you might have spider mites. A good systemic bug control, such as Ortho® Systemic Insect Killer, can help you get rid of them.

Since spider mites are so small, you have to make sure that they're the culprits for your plant problems. Hold a sheet of white paper under an unhealthy branch. Hit the branch and see what comes out. If tiny red, yellow, green, brown, red, or black specs fall on your paper, you have spider mites.

Spider Mites like dry, dusty conditions. Spray your plants' leaves or needles with water. Hose down garden walkways and other dry, dusty spots. That will make them unhappy.

Having debris around trees and plants make spider mites feel welcome. If you pick it up, you'll remove some of the conditions they favor.

Treat your outdoor trees with a systemic bug control, such as Ortho® Systemic Insect Killer. It's absorbed through the plant and kills bugs that eat sap. Other products, such as Ortho® Bug-B-Gon® Garden & Landscape Insect Killer, work well, too. For indoor plants, use Ortho® Rose & Flower Insect Killer. On fruits and vegetables, use Ortho® Malathion Plus Insect Spray Concentrate.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Fire Ants

In some parts of the country, nothing starts a conversation among strangers faster than the subject of fire ants. You don't want to frolic barefooted in your yard if you have fire ants. These pests are aggressive and fiercely protective of their nests. If you disturb their nest, they attack you. If they think the nest is in trouble, they'll just move to another part of the yard.

You can use two effective methods to win back your yard from fire ants. One is the broadcast granule method, and the other is mound treatments. Each method uses a different strategy to attack the ants. However, applying both at the same time will get the best results.

Since fire ants forage in your yard for food and new nesting sites, you can treat your lawn with a broadcast product, such as Ortho® MAX® Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules to kill mounds and the queen, as well as keeping new mounds from forming for up to 6 months.

Attack fire ants' strong point by going after the nests with a dust or granular product, such as Ortho® Orthene® Fire Ant Killer or Ortho® Fire Ant Killer Mound Treatment. This type of product is designed to kill the entire colony, so use it wherever you see a fire ant mound.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Slugs and Snails

If the leaves of your plants start to look like a green version of Swiss cheese, snails or slugs could be dining in your garden. They lay their eggs in garden debris, then come out for a few hours at dawn and dusk to turn your plants into doilies. An easy way to control them is to spread some Ortho® Bug-Geta® Snail and Slug Killer. Here are a few quick tips for controlling snails and slugs in your garden.

Snails and slugs like cool, moist areas to hang out in and deposit eggs. The underside of garden debris is just about ideal for them. Clear out that debris and your garden suddenly becomes a less desirable slug habitat.

Hard as it is to imagine, some creatures love to eat slugs and snails. Toads, spiders, and birds are especially fond of them. Increase the diversity of your garden plants, and you'll attract more of these helpers.

Spring is your best time to start to control slugs and snails before they get a toe hold in your garden. Remove old pieces of wood, old leaves, and anything that provides a cool, moist area for them to hide in during the daylight hours. Taking a few simple steps can really help to knock them out of your garden.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Aphids

As soon as your favorite flowers or vegetable plants pop up, aphids are ready to pounce. They'll stay on the stems and underside of leaves until fall, sucking up the sap until your plants wither and die. They secrete a gooey substance called honeydew, which ants feed on. Because they weaken your plants, they sometimes act as conduits to disease which they spread from plant to plant. Fortunately, there are many ways to control aphids, and treatments vary with the kinds of plants afflicted.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Ants

There are many small things you can do to make sure you don't get an infestation of ants, and if you already have them around we can help you to easily get rid of them.

All stored foods that are attractive to ants should be kept in tightly sealed containers. All wastes from the preparation and cleanup of meals should be transferred immediately to an outdoor garbage can.

Once you've made food and water unavailable, you need to prevent ants from entering your home. Seal or caulk entry spots, such as cracks in the foundation or siding, around doors and windows, along baseboards, walls, and cabinets. Spray Ortho® Home Defense Max® Perimeter and Indoor Insect Killer around openings in the house that you can't seal. Another option is to use an ant bait under sinks, cabinets, and refrigerators. Ortho® Ant-B-Gon® Bait is a good example.

Ants become a problem outdoors when they protect insects that damage plants, such as aphids, scales and mealybugs from attack by their natural enemies. Certain ants stroke aphids to increase their production of honeydew, or carry them to un–infested plants to supply them with ample food. Control ants in your garden with products such as Ortho® Bug-B-Gone MAX® Lawn & Insect Killer Ready-to-Spray. To keep ants from coming indoors, try Ortho® Home Defense® MAX™ Insect Killer Granules around the perimeter of your home, where ants enter.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Pest Holes in Plant Leaves

If your leaves are lacy or full of holes, you likely have unwanted visitors

It's kind of mysterious. The leaves of your hostas and other garden plants look as though somebody punched holes in them. Or maybe your big trees now grow lacework instead of leaves. If that's the case, chances are, you have Japanese Beetles, slugs, or snails. Here's how to determine what kind of pests you have and what you can do about them.

That lacy look comes from Japanese Beetles, which eat all the juicy parts of a leaf and leave only the framework. You can treat them with products such as Ortho® Bug B Gon MAX® Lawn & Garden Insect Killer Ready-to-Spray. Another way is to attack them when they're still in the grub stage. Just apply a product such as Grub-Ex® to your lawn in late spring or early summer.

Slugs and snails are hard to see, since they are active before sunrise and after sunset. If your garden leaves have punch holes or trail-like holes, that's all the proof you need that you've got a problem with slugs. Control them with Scotts® Ecosense™ Slug & Snail Bait. Simply scatter the product around your plants. You can also keep them from laying eggs by removing debris from your garden that provide shelter for these pests.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Beneficial Bugs

Don't let all bugs bug you. Find out which ones are good for your garden.

If you're like many gardeners, the first thing you say when you see a bug is, "Where's the bug spray?" While some bugs cause damage to your garden, Mother Nature has a way of taking care of them. She sends in other bugs. Lady Bugs, Ground Beetles, and Praying Mantises are just a few of the many insects that can help you control real pests in your garden. Make them feel at home by planting nectar-producing flowers, spreading some mulch, and putting out some water for your little helpers.

Hunting bugs are the ones that stalk, kill, and gobble up the pests that attack your plants. Some specialize: Lady Bugs love aphids and scaly bugs. Other hunters aren't very picky: Praying Mantises will eat anything. Still others attack the gooey, slimy, slithery pests in your garden. For instance, Ground Beetles attack slugs, caterpillars, and maggots.

These beneficial bugs don't kill as quickly as the hunter types do, but they're very effective. They plant their eggs in pests that act as hosts. When the eggs hatch, they eat the innards of their hosts. It's gross, but it works. Tachinid flies are a good example of a parasitic bug, and they make great use of caterpillars. Braconid wasps use caterpillars, aphids, flies, and other pests.

If you didn't have pollinating bugs in your garden, you wouldn't have a garden. Bumble Bees and Honey Bees bounce from one flower to the next, seeking nectar. While they do it, they pollinate the plants they visit. In fact, Honey Bees are so good at this job that farmers and orchard-keepers pay lots of money for their services.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Plant Health Warning Signs

• Curling leaves are usually the first indication of stress. The surface area of the plant is being reduced to cut down on transpiration (loss of water from the leaves).
• Normally shiny leaves grow dull. Bright green leaves take on a blue or gray-green appearance.
• New growth wilts or droops and older leaves turn brown, dry up and fall off.
• Flowers fade quickly and drop prematurely.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Minor Nutrient Deficiency

True, plants don't require vitamin supplements, but they do need iron, manganese, zinc, and other elements. These elements are called minor nutrients, because plants only need small amounts. Usually, they're in the soil, but if your soil is too alkaline or wet, plants may have trouble absorbing them.

If the new growth on your plant is coming in yellowish instead of the regular color, it may have minor nutrient deficiency.

Stick a pencil or your finger into the soil to check for moisture. If it's too moist, cut back on your watering a little and see how the plant responds. A soil test will tell you if your soil is too alkaline. If that's the case, you can apply soil sulfur or aluminum sulfate to correct the ph. You can spray your plant's leaves with Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble Azalea Camellia Rhododendron Plant Food. Don't forget to spray the soil, too, or sprinkle Miracle-Gro® Shake 'n Feed® Azalea Camellia Rhododendron Plant Food.

This article courtesy of Scotts

Soil Disease

A fungus known as "damping off" present in most soils can attack seedlings before or just after they have emerged. It’s worse in damp, cool weather. For early crops: put a pinch of fungicide powder in seed packet, shake up, plant. To replant, scratch up soil, add a little fungicide dust to soil, and replant seed. Or add sterilized potting mixture to top of soil in row, replant. Or start early crops indoors in sterilized potting mixture.

Fungus organisms and bacteria present in most soils can attack a growing plant at various stages. Fusarium Wilt and Verticillium Wilt live in the soil, sometimes for generations, and can hinder plant growth and production in varying degrees. Some plants can tolerate a soil disease and still grow and produce, though perhaps not as well as they would if grown elsewhere. There is no control but there are some steps you can take.

Grow tomatoes which are tolerant or resistant to these diseases (marked "V", "F" or "VF" after the variety name). Rotate your crops so that tomatoes (and tomato relatives eggplant, pepper and potato) are grown in a different place for three consecutive years. Grow in raised beds or in large containers with replacement soil.

This article courtesy of Ferry Morse

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