Insect & Pests
All Insect & Pests Content
Plant and Weed Resources
Consult these resources for answers to common plant and weed issues, including: plant characteristics, plant problems (diseases, insects, and abiotic), plant selection and management, and weed identification and control.
Woodpeckers Attacking Bur Oaks
Woodpeckers have been seen across the region chipping away at the bark of young bur oak. The woodpeckers can shred most of the bark from young trees, enough that the trees are killed by this injury.
Lady Beetles of South Dakota
Lady beetles are one of the most familiar groups of beneficial insects. Farmers and gardeners appreciate them for devouring insect pests. Both adult lady beetles and caterpillar-like juveniles eat pests.
White Grub Damage to Lawns
White grubs are root-infesting larvae that are the immature stages of scarab beetles. Grub-infested turfgrass may turn brown and die from drought stress due to the inability to take up water from loss of roots.
Picnic Beetles on Raspberries
Picnic beetles, a small beetle that loves fermenting fruit (and potato salad at picnics), commonly feed on raspberries. The beetle can quickly ruin a ripe raspberry as they burrow around inside the fruit.
What's Bugging Your Garden? Cucumber Beetles
Striped cucumber beetles are little yellow and black striped beetles that are fairly small, but what they lack in size they make up for in numbers and appetite.
What’s Bugging Your Garden? Colorado Potato Beetles
Colorado potato beetles have become all too common in many home gardens and also in community gardens where potatoes are commonly grown. If left untreated, they can defoliate potato plants, drastically cutting yields of the delicious tubers that so many of us love to eat.
What’s Bugging Your Garden? Broom Moth
There is a new pest problem for flower growers that enjoy Baptisia (false indigo) called the Genista Broom Moth. It is actually the caterpillars that cause the damage.
Earwigs in the Garden: Less-Toxic Control Alternative
Since earwigs provide some ecological service as natural enemies, I hesitate to recommend a pesticide application to control it. As an alternative least-toxic solution, bait trapping the earwigs should work to reduce the insect’s population to the non-threatening levels.
Biological Control of Pests in High Tunnels
Major insect and mite pests in high tunnels include aphids, thrips, white flies, and spider mites. Biological control uses living organisms (natural enemies) to suppress or limit pest populations to levels that do not cause economic injury to the crop.