Cabbage looper caterpillars have been spotted in South Dakota gardens. Like their name suggests, cabbage loopers primarily feed on cabbage as well as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip and other cruciferous crops.
Typically, we don’t see a lot of issues with blister beetle feeding in gardens. However, when they show up, blister beetles can rapidly defoliate plants.
Every summer, we receive reports of what looks like a large yellow lady beetle, except that they are defoliating certain plants. It isn’t a lady beetle, it’s the Argus tortoise beetle.
Last week we received calls about insects feeding on potato plants. The culprit was the Colorado potato beetle, which is a major pest of potatoes.
One of the worst things to observe in your garden are caterpillars heavily defoliating your plants. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what the imported cabbageworms (cabbage white) caterpillars do.
The larvae of the squash vine borer can wreak havoc on squash plants by boring into the stems and slowly killing the plants. Unfortunately, they’ll do even more than that. They will also invade the developing produce.
Each year vine crops, including squash, zucchini and pumpkin plants, fall victim to squash vine borer larvae feeding inside their stems.
Flea beetles have been out in full force so far this year. This group of herbivorous beetles can be a pest of many different garden plants, including tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, lettuce and others.
False chinch bugs are active yet again in South Dakota. Although they are normally only a nuisance pest, their populations can become magnified during cool, wet springs.
Some cucumber varieties form long vines that may ramble or be trellised. Others are bush types that fit more easily into a small garden or even a large container.