This Month in Your Garden June 2023
Coastal Region – Brad Fowler Managing fire ants in the landscape can sometimes be difficult, but applying fire ant baits in early June, when ants are foraging, can help keep them under...
Category: Problems
Phylloxera of Pecan
Phylloxerans are tiny, aphid-like insects that cause galls on plants as a result of their feeding. Once the feeding damages the leaf tissue, the plant tries to compartmentalize the wound. Then a...
Cabbage, Broccoli & Other Cole Crop Insect Pests
Introduction Each year numerous insect pests damage crops in home gardens and commercial fruit and vegetable fields. Caterpillars, the immature larval stage of butterflies and moths, are the most...
Less Toxic Insecticides
While a good pest management plan will start with preventative, cultural, and other non-chemical methods, these are sometimes not completely effective on their own. In this case, a pesticide may be...
Insecticidal Soaps for Garden Pest Control
If you are looking for a safe, effective, and low toxicity alternative to more toxic pesticides to control many undesirable insects in your garden, insecticidal soaps may fit the bill. Insecticidal...
Sweet Potato & Irish Potato Insects
Wireworms Several kinds of wireworms feed on sweet potatoes as well as on Irish potatoes. The southern potato wireworm (Conoderus falli) is injurious in the Southeastern United States. Adults (click...
Tomato Leaves Rolling?
Curling or rolling of tomato leaves may be caused by various factors, including environmental stresses, viral infection, and herbicide damage. To determine which factor is the culprit, it pays to...
Cucumber, Squash, Melon & Other Cucurbit Diseases
Many diseases of cucurbits can be prevented or minimized in the home vegetable garden by using the following simple cultural controls: Plant certified disease-free seeds. Select varieties...
Irish & Sweet Potato Diseases
Many diseases of Irish and sweet potatoes can be prevented in the home vegetable garden by using the following cultural controls: Always purchase certified disease-free potato tubers. Saving your...
Peach Insect Pests
Numerous insects are pests on peach trees in South Carolina. They cause damage to the peach flowers, fruit, twigs, limbs, and trunk. Some of the most common of these are plum curculio, Oriental...
Tomato Diseases & Disorders
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) can be grown on almost any moderately well-drained soil type. A good supply of organic matter can increase yield and reduce production problems. Tomatoes and related...
Tomato Insect Pests
The tomato fruitworm (Helicoverpa zea) is the most damaging tomato insect pest in South Carolina. Fruitworms occur throughout the Western Hemisphere extending as far north as Canada and as far south...