Mississippi Garden Pests and Indoor Plant Pests

If you are dealing with various garden pests and indoor plant pests in your Mississippi garden, you are probably at your wit’s end with trying to get rid of them. How many fruits and vegetables have been spoiled? How many flowers have been ruined, and how many times have you had to replant your garden? You don’t have a black thumb; you just have pests! To say nothing of all of the pests that hang around your indoor plants, ruining the look of your indoors and potentially damaging your family’s health.

This article details a number of ways to identify the various pests that are plaguing your home and garden. If you can figure out what pests are chewing up your leaves, killing your plants, and making a home for themselves in your home, then you can start to remove them. Here are some of the most common Mississippi pests and how to deal with them.

Spider Mites

Spider Mites are very small arachnids, similar to spiders in many respects. They have multiple legs, spin silken webs, and lay eggs on your plants. Spider Mite damage can range from cosmetic damage due to their egg-laying to a severe danger to your plants, so it is important to catch the damage early. 

The first signs of spider mite damage is whenever you notice yellow or brown spots on the leaves and also some small webbing strands on the plant. You won’t be able to see the spider mites with the naked eye unless you are very perceptive, but if you see the leaves of your plant turning yellow, they have probably started laying eggs.

If the eggs hatch, then the baby spider mites can begin to feed on your plant, causing the leaves to start to turn brown. They are also tough to get rid of unless you handle the mite appearance early.

Thrips

Thrips are very small, winged creatures that flit around and land on the plants in your home and garden. Once they have made a home for themselves, they bite down into the plant and start sucking up the juices inside. Some Thrips can also carry plant-based diseases, including the deadly Tospovirus, which can severely damage your plant.

Thrips don’t just limit themselves to plants; they can also infest furniture, bedding, and even computer monitors. They want to find a place that is warm and dark, and they’ll look anywhere to find it. Because they reproduce asexually, they can thrive in the right conditions, posing a danger to plants and an irritation to humans.

Aphids

Aphids are small pear-shaped bugs that love to clamber onto any type of plant and start sucking the moisture and sap out of the plant. They also cover the plant in honeydew, which increases the risk of your plant getting mold and other diseases. If you’ve noticed a plant’s leaves starting to fall off, then chances are the aphids have infected it. 

Infestations of Aphids develop quickly, especially in a garden where several plants are all close together, and the colony can just move from one plant to another with no risk. If you have an aphid colony on your hands, then you should move quickly to stop them before they get to the rest of the garden.

Fungus Gnats

These little bugs just sound gross, and they can be a huge problem to your garden and indoor plants. Unlike other types of garden pests, fungus gnats don’t go for the stems or the leaves of a plant, but they instead attack the soil your plants reside in. They feed on fungi in the ground and also aren’t above chewing on the roots of one of your plants!

GreenFly

If the normal aphids weren’t enough of a problem to deal with, Greenflies are a variant of the Aphid family that are very common in gardens and indoors. Like Aphids, they move fast, colonize quickly, and are attracted to the sap that all plants put out. Most Greenflies also have wings and can appear in several different colors.

Greenflies can dry out the leaves and stem of a plant, causing it to turn brown and look sickly. While a few greenflies are good for the garden, since they are food for beneficial insects, a ton of them is a massive cause for concern.

Slugs

Slugs are legless blobs that slither around and can cause a lot of damage to your garden if you misjudge them. They hide under boards and logs, looking for a cool environment during the day before coming out at night to chew on the leaves, fruit, and stems of your plants. They don’t like the sun at all, so you can often see them at night or on overcast days.

If you’ve noticed small silver trails of slime coming to and from your plants, that’s a sign that you have a slug problem. Try to track the trails back to their home, and deal with the problem at its source.

Snails

Snails are very closely related to slugs and share many of the same characteristics. They often come after plants with a lot of foliage, and you can count on them to appear on humid and overcast days. Snails are much more recognizable than slugs due to their shell, however, so you should be able to identify them as pests.

Handling Pests Starts With Identification

No matter what type of plants you have in your Mississippi home or garden, you should focus on figuring out the common pests that are likely to be attracted to them. If you know the type of pests that are likely to come after the plants, you can set up countermeasures and figure out how to keep your plants alive.

Maintaining a garden is all about making sure the pests don’t get too involved with your plants, and a little research into the common Mississippi pests can be really beneficial for you. That way, your garden can thrive, and you won’t be tearing your hair out at your large pest problem.

If you’re looking for the right team to handle the issue for you, Synergy² is here to help. We provide trusted services throughout the area, so contact us for the best pest control services around.