To prevent rabbits from getting their whiskers on your crop, you can use row covers or mesh or plant in a garden area that is enclosed and has a fence to make entry more difficult.
In particular, leaves that have come into contact with the ground, where disease pathogens can persist, should be removed, thrown away, and kept away from other plants to prevent the spread of the disease.
Cabbage loopers are soft, but not fuzzy like cabbage worms. They are the offspring of the cabbage looper moth.
Ants protect aphids and even assist them in moving from one location to another in exchange for food in the form of the secretions the aphids drop to the ground.
However, this would need to be done either prior to planting or following the death or transplantation of seedlings.
Although there are many different kinds of caterpillars, the majority are brown or green worms that leave behind black droppings and holes that penetrate entire leaves. Because they frequently reside on the underside of leaves and rest against leaf stems to blend in, they can be challenging to spot. Once they have rested in the morning, they will begin to move around.
Aphids feed on plant sap. They are commonly found living in weeds, grass, and tree foliage, and they can enter your home by attaching themselves to items of clothing, pets, or shoes. Adult females can produce between three and ten nymphs per day and can live for up to a few weeks (gross, but true!). In other words, if left unchecked, a single female can produce up to 100 young aphids in a period of three weeks.
• Cultural Control: Start scouting from the get-go. Early detection and control are your best friends. Harvest young plants to reduce the amount of shady, dark leaves that aphids can use as cover.
Due to their small size, mites are frequently visible only with a hand lens. On the underside of leaves, where there is no direct sunlight, they typically live in colonies. Additionally, mites favor warm temperatures, and under the right circumstances, they can quickly reproduce. (Really, they can develop from eggs to adults in under a week. (Due to their diminutive size, they can be challenging to spot, and the damage they cause is frequently mistaken for a lack of nutrition. (Think yellowish stippling, distorted fruits or flowers, and webbing. ).
Hornworm caterpillars love plants in the nightshade family so be sure to check your eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes if you see black droppings on their leaves!
Question:
I have some small creature eating my lettuce. Only a small rodent could enter my greenhouse with that amount of force. It consumes a decent amount of lettuce until it is almost at ground level. Porcupines and skunks are larger animals that also eat the produce I grow, but I am able to capture and relocate them. I could use help determining what is eating the lettuce.