7 Common Garden Pests and How to Get Rid of Them

Whether you’re an avid gardener or a world-class hammock lounger, there are tons of insects and larger animals that you don’t want hanging out with you in your backyard vegetable garden. From painful bites to ravaged produce, the havoc slugs, ants, and aphids can cause is often irreparable, so it’s important to identify the buggers and get rid of them.

For first-hand information on which pesky critters to look out for and how to deal with garden pests, AD chatted with Los Angeles–based urban gardening expert Ron Finley. Known as the gangsta gardener, Finley has been empowering others to grow their own food since 2010, when he illegally planted fruits and vegetables on the strip of land between his house and the street, and then convinced the city to change its planting codes.

Finley equates growing your own food with freedom, but unfortunately, destructive pests love a green garden as much as you do. Though bugs aren’t the most critical challenge Finley faces as a green activist, he takes pests seriously so that plants can thrive and survive. Here, his tips and tricks for getting rid of your backyard’s seven most unwanted guests.

1. Aphids

Aphids are tiny and pear-shaped insects. Aphids suck the sap from the new growth of plants, distorting leaves and spreading viral diseases. Commonly known as greenflies and blackflies, aphids excrete a sticky liquid called honeydew when they feed. Honeydew then collects on the underside of leaves and causes sooty mold to develop. “The aphids are a major, major problem,” Finley admits.

Though aphids don’t often kill an entire plant, they must be controlled. “Neem oil, [a naturally-occurring pesticide], and soapy water work, but you can also wash aphids off a plant,” he says. In most cases, a strong spray from a garden hose will do the trick. If you can up the population of ladybugs, an aphid consumer, you’ll have a natural exterminator.

2. Ants

If the aphids are the soldiers, then the ants are the generals, telling them what to do. “The ants are the only insect known to have basically indentured servants,” Finley explains. “They supposedly bring the aphids to the plants to do their dirty work. The aphids will kill your plant. They suck the sugar out of your plant, and then what happens? The ants suck the sugar out of them.”

Much like with aphids, a solution of neem oil, Castile soap like Dr. Bronner’s, and water should successfully keep ants away. “Another good idea for ants that has worked for me is the combination of sugar and borax,” Finley says. “You boil that together, and then you put cotton balls in it. You set the cotton balls out, and the ants suck the solution out of them and take them back to their nest, and they die. It also works with honey [and borax].”

3. Cabbage moth

For Finley, the cabbage moth is the peskiest pest of all. Widely recognized as a destroyer of produce like broccoli and collard greens, they’re tough to catch before it’s too late. Once the eggs hatch, these little green worms are hard to spot, so you really have to examine the leaves of the plants to identify them.