Harmful BugsWhiteflies can be devastating in gardens and greenhouses. They are tiny flies that look like tiny white moths if you used a magnifying glass to view them.
Whiteflies-Pest Diagnostic Clinic (left), Whiteflies-Clemson University (right)
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Silverfish are household pests, silvery to grey in colour and approximately 1 1/2 – 2 cm long. They are wingless and look a little ‘fishlike’ having scales like fish and a tapered body at both ends.
Adult Silverfish (L)-Do-it-yourself Pest Control, Adult Silverfish (R)-Integrated Pest Management of Alaska
Squash vine borer larvae are white with brown heads and about 2.5 cm long.
Squash vine borer larva (left)-Alabama Farmers Cooperative Inc, Larvae (right)-Kansas State University
Crane flies are large (2.5cm), brown flying critters resembling very large mosquitoes. They are also called leatherjackets.
Crane fly adults-Natural Resources of Canada
Indian meal moths (also called pantry moths or flour moths) larvae hatch in stored dry goods… flour, grains, seeds, cereal, chocolate, cake mixes, rice, nuts, dried fruit, dog food, birdseed, even tea, herbs and spices.
Adult flour moth & Pupa (left)-Alameda County Community Developement Agency, Adult Moth (right)-USDA Grain Marketing & Production Research Center
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Crickets can be awfully noisy and sometimes destructive. There are several types of crickets, three of the most popular are the house cricket, camel cricket and the field cricket.
Leafminers are small 1.5cm whitish grubs with a black head that feed in between leaves making strange almost transparent patterns in leaves of hosts.
Leaf Miner Grub (left)-Bradley Hydroponics, Leaf Miner Larvae (right)-Virginia Cooperative Extension
Pillbugs and sowbugs are really crustaceans that have come from the water but live totally on land. Pillbugs roll up when disturbed and sowbugs have two taillike appendages and cannot roll up.
Pillbug (left), Pillbugs on leaf (right)-University of Missouri-Columbia
Thrips can be found in the US and Canada in your veggie patches. The larvae is so small that you hardly know they are present until you see signs of damage on young plants.
Thrip larvae magnified
Grasshoppers are one of the most damaging pests in some bad years. They are between 2.5-6cm long and various colours.
