Garden Planner Pro Blog
Pests And Problems
Guides and how-tos from the Garden Planner Pro blog on pests and problems.
17 posts
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Why Is My Indoor Basil Turning Black?
Basil leaves going black on the windowsill usually means cold glass, soggy roots or leaf spot. How to tell which from where the black starts, and what to do today.
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Should You Cut Back Asparagus Ferns in the Fall?
Don't cut asparagus ferns while they're green. Once they've gone fully brown, cutting and clearing them helps with beetles and rust. When leaving them wins.
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Your Carrots Split in the Ground. The Fall Rain Did It.
Carrots that come up cracked down the side after a wet week are almost always a water problem, and they're safe to eat. How to tell splits from forks and fly tunnels.
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Why Are My Seedlings Falling Over? If the Stem Is Pinched at the Soil, It's Damping Off
Seedlings flopped overnight with a thin, dark stem at the soil line? That's damping off. How to tell it from legginess, save the tray, and stop it in February.
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Your Fall Kale Turned Purple. Put the Bone Meal Down.
Kale, cabbage and lettuce going purple in autumn is usually the cold, not a phosphorus shortage, and feeding won't fix it. When purple does mean a problem.
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Why Is My Rosemary Dying Indoors? Blame the Window Before the Watering Can
Brown needles on the rosemary you brought in for winter? Over- and underwatering are both symptoms. The cause is usually the spot, and how to find a better one.
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Your Garlic Sprouted Before Winter. Is It Ruined?
Green garlic shoots in October look like a mistake. They almost never are. What frost does to the leaves, when to mulch, and the one sign of a real problem.
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Brown Tunnels in Your Fall Radishes? A Maggot Did That, and It's Probably Already Gone
Rusty grooves and slimy tunnels in fall radishes and turnips are cabbage root maggots. How to tell them from wireworms and slugs, and what to do before winter.
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The Pests That Wrecked Your Summer Are Asleep in Your Garden Right Now
Squash bugs, borers and slugs do not leave in autumn. They overwinter a few feet from where they fed, and one October afternoon does more than a summer of spraying.
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Those Pale Tunnels in Your Chard Leaves Aren't Disease
Tan blisters spreading across chard, beet and spinach leaves in autumn are usually leaf miners, and spraying them does nothing. Here is how to tell and what works.
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Your Fall Seedlings Vanished Overnight. Look for the Slime, Not the Bug.
Ragged holes in fall greens and no insect anywhere on the plant. How to tell slug damage from caterpillars, earwigs and birds, and what stops it this week.
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Those Gray Clumps on Your Kale Aren't Mold, and Washing Won't Fix Them
Cabbage aphids look like powdery mildew and behave like nothing else. How to tell them from the two things people mistake them for, and why soap sprays keep failing.
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The Tomato Plants You Pull This Week Decide How Next July Goes
Some of what you clear out of the garden this month carries next summer's disease back into the bed. Most of it does not. How to tell which is which.
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Your Tomato Leaves Have Greasy Gray Patches. Pull the Plant Today.
Late blight is not the spotting you have been ignoring all summer. It kills a tomato plant in under a week and blows to your neighbors. How to tell, and what to do.
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Your Squash Leaves Turned White Overnight - Don't Pull the Plant Yet
Powdery mildew hits squash every August. The leaves it takes are gone, but the plant usually has weeks of fruit left. What to cut, what to spray, when to quit.
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Those Brown Spots Climbing Your Tomato Plant Aren't From Watering
Yellow, spotted lower tomato leaves in late summer usually get blamed on watering. It's almost always early blight, and it climbs fast once it starts.
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This Common Watering Mistake Is Splitting Your Tomatoes
A dry spell followed by a heavy rain is the classic setup for cracked tomatoes. The fix isn't about the storm, it's about the week before it.
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