When I used to scout greenhouse plants for pests for a living, I carried a chart designed to be filled out easily as I counted and walked the crops.
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The columns were labelled with the specific location, and the rows were labelled with six names of common pests I’d find either on the undersides of leaves as I scoured the plants, stuck to the yellow sticky cards I put out and replaced each week, or that would fall on my clipboard when I shook a branch over it.
I wouldn’t always find each one of these pests, but I could count on finding at least a few, depending on the crop I was scouting.
Greenhouses are notorious for harboring and nurturing populations of insects that are always on the verge of explosion.
These protected growing environments are warm and wet, and they contain a buffet of plants to suit a variety of palates, including those of tiny creatures with six or eight legs.
Often, there are no naturally occurring beneficial insects present, because while greenhouses do a good job of excluding certain pests, they also tend to keep out the good bugs.
In this guide we’ll talk about each of the six pests I was constantly prowling for when I was doing this work, and how to manage them. Every greenhouse grower should know how to identify and deal with these common foes!
Here’s the lineup of plant-damaging culprits:
Common Greenhouse Pests1. AphidsEncompassing a variety of different species, many of which are not picky about their host, you’ll find aphids on nearly every plant’s pest list.
They are soft-bodied, most come in shades of brown or green, and they suck on
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