Pest and Disease Guides

The Old Farmer’s Almanac Garden Plant Pest and Disease Control Library has information on identifying and controlling your most common insect pests and critters—from aphids and hornworms to rabbits and deer. We also address plant disease from blights to wilts.

The first step is to identify the problem! The second step is to control it! Let’s get started.

Indoor Pests Plant Diseases Garden Pests Non-Insect Pests

Indoor & Household Pests

Ants

A Close up of a Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius)

Bed Bugs

Fleas

Silverfish

Plant Diseases

Anthracnose

Tomato plant showing sudden wilting caused by bacterial wilt

Bacterial Wilt

Blossom-End Rot on Tomatoes

Blossom-End Rot

Damping off

Damping Off

Downy Mildew

Early Blight

Bacterial burn on young apple tree branches in the garden. g

Fire Blight

Fusarium Wilt

Gray Mold

Late Blight on Tomato Plant

Late Blight

virus disease on eggplant, yellow leaf mosaic

Mosaic Viruses

powdery mildew plant disease on a yellow summer squash plant and leaves

Powdery Mildew

Tomato roots showing dark, damaged growth caused by root rot

Root Rot

Rust Plant Disease

Basil seedlings wilting and dying from Verticillium wilt infection

Verticillium Wilt

White cottony mycelium of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum on plant stem causing white mold disease.

White Mold

plant disease, onion rot in production field

White Rot

Insect Pests

green aphids crawling on a plant

Aphids

Armyworm on leaf

Armyworm

Echinacea plants with aster yellows disease

Aster Yellows

Cabbage Looper Moth Caterpillar (Trichoplusia ni) on a green and red succulent leaf.

Cabbage Looper

Cabbage Root Maggots

cabbage worm on a cabbage leaf

Cabbage Worms

Chiggers (Mites)

Chiggers

colorado potato beetle

Colorado Potato Beetles

Corn earworm feeding on a corn cob

Corn Earworms

Striped cucumber beetle on a leaf

Cucumber Beetles

Cutworms

Earwigs

Fire Ant on a plant

Fire Ants

Flea Beetles

fungus gnat on a plant leaf

Fungus Gnats

Grasshopper chewing on a green leaf

Grasshoppers

Harlequin bug feeding on a yellow flower.

Harlequin Bugs

Japanese Beetles

Leaf Miners

Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora beticola).

Leaf Spot

Leafhoppers

Mexican Bean Beetles

roots pulled up with root-knot nematode infection

Root-Knot Nematodes

Scale Insects

Slugs & Snails

Spider Mites

Spittlebug Foam on Flowers

Spittlebugs

Squash Bugs

Squash Vine Borer

Stink Bugs

Tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris) on a leaf

Tarnished Plant Bug

Thrips

Tomato Hornworms

Symptoms of white rust in Mustard plant

White Rust

whiteflies and whitefly eggs on a green leaf

Whiteflies

A wireworm pest emerging from a freshly dug potato

Wireworms

Animal Pests and Wildlife

American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos, standing on a brick post in a suburban garden

Crows

Deer

a woodchuck/groundhog in the garden

Groundhogs

Mice

Mole (Scalopus Aquaticus)

Moles

Rabbits

Raccoons

A skunk, black feathers and white stripes running from the body to the tail, walk on a wooden table.

Skunks

grey squirrel on a green lawn

Squirrels

Voles