10 Common Crop Pests: How to Identify and Control Them

Last Updated on October 18, 2023

There are many pests that can invade your garden and destroy your crops.

Let’s take a look at 10 of the most common garden crop pests, along with information on how to identify them by their look and by the damage they caused, and how to get rid of them.

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What are garden pests?

According to the dictionary, pests are defined as animals or plants that harm the human body, human food or in any way affect human living negatively. 

Therefore, garden pests are pests that attack and eat vegetable and fruit garden crops.

Garden pests include insects, moles, skunks, foxes, racoons, mice, squirrels, rabbits, birds, deer, and even family pets if they are damaging your outdoor plants.

Top 10 garden pests 

Let’stake a closer look at 10 common pests that affect a wide variety of garden plants, along with pictures, description of the damage they cause, and effective ways of repelling or controlling them.

1. Aphids

These tiny pear-shaped green or black bugs feed on plant sap and leave behind a sticky residue that will attract ants or other insects. They also transmit viruses that can kill plants. 

Signs of aphid damage:

• leaves, stems or plant tips with distorted patches
• severely infested leaf and flowers drop off plants.

Aphid control:

• knock them off with a stream of water from a hose;
• attract to your garden or purchase and release insects that destroy aphids: ladybugs, aphid midgets, lacewings, or parasitic wasps;
•  spray them with neem oil mixed with water in a spray bottle for quick results;
• cover crops with floating row cover to prevent problems.

2. Birds

Birds are not always bad guys, they will eat weed seeds and harmful insects. When birds prey on your crop, however, you must see them as pests. Flocks of birds are like locusts. They can decimate entire berry patches or grain fields, and individual birds could be aggressive in attacking a particular crop. The worst offenders – starlings and blackbirds.

Evidence of bird damage:

• seeds you planted or young seedlings (especially corn) disappear because birds ate them;
• ripe fruit and berries are damaged (pecked on) or disappear (blueberries and cherries especially).

Bird control in gardens:

• garden netting for fruit trees, blueberry bushes, strawberries and vegetable crops 
• handmade or mechanical scarecrow 
• hang from the tree reflective shiny ribbons, streamers
• coyote 3-D replica as visual scare
• solar powered owl decoy
• bird repeller sound alarm with motion sensor

3. Caterpillars

Caterpillars are the larval stage of butterflies and moths. They are one of the most annoying garden pests that feed on plants. 

To identify what kind of caterpillar you are dealing with, check out this American caterpillar gallery.

Damage caterpillars cause:

•  leaves can have large round or ragged holes or be consumed entirely
• sometimes leaves look like skeletons, because just leaf veins are left,
• flowers are eaten
• caterpillar poop can be visible in the area of the damage.

Caterpillar control:

• handpick them off plants and destroy by placing in a bucket with soapy water 
• attract beneficial insects that destroy caterpillars – lacewings, assassin bugs, parasitic wasps
• sprinkle hot pepper around garden or mix homemade bug spray (check the recipe in this article)
• if caterpillars are a serious problem, consider growing some crops, for example lettuce,  under floating row cover.

4. Cutworms

There are several species of cutworms. They feed at night and on overcast days on stems of seedlings or transplants.

Damage that cutworms do: 

• seedlings nipped off and lying on the ground, as if somebody cut them with scissors.

Cutworm control

• search and destroy cutworms hiding in the soil around the plant base. Then use a collar / barrier to protect young plants. See how it’s done by using toilet paper tubes in my article ‘How to keep bugs from eating your plants: 15 natural solutions”

5. Deer

Deer can harm gardens and landscape in many ways year-round. When they get used to feeding in your garden, they will come back again and again.

Damage deer can do:

• trampled plants,
• torn or shredded leaves on the trees,
• broken twigs
• stripped bark.

Deer control:

• tall (7 feet at least) fences are the best solution (you can use virtually invisible 7.5 feet tall TENAX deer control fence)
• wire cylinders and netting, tree guards, 
• planting deer resistant plants, 
• motion-activated lights, sprinklers, or noise makers to frighten deer 
• keeping dog in the yard 
• Deer Scram repellent.

This is the most effective way to deter deer and other animals from your garden and yard.

6. Japanese beetles

Don’t be fooled by their pretty look! These cute metallic beetles with bronze wings and long legs are one of the worst enemies of your garden. When one Japanese beetle finds a good food source it emits pheromones to attract more beetles, so early removal is essential.

Signs of Japanese beetles damage:

• according to umn.edu Japanese beetles feed on the leaves, flowers or fruit of more than 300 species of plants. They skeletonize leaves, leaving them looking like a cheesecloth. 
• Japanese beetle grubs chew grass roots, causing the turf to brown and die.

Japanese beetle control

• shake them off in the morning into a tarp and drown in soapy water
• cover plants with floating row covers
• drench sod with parasitic nematodes to kill larvae
• use Japanese & Oriental beetle trap
• spray plants with ‘Surround’ organic pesticide (kaolin clay) to deter Japanese beetles. (Learn more about’ Surround’ here).

7. Moles

Moles are burrowing animals that eat earthworms and other small invertebrates. They usually make holes in the ground, which can be a problem for people who have gardens or lawns near their homes.

Damage moles cause 

• mole hills in the garden, lawn or flower bed with uprooted plants
• dried out plant roots caused by mole tunnels 

Mole control

• solar powered ultrasonic mole repellent,
• mole traps
• ‘Mole Scram’ – granular organic mole repellent.

8. Rabbits

Rabbits – yes, those little cute bunnies :), are garden pests that can eat a lot of plants in your garden. 

Damage that rabbits do:

They will usually chew on any edible plant they find:

• seedlings disappear
• older plants are eaten on the top, cut off above the soil level or missing
• bark on young fruit trees gone
• tooth marks are left on tree trunks

Rabbit droppings, which look like blackberries, can be seen nearby.

Rabbit control

• cover plants with floating row cover
• fence your garden
• try solar ultrasonic repellent
• use natural rabbit repellent spray

9. Snails and Slugs

Slugs and snails are not insects, they are mollusks, though in the garden they cause as much damage as insect pests.

The body of a slug is completely soft, and it doesn’t have any teeth.

The body of the snail has a shell.

Damage that snails and slugs make:

•  seedlings disappear,
• rugged holes in the leaves,
• slugs and snails or their slime trails are seen.

Slug control

• set out slug traps 
• sprinkle around plants wood ash, crushed eggshells, or diatomaceous earth 

To learn more about natural slug control, check out #3, 6, 9, 11, 14 in this article.

10. Stink bugs

Stink bugs are known for their shield-shaped body and unpleasant odor.

There are several species of stink bugs: brown and green stink bugs are the most common.

According to collage of agriculture of Clemson.edu stink bugs feed on plant juices of 52 plants, including bean and cowpea seeds, okra pods, ripening tomato fruit, stems of melons and asparagus, as well as eggplant, potato, peach, and strawberry.

Damage that stink bugs cause:

• the fruit or plant will look like it was pricked by many tiny pins.

Stink bug control

• keep the garden area free of weeds and debris,  especially, do not leave spent cucumbers, zucchini and squash plants in your garden 
• spraying fruits and vegetables with organic Surround insecticide (which is essentially a kaolin clay) is effective in deterring stink bugs.

Garden pests and crops they damage

Now, after a detailed description of the top 10 garden pests, I’d like to provide you with this list of pests according to the type of plants they affect, so you can have a handy reference.

Related reading: 

Discover more tips on Pest Control

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Common Crop Pests