You nurture your tomato plants until you have beautiful fruit maturing on the vine.Upon closer inspection, you discover that somet
06.06.2023 - 20:59 / gardenerspath.com / Helga George
What’s Eating My Turnips? How to Eradicate Turnip and Rutabaga PestsTurnips are vulnerable to several pests, including cabbage aphids and root maggots, that plague other crucifers.
In addition, other insects are more annoyances than serious pests. Examples include whiteflies and caterpillars that feed on the turnip foliage.
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We provide an overview of the major insect pests of turnips and rutabagas and advice on how to control them.
AphidsWhile several kinds of aphids can plague turnip crops, including the turnip aphid (Lipaphis erysimi), the black bean aphid (Aphis fabae), and the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae), the cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicaea) is particularly fierce.
This small gray-green insect doesn’t look very scary. However, the populations of the cabbage aphid can build to large levels, and it can stunt the growth – or in the worst-case scenario – kill your plants!
You can minimize the chances of infection by checking your transplants for aphids before you plant them. If you do find aphids, try to prune them out.
An option to prevent these pests from settling on your plants is to surround the turnip plants with reflective mulch like silver-colored plastic.
A popular and effective biological control is to release benficial, aphid-devouring insects such as soldier beetles, ladybug beetles, big-eyed bugs, and hover flies.
If the populations get too large, you can treat your plants with some type of insecticide. Oils like neem or canola oil or insecticidal soaps will generally work to control the cabbage aphids infesting your turnips.
If you do apply insecticidal soap, do so in cloudy weather that is
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