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Articles listed under “problem solver”

Eastern tent caterpillar — June 30, 2009

There are several kinds of caterpillars that spin webs in trees, but you’ll see Eastern tent caterpillars and their webs in late spring or early summer.

Columbine sawfly — June 23, 2009

These larvae of a non-stinging wasp have green heads and bodies without stripes or spots.

Japanese knotweed — June 16, 2009

This extremely invasive weed has simple medium-green leaves and spike-shaped pale-green to white flowers in summer.

Slugs — June 9, 2009

These creatures can be ¼ to 6 or 7 in. long, and may be gray, orange, yellow, brown or black, with stripes or other markings. 

Blackspot on roses — June 2, 2009

In spring small black spots appear on the leaves, and occasionally the stems, of roses.

Buffalo bur — May 26, 2009

Buffalo bur grows up to 2 ft. tall and is armed with long yellow spines on its deeply lobed light green leaves and along sturdy stems.

Japanese beetle — May 19, 2009

If these pests weren’t so destructive, they’d be pretty. Shiny bronze-green adults are about 3/8 in. long. Larvae are 1-1/4-in.-long, C-shaped white grubs.

Powdery mildew — May 12, 2009

The white granular patches look like dust on the stems, the tops and bottoms of leaves and occasionally on flowers and fruit.

Poison oak — May 5, 2009

As with their close relative, poison ivy, “Leaves of three, let it be” is good advice.

Aphids — April 28, 2009

Orange, green, yellow, red, brown, black or covered with a waxy white or gray coating — there are all kinds of aphids out there.

White clover — April 21, 2009

This low, 4- to 12-in.-tall spreading weed has white flowers and roots wherever stem nodes touch the soil, but it also spreads by seed.

Anthracnose — April 14, 2009

When anthracnose strikes after a cool, wet spring, you’ll find irregular dark blotches on leaves.

Eastern chipmunk — April 7, 2009

You’re looking out your window and you see it — a striped rodent feasting on your birdseed.

Columbine leaf miner — March 31, 2009

If you have columbine, you’ll eventually have to deal with leaf miners.

Botrytis gray mold — March 24, 2009

Botrytis gray mold appears as small, wet-looking spots, usually in spring, on tender new flower buds and blossoms.

Sulfur cinquefoil — March 17, 2009

This 2-ft.-tall perennial weed blooms with sulfur-yellow flowers from late spring to late summer. The plant has stout, hairy stems and hairy five to seven deeply lobed leaves.

Tobacco hornworm — March 10, 2009

These 3- to 5-in.-long giants of the caterpillar world have a large harmless spike, or horn, on their tails.

Black nightshade — March 3, 2009

This rambling, 1- to 2-ft.-tall annual weed blooms all summer with clusters of star-shaped white flowers with yellow centers.

Fire blight — February 24, 2009

This aptly named infectious disease makes a tree look scorched, with leaves and stems withered to brown or black.

Cochineal scale — February 17, 2009

Cochineal scale are small (up to 1/4-in.) crimson insects that attack Opuntia, such as prickly pear and cholla cactus.

Narrowleaf hawksbeard — February 10, 2009

At 8 to 20 in. tall, narrowleaf hawksbeard looks like a dandelion on steroids. In fact, this edible annual’s leaves can be used just like a dandelion’s, as a green in salads.

Deer damage — February 3, 2009

Deer populations, once hunted to near extinction, are rebounding to their highest levels ever.

Field bindweed — January 27, 2009

Don’t let this morning glory lookalike fool you — it will take over your garden if you let it.

Spider mites — January 20, 2009

You’ll probably notice the symptoms long before you see the actual pest.

Aster yellows on coneflower — January 13, 2009

One disease that can infect purple coneflower is aster yellows. It’s caused by a phytoplasma, a disease-causing organism smaller than bacteria but larger than a virus.

Red leaf edges — January 6, 2009

When you bring a succulent plant that was growing outside back inside in winter, it can become stressed as it gets used to a new environment.

Whiteflies — December 30, 2008

If you brush the foliage of a plant and a white cloud floats up and quickly resettles, chances are your plant has whiteflies.

Winter burn — December 23, 2008

Winter burn causes an evergreen’s foliage to die off. The most common cause is desiccation.

Too much fertilizer — December 16, 2008

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing — fertilizer, for example. In house plants, too much fertilizer can cause the leaf tips to turn yellow and eventually brown.

Purple loosestrife — December 9, 2008

Is it a weed? Is it an ornamental? Purple loosestrife is both.