Encyclopedia
Plant pests
Identification and control of the most common pests.
Not sure what is wrong with your plant? Diagnose by symptomWoolly apple aphid
An aphid covered with dense, white, waxy fluff resembling cotton wool or mould, beneath which brownish-red ins…
1 plant in the atlasLarge white butterfly
A large day-flying butterfly with a wingspan of 50-65 mm; the wings are white, the forewings with black tips, …
11 plants in the atlasBox tree moth
Bright green caterpillars with a black head, black dots and dark longitudinal stripes along the body, growing …
1 plant in the atlasWireworms (click beetle larvae)
Larvae of click beetles: narrow, hard and shiny, yellow-brown (hence the name 'wireworms'), up to 2-3 cm long,…
5 plants in the atlasRoot-knot nematodes
Microscopic roundworms (0.3–2 mm), invisible to the naked eye, feeding inside the roots. The diagnostic sign i…
4 plants in the atlasApple blossom weevil
A small beetle of the weevil family, about 4–5 mm long, brown-grey, with a pale, oblique V-shaped band on the …
2 plants in the atlasGreenhouse whitefly
Tiny (1-2 mm) white insects resembling minuscule moths that rise in a cloud when the plant is disturbed. They …
12 plants in the atlasPear psylla
Small sucking insects whose adults resemble tiny cicadas and jump off the shoots when disturbed. The flat, yel…
1 plant in the atlasBrown scale
A soft scale whose females form brown, dome-shaped, strongly convex "cups" (3–6 mm) sitting motionless on shoo…
12 plants in the atlasAphids
Small (1–3 mm) soft-bodied insects, green, black or pink, feeding in clusters on young shoots and the undersid…
198 plants in the atlasEuropean cherry fruit fly
A small fly about 4 mm long with a black body, a yellow scutellum on the back and transparent wings marked wit…
2 plants in the atlasVoles
Small rodents with a stocky body, short tail and blunt muzzle, about 9–13 cm long, active all year round. They…
3 plants in the atlasVine weevils
Weevils 8-12 mm long, black or dark brown, with a short, broad snout, flightless and active at night. Their la…
12 plants in the atlasCodling moth
A nocturnal moth with a wingspan of 15-20 mm; the forewings are grey-brown with a characteristic coppery, glos…
3 plants in the atlasFlea beetles
Tiny (1–3 mm) beetles with black, or black and yellow longitudinally striped, wing cases and strongly thickene…
12 plants in the atlasWhite grubs (cockchafer larvae)
Large, fleshy larvae of cockchafers (common and forest cockchafer), growing to 4-6 cm, cream-white and C-shape…
3 plants in the atlasWinter moth
A moth with marked sexual dimorphism: the male has grey-brown, finely banded wings with a span of about 25 mm,…
31 plants in the atlasCabbage moth
A nocturnal moth with a wingspan of about 35-45 mm, with brown-grey forewings bearing a characteristic pale ki…
9 plants in the atlasSawflies
The larvae strongly resemble the caterpillars of butterflies and moths, but have more pairs of abdominal prole…
15 plants in the atlasCarrot fly
A fly whose larvae tunnel through the roots of carrots (as well as parsley, celery and parsnip). Symptoms: rus…
5 plants in the atlasSpider mites
Tiny (0.3–0.5 mm) arachnids, hard to spot with the naked eye, feeding on the underside of leaves. Symptoms: fi…
107 plants in the atlasCutworms
Thick, fat caterpillars of noctuid moths, grey-brown or earth-coloured, with smooth skin, feeding at night. Du…
4 plants in the atlasLeafhoppers
Small (2-10 mm), elongated true bugs, usually greenish or yellowish, which when disturbed nimbly jump and scur…
3 plants in the atlasSlugs and snails
Slugs and shelled snails that feed at night and after rain. Symptoms: irregular holes in the leaves and young …
64 plants in the atlasOnion fly
An inconspicuous, ash-grey fly 6-7 mm long, resembling a small housefly; the damage is done by its larvae - le…
6 plants in the atlasCabbage root fly
A greyish fly resembling a small housefly, which lays its eggs at the base of brassica plants and on the moist…
9 plants in the atlasColorado potato beetle
A beetle 6–11 mm long with yellow, convex wing cases bearing ten black longitudinal stripes. The larvae are br…
3 plants in the atlasHorse-chestnut leaf miner
A small moth of only a few millimetres' wingspan with rusty-brown, silvery-striped wings; the damage is caused…
2 plants in the atlasDiamondback moth
A small, grey-brown moth with a wingspan of about 12–15 mm; in the resting insect the folded wings form a pale…
9 plants in the atlasArmoured and soft scale insects
Immobile, brown or yellowish shields (1-4 mm) attached to stems and the underside of leaves, especially along …
47 plants in the atlasMole cricket
A large (3-5 cm) brown insect with massive, shovel-shaped front legs adapted for digging and resembling the pa…
1 plant in the atlasThrips
Very small (1–2 mm), slender, elongated insects with fringed wings, coloured yellow, brown or black; the larva…
21 plants in the atlasMealybugs
Insects covered in a white, cottony, waxy coating, gathering in leaf axils, at the base of shoots and on the u…
63 plants in the atlasBlackcurrant gall mite
A microscopic mite (eriophyid, about 0.2 mm), invisible to the naked eye, that colonises the inside of buds. I…
3 plants in the atlasFungus gnats
Small, dark gnats (2–4 mm) flying around pots and scurrying across the surface of the substrate. The adults ar…
9 plants in the atlasLeaf-roller moths (tortricids)
The caterpillars roll, fold and glue leaves together with a webbing of silk threads, creating shelters in whic…
6 plants in the atlas