Guides
Problem & Fix
Diagnose and fix what is going wrong: yellowing leaves, blossom-end rot, pests, and disease. Each guide ties the fix to the right products and the plant data behind it.
3 topics, with a few starting points from each
Insect pests
20 guides
Cabbage maggots: protecting brassica roots
Cabbage maggots tunnel into brassica roots, wilting and killing young plants. Stop them with row cover at transplant, stem collars, timing, and rotation.
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Cabbage worms and loopers: identification and control
Identify imported cabbageworms, cabbage loopers, and diamondback larvae, then protect brassicas with row cover, scouting, hand-picking, and BT.
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Colorado potato beetles: organic control
Colorado potato beetles defoliate potatoes fast and resist many sprays. Control them organically with row cover, hand-picking, egg crushing, rotation, and mulch.
Read guideDiseases
19 guides
Anthracnose: managing this fungal disease
Anthracnose causes dark sunken lesions on leaves, stems, and fruit in warm wet weather. Manage it with sanitation, base watering, airflow, and clean rotation.
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Bacterial wilt: the cucumber-beetle connection
Bacterial wilt collapses cucumber and squash vines and has no cure. The fix is stopping the cucumber beetles that spread it, with row cover, timing, and sanitation.
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Clubroot in brassicas: prevention and management
Clubroot causes swollen, distorted brassica roots and wilting, stunted plants. There is no cure. Manage it with liming, long rotation, drainage, and strict sanitation.
Read guideDisorders & deficiencies
7 guides
Blossom end rot: why it happens and how to fix it
Blossom end rot is a calcium-delivery problem driven by uneven watering, not a soil calcium shortage. Fix the moisture and the rot stops.
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Bolting: why crops flower early and how to prevent it
Bolting is when crops flower and go to seed early, triggered by heat, long days, and stress. Prevent it with timing, bolt-resistant varieties, shade, and steady water.
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Catfacing in tomatoes
Catfacing is the puckered scarring on a tomato's blossom end, caused by cold weather during flowering. It is not a disease and there is no spray. Here is the fix.
Read guideBrowse all 46 guidesComplete topic directory
Insect pests20
- Cabbage maggots: protecting brassica roots
- Cabbage worms and loopers: identification and control
- Colorado potato beetles: organic control
- Corn earworms: protecting your sweet corn
- Cucumber beetles: striped vs. spotted identification and control
- Leaf miners: stopping the tunnels in leaves
- Onion maggots: how to prevent them
- Root knot nematodes: signs and management
- Squash bugs: how to find and stop them
- Squash vine borers: prevention and rescue
- Stink bugs in the garden: control
- Thrips: damage, detection, and control
- Tomato hornworms: finding and removing them
- Aphids: how to identify and get rid of them
- Cutworms: protecting seedlings from being cut down
- Flea beetles: damage, control, and prevention
- Japanese beetles: how to manage them
- Slugs and snails: organic control that works
- Spider mites: spotting and stopping them
- Wireworms: protecting roots and tubers
Diseases19
- Anthracnose: managing this fungal disease
- Bacterial wilt: the cucumber-beetle connection
- Clubroot in brassicas: prevention and management
- Fusarium vs. Verticillium wilt: diagnosis and management
- Gray mold (botrytis): control in the garden
- Alternaria leaf spot in the garden
- Aster yellows: the leafhopper-spread disease
- Bacterial spot on tomatoes and peppers
- Black rot in brassicas
- Damping off: why seedlings collapse and how to prevent it
- Downy mildew: how to spot and slow it
- Early blight on tomatoes and potatoes
- Late blight: the fast-moving tomato and potato disease
- Mosaic virus: spotting and managing it
- Phytophthora root rot
- Potato scab: causes and prevention
- Powdery mildew: treatment and prevention
- Root rot: causes, rescue, and prevention
- Septoria leaf spot on tomatoes