Pests & Diseases

Spots, yellowing, mottling or curling on tomato leaves each point to a different cause. Here is how to read the pattern and prevent the most common problems.

Rats and mice dig up seed, gnaw fruit and nest in sheds and compost. Here is how to keep them down safely, without the baits that kill owls and pets.

Grasshoppers and locusts chew and defoliate a wide range of plants, and a swarm can strip a garden in a bad year. Here is how to protect the plants that matter.

Lace bugs leave silvery mottled leaves with shiny black spots underneath, mostly on azaleas and olives. The fix is to spray the leaf underside where they live.

Rutherglen bugs breed on inland weeds and swarm into gardens in hot, dry spells. Netting, weed control and steady watering protect the plants that matter.

The red and black harlequin bug clusters on soft fruit and new growth and shelters in weedy mallow. Hand-picking and a tidy-up keep it down without spraying.

The bronze orange bug clusters on citrus and squirts a caustic spray that can burn skin and eyes. Here is how to remove it safely and protect your tree.

Citrus leaf miner leaves silvery squiggly trails in new citrus leaves, but on an established tree it is largely cosmetic. Here is when to act and when to leave it be.

Carrot fly is not established in Australia, so damaged carrots here are usually something else. Here is what actually spoils Australian carrots, and how to prevent it.

Pea weevil larvae develop hidden inside pea seeds, so the sign is a round hole in a dried pea. Freezing your saved seed is the practical control.

Slaters are mostly beneficial decomposers that only turn pest when numbers explode and they graze soft seedlings. Here is how to keep the balance.

Most millipedes are harmless decomposers, but the introduced Portuguese millipede swarms into homes in autumn. Here is how to manage it without harming the helpful ones.