Alameda County Master Gardeners:

Plant Pests and Diseases

Find information about safely and effectively controlling problems in your garden here!

The following websites will direct you to information and pictures that will help you to identify any pest or disease that you may have in your garden. It is important to correctly identify a problem before you begin treating it.

These websites will provide you with information on how to control the problem using the least-toxic method.

See below for our Top 21 "offenders" or look below for other problems by type of plant:

Find Pests and Diseases of:

Flowers

Trees and Shrubs

Vegetables

Fruit trees

UC IPM Site – more information

IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, helps you to control garden pests (including insects, diseases, and vertebrates) by effectively reducing problems using the least toxic methods that sufficiently control the pest. This scientific and environmentally sensitive way of looking at pest management walks you through several techniques if necessary to safely minimize or eliminate the pest.

UC Pest Notes

Have a problem with an insect, disease or vertebrate pest? Check the list of UC Pest Notes for in-depth solutions to your specific problem. Pest Notes are peer-reviewed publications about specific pests or pest management topics directed at California's home and landscape audiences; they are based on UC's IPM recommendations.

Top 21 pests and diseases

These are some of the garden pests we most often encounter in Bay Area gardens:

For More Information on using cultural practices to reduce pests and disease in your garden, see Reduce Pests and Diseases By Changing Your Cultural Practices