The Dirty Dozen:
12 Bad Garden Bugs

Ahids on a garden plant stalk.The dirty dozen bad garden bugs include aphids.

Consider this your wanted-poster lineup — dead or alive, preferably dead, these twelve are the reason your tomatoes look like they lost a fight.

They eat your plants, suck them dry, or spread disease from leaf to leaf like it's their full-time job. Because it is.

Get familiar with each one, and you'll know exactly what you're dealing with the moment you spot the damage — instead of standing over a chewed-up pepper plant wondering if you've been cursed.

Get the kids involved in the hunt, too. Nothing motivates a reluctant helper like the phrase "we're going bug hunting," and squashing pests is genuinely satisfying work once you've identified the right target.

Speaking of which: your two eviction options are pick-and-crush (not for the squeamish) or pick-and-drop into a jar of soapy water, where they meet a quieter end.

Here's your lineup.

The Dirty Dozen Bad Garden Bugs

These dirty dozen bad garden bugs are worth getting to know and identify. Exterminating these pests is easier if you get the kids involved. 

1.  Aphids

These pear-shaped little vampires come in green, red, black, yellow, or brown, and they will suck the life out of anything tender — vegetables, roses, apples, stone fruit, you name it. They're not picky eaters; they're just eaters.

Eviction notice: Blast them off with the garden hose or a spray bottle. And if you can attract the good bugs that eat aphids for a living, even better — let someone else do your dirty work.

2.  Corn Earworms

The moth eggs go straight onto corn silks or tomato leaves, so the caterpillars hatch already standing on the buffet. They burrow through the silks and into the top of the ear, leaving a telltale hole behind — like they wanted you to know they were there.

Eviction notice: Handpick them off on sight.

3.  Tomato Hornworms

Don't let the size fool you into thinking these are manageable — hornworms can strip a tomato plant shockingly fast, chewing through leaves and fruit with zero table manners.

Eviction notice: Handpick them the moment you spot one. You will not miss them; they're

4.  Vine Borers

These look like wasps in a costume—orange abdomen, black dots, about half an inch long—and they go after summer squash, winter squash, and pumpkins.

Eviction notice: Find the hole in the stem, insert a wire, and skewer the borer inside. Genuinely satisfying, if a little gruesome.

5.  Cucumber Beetles

Small, yellow-green, striped or spotted, and excellent at hiding on the underside of leaves where you'll never think to look.

Worse: they carry bacterial wilt, which can kill your plants even after you've dealt with the beetle itself.

Eviction notice: Handpick on sight — don't wait for an infestation to make them easier to find.

6.  Cutworms

Close-up of a cutworm on a plant.

The larval stage of several moth species, cutworms show up early in the season and go straight for the base of the stem, chewing plants down like tiny lumberjacks. Some climb up and go after the foliage too, just to cover their bases.

Eviction notice: Cutworm collars — a section of toilet paper or paper towel roll pushed into the soil around a transplant's stem — physically block them from reaching it.

7.  Cabbage Loopers

These caterpillars have a serious appetite and a serious preference for the cabbage family: broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, collards.

They'll also happily branch out to tomatoes, spinach, and cucumbers when the mood strikes. Look for silvery stripes down their backs and holes in your leaves.

Eviction notice: Handpick them off — they don't hide especially well.

8.  Mealybugs

Tiny, fuzzy, and white, mealybugs plant themselves at leaf joints and drain your plant's sap through a straw-like mouthpart.

Enough of them, and they can take a plant down entirely, sometimes bringing bacterial or fungal infections along for the ride.

Eviction notice: Spray with water, or wipe them away with a tissue or paper towel dipped in alcohol.

9.  Spider Mites

Usually red, sometimes not, and capable of devastating a plant once their numbers get out of hand. They're small enough to go unnoticed until the damage is already done.

Eviction notice: A strong spray of water knocks them right off.

10.  Snails and Slugs

Snails bring their own house; slugs travel light. Both leave ragged holes in leaves, stems, fruit, and bulbs, and both can flatten a bed of seedlings overnight if you're not paying attention.

Eviction notice: Handpick and crush, or set out a beer trap — apparently even slugs can't resist a good happy hour.

11.  Earwigs

The pincher bug earns its nickname honestly, and it has a nasty habit of hitching a ride indoors on the very roses you cut to bring inside. Surprise houseguest, uninvited.

Eviction notice: Trap and crush on sight.

12.  Whiteflies

Small, pale, and prone to scattering in a little cloud the moment you disturb the plant they're on — which is exactly how you'll know they're there.

Eviction notice: Spray with water, or hang yellow sticky traps to catch them before they multiply.

Clear out this dirty dozen and your garden will thank you with healthier plants and a much better harvest.

Just make sure you're not accidentally evicting the good guys along with the bad — here's your guide to the 10 Most Wanted Good Garden Bugs, the ones you actually want to keep around.

Before You Kill a Garden Bug, Identify It

This may be the most useful garden pest-control rule of all:

Know what you're looking at before you kill it.

Ladybug larvae don't look much like ladybugs. Some wasps are valuable predators or parasitoids. Spiders eat insects. Even caterpillars aren't automatically pests simply because they're chewing a leaf.

A garden is an ecosystem, not an operating room. It doesn't need to be sterile.

If you eliminate insects indiscriminately, you may kill the predators and pollinators that were helping keep actual pests under control.

Start With the Least Drastic Solution

Finding a garden pest doesn't mean you need to immediately spray everything within a twenty-foot radius.

For many home gardens, start smaller:

  1. Identify the pest. Make sure the insect is actually responsible for the damage.
  2. Check how serious the problem is. A few chewed leaves may be cosmetic rather than catastrophic.
  3. Remove pests manually when practical. Hand-picking, pruning an infested leaf, or spraying aphids with water may be enough.
  4. Protect vulnerable plants. Barriers and row covers can prevent some pest problems before they start.
  5. Protect beneficial insects. Avoid indiscriminate pesticide use, particularly around flowering plants and pollinators.
  6. Escalate only when necessary. If you use a pesticide, choose one appropriate for the identified pest and plant and follow the label exactly.

The objective isn't to create a garden where nothing crawls.

It's to prevent the things that crawl from eating everything you planted.

When Garden Damage Isn't Caused by Bugs

Don't convict an insect without evidence.

Yellow leaves, brown spots, wilting, and poor growth can also result from disease, watering problems, nutrient deficiencies, weather, soil conditions, or other environmental stresses.

Look at the pattern of damage.

Holes and missing plant tissue suggest something has been eating.

Sticky leaves can point toward sap-feeding insects such as aphids or whiteflies.

Fine webbing and stippled leaves may indicate spider mites.

A seedling cut off at soil level points toward cutworms.

Winding trails inside a leaf strongly suggest leaf miners.

The more specific the evidence, the less likely you are to treat the wrong problem.

The Bottom Line on Bad Garden Bugs

Garden pests are inevitable. Garden destruction isn't.

Check your plants regularly, learn to recognize the damage caused by common pests, and deal with problems while they're still small.

Most importantly, don't confuse every bug with a bad bug.

Some are eating your plants.

Others are eating the bugs eating your plants.

You definitely want to know which is which.

Keep Going

Meet the good guys: Read 10 Beneficial Garden Insects You Want in Your Yard to identify the pollinators, predators, and other garden helpers worth protecting.

More backyard help: Visit our Backyard & Garden Guide for practical gardening, outdoor cleaning, and family backyard ideas.