What you'll see: Plants are stunted and wilt in the heat. Roots have knobby swellings, and carrots may fork.
Prevent
Grow resistant varieties; look for N on the label.
Rotate susceptible crops, or move the garden.
Solarize the bed: clear plastic over moist, tilled soil for 6 weeks or more in summer.
Grow French marigolds as a cover in infested beds.
Organic options
Pull and remove roots after harvest.
Keep an infested bed bare and tilled through the summer.
Conventional options
None for home gardens; nematicides are for commercial applicators.
Photo: “Aphids on Kale leaf” by Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
AphidsPest
What you'll see: Clusters of small, soft-bodied green, black or gray insects on new shoots and under leaves. Leaves curl, and a sticky film may coat them.
Prevent
Check leaf undersides each week; a few aphids do little harm.
Pull nearby weeds, such as wild mustards, that feed aphids.
Grow flowers for lady beetles, lacewings and hover flies, and avoid broad sprays that kill them.
Organic options
Knock aphids off with a strong spray of water.
Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on leaf undersides, repeated as the label allows.
Neem oil, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide).
Conventional options
Malathion or permethrin, if the crop is on the label. These also kill the insects that eat aphids.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: Caterpillars feed in the tip of the ear under the husk, leaving moist droppings. On okra they bore into the pods.
Prevent
Check ears from when the silks appear.
Cut away the damaged tip; the rest of the ear is fine to eat.
Organic options
Mineral oil on the silks just inside each ear, a few days after the silks appear. For organic growing, use an OMRI Listed narrow-range oil.
Spinosad on the silks as eggs hatch. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Same as organic: spinosad and oil on the silks are the home-garden picks.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Photo: “Halyomorpha halys” by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
Stink bugsPest
What you'll see: Shield-shaped green or brown bugs pierce pods and seeds. Okra pods curl and twist, and okra, lima bean and soybean seeds shrivel.
Prevent
Keep weeds near the garden cut low, and clear debris where adults spend the winter.
Check plants often and act early; numbers climb in late summer.
Organic options
Hand-pick bugs and crush the barrel-shaped egg clusters. There are no good organic sprays.
Conventional options
Permethrin or zeta-cypermethrin, if the crop is on the label.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.
The link opens this growing guide, so anyone can read it and look up their own planting dates.
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Sow
Sprout
Plant out
Flowers
Fruit sets
Harvest
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