Crop Challenges that I Experienced in my Vegetable Garden

Greetings!

It has been six months since I become full-time in vegetable gardening and four months since I joined Hive Garden. With that span, I learned a lot of lessons about vegetable gardening. I learned how to water and take care of my crops but one of the most challenging lessons that I came to experience in my vegetable garden is preventing and getting rid of pests.

Sure, planting, watering, transplanting, removing weeds, fertilizing (organic), and drainage management are quite easy because they can be learned along the way. But the issue of pests is the hardest challenge that I experienced in the short time that I have been gardening.

And yes, I also learned how to deal with pests my main concern is that they can come back and I am struggling with how to keep them from coming back. One good example is the leaf miner that I always see on my tomatoes (photo below).

^{Ant miner on my tomato crop}

On my bell pepper crops (photo below), I see holes in some of my crops which I have no idea what causes them. It is a good thing there aren't many of them.

^{Bell pepper leaf with holes (probably eaten by worm)}

My bell pepper is also not immune from leaf miners (photo below). It is a good thing that not many of my crops are being attacked by these little miners.

^{Ant miner on my bell pepper}

I also noticed one of my bell crops to have deformed leaves. Again, it is a good thing that only one of my crops got this kind of deformation on its leaves.

^{Some deformation on by bell pepper}

One of the most disheartening setbacks in my vegetable gardening is what happened on my red bell pepper crops. Their fruits are drying up (photo below).

^{Drying red chili pepper}

Aside from the fruits that are drying up, there are also these while-looking pests on their leaves. I noticed that whenever a leaf got affected by these pests they become unhealthy.

^{White specs on my red chili pepper, probably insects}

Another problem that I noticed on my red chili pepper crops is that some of its leaves have some brown spots (photo below, the yellow one) rendering the leaf become yellow in color then dying in the process.

^{Drying up red chili pepper}

It is not only the leaf of my red chili peppers that are dying but also some of the leaves of my Moringa (photo below).

^{Drying up Moringa flowers and leaves}

Not only are the leaves of my Moringa are drying up the flowers too are drying (photo below).

^{Drying Moringa Flowers}

One of the most dreaded pests that I came to encounter in my vegetable garden is those that I saw from the black seeded string beans. (In the photo below) some white spots can be seen, and traces of leaf miners are also present. If you are going to look closely at the white spots you can see tiny worms that are red in color.

^{Ant miner and white web on my black seeded string beans}

Below is a photo of one of my black seeded string beans ravaged by the leaf miners.

^{Ant miner on my black seeded string beans}

There are also this yellowish spots on one of my black seeded string beans (it is a good thing that only one of my seeded string beans has it).

^{Green specs on my black seeded string beans, probably done insect}

At first, I thought that squash is one of the most resilient and sturdy crops when it comes to its leaves but I was wrong since I saw that their leaves can be attacked by pests. Most of the time I can see some black-colored manure of worms above their leaves but I was able to eradicate them. The problem that I was not able to solve is the brow spots of the leaves which I have no idea what causes them.

^{brown spots in my squash}

Aside from brown spots some of the leaves are also becoming yellowish in color

^{Brown specs on my Squash}

On my eggplant crops once in a while the uppermost leaves suddenly die, which also I have no idea what causes them. My remedy to this problem is I am pruning the dried leaves and stems.

^{Drying leaves of my eggplants}

And then there is the "ravagers" problem in my vegetable garden (^_) which I think is a pretty easy problem to solve.

Introducing "Blacky" my male duck and "Kaleng" my female duck. Together they are ravaging the sweet potato vines that I planted months ago which is also my fault because I am letting them out on their cage the whole day so that they can swim on the drainages canal that I dug months ago.

^{Blacky and Kaleng while inside their cage}

And I am happy to share with the community that they are going to be parents soon because Kaleng has produced ten eggs (I temporarily put the other nine eggs on a secure location because some of our dogs and cats are notorious egg stealers, haha). And in a matter of days, these two adult ravages will be joined b their ten children.

^{A lonely egg that I left on the nest of Kaleng that I made out of weeds}

^{Here are the other nine eggs of Kaleng in a secure location}

Aside from Blacky and Kaleng there are also three chickens ravaging my sweet potato vines (a rooster, an adult hen, and a one-year-old hen). Below is a photo of my rooster and the one-year-old hen.

^{My rooster and the 1 year old hen}

And here is the other ravager that ravaged my sweet potato vines with here four chicks which soon to be grown-ups.

^{My adult hen taking care of her three days old chicks}

And those are the challenges that I experienced in my vegetable garden. What's yours? Let me know in the comment below.

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I am a Computer Engineer, blogger, farmer, father, and husband. I love countryside living, nature, farming (rice/vegetables), and has two decades of experience as an I.T. professional