How to Control Bugs That Eat Bean Plants

How to Control Bugs that Eat Bean Plants

• 1

  Control the weeds around the border of your garden. This will expose adult beetles where they over-winter, and prevent aphids from over-wintering near the plants. Other insects may be drawn to weeds, so control weeds that grow among your bean plants as well.

• 2

  Use an insecticide only when necessary; many insects that eat bean plants have natural predators that will also be killed by insecticide. If you do need to spray, do so late at night or early in the morning to avoid spraying bees that may be foraging in the plants.

• 3

  Wash aphids from bean plants with a powerful water spray. Get rid of plants that housed aphids immediately after the beans are harvested to avoid spreading.

• 4

  Spray insecticide, when it's necessary, only late in the growing season. This will allow natural predators to proliferate; they are key to controlling many types of insects that eat bean plants.

• 5

  Remove cutworm larvae by hand. Find them at night with a flashlight or in the daytime by scraping the soil around the plant.

• 6

  Pack the surface around the bean plant to prevent symphylans from living around the plant. They cannot cannot dig their own burrows, so cannot survive in densely packed soil.

• 7

  Apply insecticide soap to the leaves as soon as you see mites, focusing on the underside of the leaf. Repeat when necessary.