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Pest Calendar for the Mediterranean Garden

What pest to watch for each month to act at the first signs, not when the crop is lost.

1 min read

Pests do not appear "suddenly": they follow temperature, budding, and water stress. A calendar is not a sentence; it is a watch list to check the underside of the leaf in time.

End of Winter and Spring

February-March: aphids on shoots of aromatic plants and potted citrus; substrate gnats if you have overwatered indoors. April: green aphids on young tomatoes and peppers, ants herding, snails with the first mild rains.

May: whitefly in greenhouses and glazed terraces; first caterpillars on tomatoes if there are night butterflies. Check the underside and apical shoots weekly.

Summer

June-August: red spider mite with dry heat (yellow spots and fine web). Thrips on pepper flowers. Tomato hornworm at night. Irregular watering triggers everything: stressed plant = happy pest.

Autumn

September is still summer for the spider. With the first rains, slugs return. Clean up debris: pupae hibernate in the substrate and on old stakes. A timely potassium soap in September prevents entering winter with a mealybug colony on indoor plants coming back home.

What We Recommend at Control Garden

Agricultural soap, ant gel, and one habit: 5 minutes of inspection per week. The products work when you arrive early.

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FAQs

Does the same calendar work in the humid north?
Heat and red spider mite are delayed; slugs and downy mildew arrive earlier. Use the calendar as a guide, not as dogma.
What should I check if I only have 2 minutes?
The underside of 5 new leaves, shoots, and the base of the stem. That's where aphids, thrips, and neck fungi start.
Should I treat 'just in case'?
No. Treat upon seeing the pest or initial damage. The calendar is for monitoring, not a poison schedule.

Keep reading

All universes

Aphid

Soft insects on shoots and undersides. Honeydew, ants, and viruses. Act at the first curl.

Red Spider Mite

It's not an insect: it's a mite. Soap spray on the underside and increasing humidity help.

Tomato Caterpillar

Fruit with a clean hole and remnants inside: caterpillar. Look at night on the underside.

Whitefly

The white cloud when moving the leaf is the adult. The nymphs on the underside are the real problem.

Soil Mosquito

The adult is a nuisance; the larva feeds on fine roots of seedlings. The cause is overwatering.