Garden pest genuinely has a broader meaning that includes all insects and animals (beneficial or harmful) that interferes with the growth and health of plants. There are five important categories of garden pests, which vary with location.
- Insects and other many-legged creatures: This group has largest number of different kinds of pests. Some creatures, which mainly damages crop, are the Colorado potato beetle, the tomato hornworm, and the cabbage butterfly. Common creatures are ants, aphids, borers, bugs, caterpillars and worms (like gypsy moths and cutworms), centipedes, earwigs, grasshoppers, grubs and maggots, Japanese beetles, and weevils.
- Mollusks: Snails and slugs, that looks like shell-less snails, are garden pests that mainly attack members of the cabbage family and the lettuces.
- Birds: Some birds, like purple martins helps in controlling garden pests, but others are pests by nature. Crows and blue jays eat corn, and many birds may eat seeds and seedlings, including fruits, berries, and nuts. Species that need to be known are gulls, magpies, pigeons, robins, sparrows, and starlings. Geese and ducks, of any kind either farm stock or wild, can also damage gardens.
- Rodents and other small mammals: Small mammals can create many problems, like eating plants and produce and digging in region that need to be protected. This type of garden pests are armadillos, chipmunks, groundhogs or woodchucks, mice and rats, moles, opossums, prairie dogs, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and voles. Depending on behavior, household pets like cats and dogs come under this category.
- Larger mammals: Bear, deer, moose, coyotes and bears create problems in garden.
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