Garden Pest & Disease Guide

Identify and treat 62 common garden pests, diseases and weeds in Ireland.

Annual Meadow Grass

Annual Meadow Grass is one of the most ubiquitous annual grass weeds in Irish gardens.…

Aphids are small sap-sucking insects that affect virtually every type of garden plant in Ireland.…

Bindweed is one of the most notoriously persistent perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This twining…

Blackspot is a fungal disease that is the most common and serious disease of roses…

Blight (Potato & Tomato)

Blight (Potato & Tomato) is a devastating fungal-like disease that can destroy potato and tomato…

Botrytis (Grey Mould)

Botrytis (Grey Mould) is a fungal disease also known as grey mould that affects many…

Bramble is one of the most thorny perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This vigorous thorny…

Cabbage white butterfly

The large cabbage white butterfly is one of Ireland's most familiar garden butterflies, but its…

Canker is a disease causing sunken, dead areas on bark of trees and shrubs that…

Capsid bugs are small, green or brown plant bugs about 6mm long that cause distinctive…

Carrot fly is one of the most persistent pests for Irish vegetable growers. The adult…

Caterpillars are the larval stage of butterflies and moths, and many species cause significant damage…

Chafer grubs are the larvae of chafer beetles, living in the soil where they feed…

Chickweed is one of the most common and prolific annual weeds in Irish gardens. This…

Cleavers (Goosegrass)

Cleavers (Goosegrass) is one of the most scrambling annual weeds in Irish gardens. This annual…

Clubroot is a soil-borne disease that causes severe swelling and distortion of roots that affects…

Coral Spot is a fungal disease that causes bright coral-pink pustules on dead wood that…

Couch Grass is one of the most aggressive perennial grass weeds in Irish gardens. This…

Creeping Buttercup

Creeping Buttercup is one of the most aggressive spreading weeds in Irish gardens. This low-growing…

Damping off is a common and frustrating disease that affects newly germinated seedlings, causing them…

Dandelion is one of the most common perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This deep-rooted perennial…

Dock is one of the most persistent perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This deep-rooted perennial…

Downy Mildew is a fungal-like disease that thrives in cool, damp conditions that affects many…

Earwigs are familiar insects in Irish gardens, easily recognised by the curved pincers (cerci) at…

Fireblight is a serious bacterial disease that makes affected branches look scorched by fire that…

Flea beetles are tiny jumping beetles, usually 2-3mm long, that pepper the leaves of brassicas,…

Fusarium Wilt is a soil-borne fungal disease causing wilting and yellowing of plants that affects…

Garden Algae is one of the most primitive plant growth on hard surfaces in Irish…

Grey mould (botrytis on ornamentals)

Grey mould on ornamental plants is caused by the ubiquitous fungus Botrytis cinerea, the same…

Ground Elder is one of the most troublesome perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This spreading…

Himalayan Balsam

Himalayan Balsam is one of the most invasive non-native annual weeds in Irish gardens. This…

Honey Fungus is a the most destructive fungal disease of trees and shrubs in Ireland…

Horsetail is one of the most ancient and extremely persistent weeds in Irish gardens. This…

Ivy (Invasive) is one of the most vigorous self-clinging climbing weeds when growing out of…

Japanese Knotweed

Japanese Knotweed is one of the most invasive non-native weeds and the most destructive invasive…

Lawn Fairy Rings

Lawn Fairy Rings is one of the most mysterious lawn problems in Irish gardens. This…

Lawn Moss is one of the most persistent lawn weeds in Irish gardens. This non-flowering…

Lawn Thatch is one of the most common lawn problems in Irish gardens. This layer…

Leatherjackets are the larvae of crane flies (daddy-long-legs), and they are among the most damaging…

The lily beetle is a strikingly beautiful but devastatingly destructive pest of lilies, fritillaries and…

Liverwort is one of the most primitive non-flowering weeds in Irish gardens. This flat, green,…

Mare's Tail is one of the most extremely persistent perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This…

Mealybugs are small sap-sucking insects covered in a distinctive white waxy coating that gives them…

Onion fly is a common pest that attacks onions, shallots, leeks and garlic in Irish…

Oxalis is one of the most persistent bulbous weeds in Irish gardens. This small perennial…

Pearlwort is one of the most small mat-forming weeds in Irish gardens. This low-growing perennial…

Phytophthora Root Rot

Phytophthora Root Rot is a devastating water mould disease that attacks roots and lower stems…

Powdery Mildew is a fungal disease characterised by white powdery patches on leaves and stems…

Ragwort is one of the most poisonous biennial weeds in Irish gardens. This biennial or…

Red spider mite

Red spider mite, more accurately called two-spotted spider mite, is a tiny arachnid pest that…

Rust is a fungal disease that produces characteristic orange, yellow or brown pustules on leaves…

Scale insects are small sap-sucking pests that attach themselves to the stems, branches and leaves…

Silver Leaf Disease

Silver Leaf Disease is a fungal disease causing a distinctive silvery sheen on leaves that…

Slugs are one of the most destructive garden pests in Ireland, thriving in the country's…

Garden snails are among the most recognisable pests in Irish gardens, carrying their distinctive spiral…

Stinging Nettle

Stinging Nettle is one of the most common and painful weeds in Irish gardens. This…

Thistle is one of the most prickly perennial weeds in Irish gardens. This spiny perennial…

Thrips (singular: thrip) are tiny, slender insects about 1-2mm long that feed on the flowers,…

Verticillium Wilt

Verticillium Wilt is a soil-borne fungal disease that blocks water-conducting vessels in plants that affects…

Vine weevil is one of the most damaging pests in Irish gardens, attacking both ornamental…

Whitefly are tiny white-winged insects that infest greenhouse and conservatory plants throughout Ireland. The glasshouse…

Wireworms are the larvae of click beetles, living in the soil for up to five…

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Diseases (17)

Blackspot Blight (Potato & Tomato) Botrytis (Grey Mould) Canker Clubroot Coral Spot Damping off Downy Mildew Fireblight Fusarium Wilt Grey mould (botrytis on ornamentals) Honey Fungus Phytophthora Root Rot Powdery Mildew Rust Silver Leaf Disease Verticillium Wilt

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