See All Pest, Disease and Weed Identification

Hairy chinch bugs can be frequent pests of home lawns in Pennsylvania.

Several species of sod webworms or "lawn moths" commonly infest home lawns. The larvae can cause major damage to residential turfgrass, especially during drought.

Home lawns in Pennsylvania can be damaged by the larval stages of various species of scarab beetles, including Japanese beetles and northern masked chafer grubs.

Several billbug species occur on turf, but the bluegrass billbug is the most common in our state.

Seedcorn maggots are causing major transplant losses in onions and other crops across PA, with no rescue treatments once damage occurs. Prevention includes treated seed, insecticides, Verimark drenches, and row covers.

Peachtree borers are important pests of peach, cherry, and other Prunus trees.

The fall cankerworm is a native pest of hardwood trees in North America. It causes some defoliation in the forest every year, with larger outbreaks occasionally.

The tuliptree scale is a pest of yellow poplar, or tuliptree, magnolia, and linden. This soft scale insect is so prolific that it can cover twigs and branches.

Kissing bugs are blood-feeding insects that sometimes bite humans and can spread Chagas disease. The risk of Chagas disease for most Americans is small.

Populations of this pest species, which are becoming more common in Pennsylvania, can grow in fields planted annually with small grains.

Broad mites (Polyphagotarsonemus latus) have become a problem in some blackberry plantings.

Anthracnose is a commonly a serious cane disease on black raspberries, but can also be problematic on red raspberries and certain varieties of blackberries.

Phomopsis twig blight and canker is a very common fungal disease in plantings. In addition to causing a twig blight and cankers, the fungus also causes leaf spots and a fruit rot.

Red stele is caused by a soil-borne fungus and is most often a problem in soils that are saturated with water for long periods.

Black rot, Guignardia bidwelli, is one of the most serious diseases of grapes in the eastern United States.

Downy mildew, Plasmopara viticola, can infect berries, leaves, and young shoots. It occurs wherever it is wet and warm during the growing season.

The cranberry fruitworm, Acrobasis vaccinii (Riley), is found throughout the eastern United States wherever wild blueberries grow and can damage cultivated crops.

Phytophthora root rot can kill bramble plants in areas where the soil remains wet for long periods.

Gray mold, or botrytis blight, Botrytis cinerea, can affect blossoms and green as well as ripening and harvested fruit.

Leaves infested by the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Koch), first appear to have areas of white stippling. Later, the leaves may bronze, dry, and eventually fall off.

Black root rot is known as a "disease complex," meaning that it can be caused by several factors.

Mummy berry, Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi, is a disease of highbush, lowbush, and rabbiteye blueberries. It is most common following moist, spring weather conditions.

The plum curculio is dark brown, 1/4 inch long, and has four humps on its back and a long (one-third of the body length) snout projecting forward and downward from its head.

Orange rust is a common systemic disease that infects black raspberries and blackberries, but not red raspberries. Symptoms are more severe in wet years.

Verticillium wilt of strawberry, caused by the soilborne fungus Verticillium albo-atrum, infects more than 300 kinds of cultivated plants.