Insects & Diseases by Ruth S. Foster Houseplant Blights When houseplants get sick and it's not insects, we may say they have blights. These are usually due to fungi or viruses. The symptoms may be brown spots, yellow soggy leaves, rot, decay or peculiar stunted growth. more A Pesticide Primer There are many ways to control  insects.  When pesticides are needed, one should always start with the safest thing and use it only on the target insect.  Don't blanket the world, your yard and yourself with chemicals that you don't need. more The Biting Bugs of Summer Are Back The biting bugs of summer are back again. Most are just huge nuisances, though some carry diseases. Understanding when and where each kind is likely to cause trouble can lower their bother but the only really effective thing to do is to use repellents. more Japanese Beetle Grubs Lawn insects are a problem, none more so than Japanese Beetles, which lay their eggs in midsummer. Their white grubs cause brown patches in August by eating grass roots. more Houseplant Bug Problems Houseplants brought indoors from outside have bugs and blights. Indoors, where there are no natural predators, these pesky problems eventually recur often with population explosions that dismay us. more Beware of Birdseed! We all like to feed our little feathered friends, so we buy good things for them to eat, like sunflower seeds, and niger and peanut hearts and millet. more