These lists reflect numbers of specimens sent to the Insect Identification Labs in Princeton and Lexington. Data from digital images that were submitted are not included.

* Number specimens identified

  1892

From Ky Ag Experiment Station Bulletin No. 40. In this publication Harrison Garman compiled information on "some of the most troublesome pests with which Kentucky Farmers have to contend".

• Hessian fly - managed by late fall planting.
• Wheat aphid - attracted much attention in the spring and winter of 1889 and winter of 1889-90 because of its sudden appearance and severe injury to wheat and oats - probably due to mild winter. Control on wheat or oats by spraying the crops with a strong decoction of tobacco made from the stems; or by the use of kerosene emulsion and water.
• Horn fly - manage by rubbing a heaping tablespoon of buhach (pyrethrins) powder about the bases of the horns and in the fur along the back. Finely powdered tobacco is equally effective and cheaper. Rubbing the back and legs with a piece of cloth soaked in train (whale) oil gives some protection. For dairy cattle, apply a little buhach or tobacco dust to the back and horns each morning and occasionally rub the legs with the oiled cloth.
• Ox bot fly (cattle grub)- produces boil-like mounds along the backs of cattle in the winter and spring. A survey of Lexington hide dealers revealed that less than 2% of the hides received in March are free of injury. One firm receives 800 to 1,000 hides per month and pays 25 cents for each. Grubs may be removed from the swellings by pressure with the fingers. A mixture of lard and sulfur (4:1) rubbed along the back and over the skin openings was effective.
• Armyworm is constantly present in grass on low damp soil. It has been observeed by farmers for more than 100 years. Fire is effective for fields in which infestations are found. Burning of old meadows is recommended as well worth practicing occasionally to guard against armyworms and other grass-infesting insects. After armyworms begin to march, it is common practice to dig or plow trenches before them and around grain fields that are threatened with invasion. Worms that accumulate in the trenches can be destroyed with kerosene or mechamically. Fence boards can be placed end to end in their path and the exposed edges smeared with coal tar mixed with grease. London purple (arsenate of lime) or Paris green (acetoarsenate of copper) can be sprayed on vegetation to save wheat or oats.
• Tobacco hornworm - hand picking is commonly used for control in tobacco fields. Syrup poisoned with cobalt, arsenic, or strychnine was placed in the flowers of Jamestown (jimson) weed around tobacco fields to kill moths feeding on nectar. Some farmers planted seed of the weed and destroyed all but a few blooms which were poisoned. Tomatoes, a plant favored by the second brood of the insect, were planted around tobacco fields and then treated with poisons or kerosene emulsions to kill the worms. planted around around tobacco fields were infested
• Cutworms - in gardens could be dug up from around infested plants and destroyed. In times of heavy infestations, bundles of clover, grass, or lambs-quarters were dipped in water containing London purple or Paris green and scattered among the threatened plants to kill feeding cutworms.
• Wireworms were a problem in sod fields used for crops. Farmers avoided some loss by planting hemp, tobacco, or wheat until the injury ended. J. H. Comstock of Cornell University found that wireworm pupae die when the earthen cell that contains them is broken. This led to fall plowing of sod fields as a means of wireworm control. Wireworm injury in gardens could be avoided by jabbing sticks into pieces of potato and burying them in the ground. Part of the stick is exposed so the bait can be found and wireworms attracted to it can be destroyed.
• Rose slug (sawfly)- was controlled by treating plant leaves with hellebore powder, Persian insect powder (pyrethrins) London purple, or Paris green.
• Imported currant-worm - often defoliated currant and gooseberry bushes, especially in eastern Kentucky. Powdered hellebore, available at most drug stores, can be mixed with water at the rate of 2 tablespoons full in a wooden bucket of water and sprinkled over the plants.
• Imported cabbageworm - can be controlled by dusting the plants frequently with Persian insect powder (pyrethrins) which can be used pure or mixed with flour or sifted wood ash for economy of use.
• Colorado potato beetle - its injury is no longer to be feared by farmers and gardeners who are willing to take the time to spray their plants with London purple.
• Striped cucumber beetle - a pernicious little beetle that often competely destroys young cucumber, melon, or squash plants. Covering the plants with a fine netting will protect them from this insect. Persian insect powder frequently dusted on the plants is all the treatment that is necessary. The operation can be performed quickly by a boy and is best done in the morning when the plants are wet with dew.
• Pea weevil - cause of the well-known "buggy peas" which has almost halted pea production in some parts of the country. Keep peas intended for seed in tight paper bags for 2 years until all beetles emerge and die. A better plan is to immerse infested peas in hot water (about 136 F) for a minute.
• Bean weevil- similar to the pea weevil. Buggy beans should be destroyed by fire if they are not to be used for seed. Beans grown in town gardens must suffer infestation because of carelessness of their neighbors. Farmers have the matter of injury from pea or bean weevils in their own hand and are scarcely deserving of sympathy if they permit insects so easily controlled to take their crop.
• Codling moth- probably occasions more loss to apple growers than any other two insects. The traditional control measures were allowing hogs in orchards to destroy wormy fruit and tying bands of straw or other materials about the trunks of apple trees to entrap and destroy pupating worms. Now, sprays of London purple or Paris green immediately after petal fall and again 7 to 10 days later, will provide control.
• Plum curculio- attacks plums and other stone fruit, and occasionally apples. Traditional control was jarring trees so that the beetles fell onto an inverted umbrella covered with strong cloth and mounted on a sort of wheelbarrow. Sprays of London purple or Paris green provided inconsistent control. Wormy plums can be destroyed by turning hogs into the orchard or hand gathering infested fruit.
• Eastern tent caterpillar- is a frequent and widespread pest in Kentucky orchards. Perhaps the cheapest and best control option for orchardists is to remove egg masses from trees. A man or boy provided with a stepladder and a pair of good eyes can remove them from the orchard when other work of the farm is not pressing. Webs can be destroyed by fire or otherwise. Also, spraying leaves with London purple or Paris green has been found perfectly effecive.
• Fall webworm- Trees growing along public roads in Kentucky are sometimes almost completely defoliated in August and September. Insecticide sprays can be used in orchards and landscapes. Natural control is provided by the spined soldier bug and a parasitic fungi Entomophthora grylli. Garman estimated that no less than 50% of the second brood in eastern Kentucky was killed by the fungus in 1890.
• Maple tree bark louse (Cottony maple leaf scale) - was mistaken for the cottony cushion scale in the Kentucky Leader article - Shade Trees Doomed; Lexington about to be visited by a plague of moths. A strong hosing of water or use of a kerosene emulsion were recommended for control.

* Number specimens identified