Solutions: If your plant has a serious problem: Choose commercial slug and snail baits. Those with iron phosphate as the active ingredient are fairly effective, killing them within a few days. These are considered safer for animals than baits containing metaldehyde. Baits should be spread out around plants at night and cleared away in the morning along with any dead pests as they can be toxic to birds and pets. If it is a less serious case, there are a number of organic approaches: Eliminate their hiding spots. It's the easiest way to control slugs and snails. Thick weeds, unused flower pots, boards, or stones are their favorite hiding spots. Hand-pick. You can also follow up with searching for them with a flashlight at night and picking them off plants. Board trap. Trap them by slightly propping up one end of a small board in your garden which will give them a place to hide (remove it and dispose of the pests during the day) Beer trap. Place a shallow dish of either beer or a mixture of 1 cup water with 1 teaspoon each active dry yeast and sugar buried up to the rim in your garden’s soil. Pests will fall in and drown.

Solutions: In minor cases of brown spot, there isn’t any need to treat the disease. However, if much of the foliage is affected and defoliation occurs, the plant will benefit from getting rid of the infection. It is recommended to start by applying organic treatment options, working up to the more potent synthetic, chemical fungicides if necessary. Organic options won’t kill the fungus, but will prevent it from spreading. Dissolve ½ teaspoon of baking soda and one teaspoon of liquid soap in a gallon of water. Using a spray bottle, spray on tops and bottoms of leaves until the mixture drips off. Repeat every two weeks until existing spots stop enlarging and new spots no longer appear. Spray a copper-based fungicidal soap on the leaves, coating the top and bottom leaf surfaces. Reapply as directed on the product label. Copper penetrates the leaf surface and prevents germination of spores so the fungus cannot spread. Apply an all-purpose fungicide to the entire plant, following the label instructions carefully.

Solutions: Bacterial infections need to be treated quickly to prevent the spread to neighboring, healthy plants, potentially wiping out large sections of your indoor or outdoor garden. In mild cases: Use sterilized (10% bleach solution) pruning shears or scissors to remove any infected plant parts, making sure to dispose of them off site. Use a copper-based bactericide to treat the unaffected foliage, as well as the soil, and neighboring plants. Follow the manufacturer’s rate and timing directions found on the product label. In severe cases, where more than half the leaves are affected: Remove all of the infected plants from the garden, disposing of them off site. Treat the soil and neighboring plants using a copper-based bactericide. Follow the manufacturer’s rate and timing directions found on the product label.