The last thing you want when trying to grow a healthy garden is pests eating up your crops destroying ages of hard work, labor and resources. It might be tempting to try to use pesticide to clean up the bugs in your garden but this might not be the best solution. Pesticides can cause acute pesticide poisoning in humans. I had to look up other ways to stop pests, and this is what I found.
There are a variety of ways to keep these pests out of your garden. Some options would be to use organic pesticide such as horticultural oil and insecticide or soap. You can introduce insect eating birds or using natural repellents. If you want to forgo all this altogether you might want to investigate the role that good bugs play in your garden.
Good bugs:
If you want to keep bugs out your vegetable garden it’s important to know which bugs to allow in and which ones to keep out. There are a variety of beneficial insects which will help your crops in a variety of ways. These bugs include damsel bugs, lace wigs, specific wasps, ladybugs the others which are necessary for a healthy gardens.
These bugs keep a healthy population of bugs as they feed on detrimental bugs or use them as nests for their young
If you are interested in knowing what bugs to keep out of your garden check this article out.
Loosen it up
Smaller pests enjoy tightly packed sown plants as this is a good source of shelter in a garden as well as a good source of source of food. Also planting crops close together makes it more difficult for you to see in between them.
When planting make sure to leave room between your vegetables. Allow them to have a good amount of room as breathing space and this will allow you to see if there are any pests between them.
Pick your fighter
The plant species that you have in your garden might be the reason for the number of pests which visit. Some plants are simply more prone to pest issues than others.
Pest resistant vegetables include winter squash, butternut and royal corn. Sticking to pest and disease resistant plants in your garden is beneficial.
Close it up
You can use physical barriers to prevent pests from attacking your garden, flowers and plants. A good barrier is to use a floating row cover, this is a lightweight protection made out of fabric supported by wire.
Ensure that the cover is large enough not to suffocate the plant. To prevent pests from crawling under the cover secure the outer edge into the ground. Caterpillars, cucumber beetles and cabbage worms will surely not be a problem anymore if used. Remove the protective cover when it’s time for pollination.
Mix it up
Inter-cropping is said to confuse insects as it is difficult to find a host plant between the variety of plants within your vegetable patch.
When trying to locate a good host the pest needs to test the plant by landing on the host plant many times. If you have many types of plants then it’s not easy for a pest to land on the same plant during the test.
Heath is wealth
When your plants are healthy they are less attractive to pests as they have their own mechanisms to avoid pests from irritating and trying to eat them.
Some use their own chemical defense systems to fight off pests, some use mechanical. To ensure that your plants are in peak condition you should keep the soil healthy by using a good source of organic matter, keep sun loving plants in the sun so they can grow and keep shade loving plants in shade.
Pretty birdy
Using birds to protect your garden is a good idea. They are natural predators to insects, eating them before they can nibble on your crops.
Attract birds by using a bit of bird feed, they will prey on insects when done with the feed. You should only use this if you are planting vegetables that birds do not eat.
Clean it up
A fallen, overripe or rotting fruit from your garden is an easy meal for pets. Insects will be quick to flood your garden if they get a whiff of this.
Prevent this by taking away fruits that are rotten and cleaning up fruits that are overripe and have fallen. Doing this will also prevent overripe vegetables from shifting the whole plant to decline.
Good earth
Diatomaceous earth is a good way to rid your garden of pests. This material is made up of fossilized remains of tiny aquatic organisms which have sharp edges, this can kill insects from the inside when ingested.
This product does not affect humans but will kill small insects. This is a preventative measure against earwig’s, cockroaches, aphids, slugs and snails. Reapply this if it rains after application.
Commercial pesticides:
If you’re looking for commercial pesticides to kill pest here are some options for you to use, if you want some organic and natural alternatives here are some you might like.
Do not enter
For certain animals like slugs, snails are caterpillars it might be a good idea to make their path to get into your plants more dangerous.
You can do this by leaving sharp objects along their path to create a dangerous environment for them. This can be done by using crushed eggshells along the path that creepy crawlies use.
Salt them away
For an environment that is toxic to pets but safe for humans, these options can be used around your garden to deter pests: salt, beer and flour. These are particularly toxic to slugs and snails. This article explains what salt does to pests.
Natural repellents
Aromatic deterrents which are both beneficial to your garden and unattractive to pests in your garden can be used to deter unwelcome insects. These herbs are fennel, yellow citronella, yarrow, basil and catnip
Some more natural, holistic and safe options to ward off insects from your plants are garlic cloves, castor oil and hot peppers. You need to reapply these on a regular basis to ward off pests
If you have larger animals such as woodchucks, golfers, rabbits and squirrels this article highlights some options to use when trying to protect your garden
If you enjoyed this article, found it helpful or think someone else would find it interesting or helpful please share it. I would really appreciate it.
