FAQ FRIDAY: PEST CONTROL
MAY 10, 2024If you’ve got a garden, you’ve probably got pests. Let’s make a plan for tackling pests without killing our beloved ecosystem.
In my garden, I pride myself on reaching for chemical free options first, low-tox options second, and researching and trialing continuously to limit or eradicate chemical use in my garden (this includes neem oil, y’all!)
Here’s the strategies I reach for over and over:
Hose Spray of Water: lots of pests are soft bodied, meaning that if you knock them to the ground, they will die. Aphids are the most common I see, and I use the hose on them regularly. Remember an aphid can go from egg to nymph in just 3 days, so aim to spray every day (or every other) for a week to ten days to completely control the population.
Cup of Soapy Water: walk your garden when pests are present (dawn and dusk are the most common times), and knock every pest you see into a cup of soapy water. Do this several times a week (or daily during the height of pest pressure season), and you’ll see pest damage decrease!
Chickens or Ducks: while I still haven’t taken the leap, birds on the farm are a great way to make sure your pests get eaten up. A note, chickens will happily eat your pests, but also tend to be more destructive to you plantings, while ducks are more often allowed to free-range in flower fields.
Organza Bags: while the original purpose is for jewelry, cinching an organza bag around a cluster or tomatoes, a crisp cucumber, or a beautiful dahlia should keep most pests out. If your bags are being chewed through - it’s likely a squirrel looking for water, try leaving out a bird bath!
Dawn Dish Soap: filling a sprayer with water, and adding a bit of dish soap, then spraying down soft bodied insects like aphids, will suffocate them from the outside in. Gross but effective
Peppermint Dr. Bronners: again, make sure to dilute, but coating leaves in a peppermint spray way make them less tasty to nibbling pests like army worms.
Unsulfured Molasses: regulating the Brix levels of your plants will make your plants undesirable to all pests. I apply molasses regularly whenever I spray or fertilize, and have noticed a huge difference in pest pressure.
LAST RESORT/Chemical Sprays: Whether you choose an organic chemical or not, any insecticide/fungicide/herbicide will disrupt the natural ecosystem you are creating when you spray. Anything designed to kill pests will also kill bees, ladybugs, and other pollinators - regardless of if you spray at dusk.
However you choose to keep your garden pest, disease, and damage free, remember it is a host to far more organisms than you can imagine. Taking the time to select options that will not harm is well worth it in my book.
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