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What's
Bugging You
Pest Control Strategies
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An insect
or disease only becomes a pest when its numbers increase to the point where
serious damage is inflicted on plants. Next time a plant in your garden is
affected by a pest or disease problem ask yourself why it was so susceptible to
attack in the first place.
 Simple
Strategies to Avoid Pest and Disease Problems
●Grow pest
and disease resistant varieties.
●Mix different vegetables and herbs together rather than growing a monoculture
of one crop.
●Avoid the use of all pesticides. They kill indiscriminately both beneficial and
harmful organisms.
●Practice crop rotation.
●Create habitat and refuges for beneficial species.
●Accept minor imperfections. Which is more harmful, the spot on a leaf of silver
beet or the chemical sprayed to control it?
●Learn to identify good insects from bad.
●Keep records of when pest and disease problems occur. You may be able to avoid
growing that crop at that time next year, select a different variety or grow it
in a different way to avoid problems in the future.
Less Stress
- Less Strife -
The easiest way to have a pest
free garden is to have a healthy soil and strong growing plants. Trying to grow
plants outside their climatic range, drought, lack of nutrients, compacted
soil and other factors that stress your plants also make them more
susceptible to attack by pests and diseases.
Healthy Soil -
Healthy Plants -
Incorporating organic matter into the soil not only improves the soil structure
and texture, it helps you and your plants beat pest problems.
Organic matter can
improve the water-holding capacity of sandy soils and improve drainage in clay.
Nutrient rich organic matter such as composted plant or animal manure will also
provide nutrients for plants and soil organisms like worms. Organic matter also
contains many beneficial fungi and parasitic nematodes.
Just remember
that commercially produced compost materials have all the life pulverized,
deodorised and processed out of them. Use them as a last resort. The most
biologically active compost is the one you make yourself, regardless of your
skill in compost making.
Crop Rotation -
Related plants often suffer from
the same pest and disease problems. When growing vegetables, try to plant at
least four different family groups in a row before returning to the original
crop. For example beans (Fabaceae) may be followed by cabbages (Brassicaceae),
carrots (Apiaceae) and tomatoes (Solanaceae) before replanting peas or any other
member of the Fabaceae group.
Companion
Planting -
Diversity of planting including
growing plants from the daisy (Asteraceae) and carrot (Apiaceae) family attracts
beneficial predators and parasitoids to your garden that will help to control
damaging pests. Companion planting works on this principle.
 Welcome
Everyone
- Encourage insect eating
birds into your garden by protecting them from cats and providing safe nesting
sites and water. Cool moist refuges, rocks, logs and leaf litter will provide
habitat for lizards, frogs, centipedes and spiders who will all aid in
controlling pests, creating a balance within the garden. Beneficial species
include lacewings, hover, robber and tachinid flies, ichneumon wasps, ground
beetles, predatory mites, ladybeetles and dragonflies.
Be Patient
- Gardeners wishing to
avoid using highly toxic chemical sprays must be prepared to tolerate a certain
degree of damage until predators increase sufficiently in numbers and the
influence of other strategies begin to return things to their natural order. In
the mean time there are a number of low toxic options available at your local
nursery.
(This text
is an edited extract from my book, 'Organic Vegetable Gardening',
published by ABC Books). See
[Books]
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