Insects provide us with many benefits. Honeybees provide us with honey. Leaf cutter bees pollinate more flowers, fruit trees, and plants than honeybees. Ants help spread seeds and aerate the soil so plants can grow and spread faster. Millipedes and Dung beetles help decompose plant and animal waste and turn it into fertilizer for plants. Dragonflies eat mosquitoes. Praying Mantis love to eat grasshoppers and other small insects for lunch. Lady bugs help keep the aphid population under control. Decollate snails hunt and eat the larger garden snails. Spiders keep many unwanted insect pests under control while causing relatively little threat or damage to animals and humans. These insects are just a few of the beneficial insects that mother nature has provided to help us gardeners. Yes, Bugs are important.

If we just kill all bugs indiscriminately we can upset the natural balance that mother nature has provided and can cause more work for ourselves. Target the harmful insects and try to leave the less harmless bugs alone. Learn to enjoy a few spider webs in and among your plants. A few holes in leaves might be unsightly, but if the plant is healthy, you may enjoy the holes knowing the butterfly you saw a few minutes ago was the culprit. Learn to eat around the worm holes in a few apples. Boil your broccoli and skim the little worms off the top of the water before you eat it.

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Chemical Controls

When it comes to garden chemicals, if a little is good, is a lot is better?

Be Careful, all insecticides (chemical or organic) are poisons and many organic insecticides will kill animals and people just as quickly as the other types of chemical insecticides. Be sure to wear gloves, use proper eye protection, and wear a mask or respirator when needed. Don't use a dust mask in place of a respirator. The paper dust mask will absorb chemicals and you will still breathe them, sometimes at even a stronger concentration than without a mask.

Good Gardeners never forget that pesticides can be dangerous for people as well as animals, fish and untargeted insects. Be sure to select garden chemicals carefully, apply them sparingly, and always read the instructions before using them. top of page

Organic Pesticides & Controls

True or False? Any pesticide that is organic is completely safe to use.

An old garden myth is that all organic insecticides are toxic to insects and harmless to human beings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pyrethrum and rotenone, although low in toxicity to mammals, are still toxic to humans if swallowed or inhaled. They are both highly toxic to fish.

Nicotine (an organic pesticide) is much more dangerous to use than Malathion or Sevin (chemical pesticides).

Some of the organic insecticides that are beneficial, if used properly, are pyrethrum, rotenone, deltamethrin, Hot Pepper Wax, Insecticidal Soap, Neem Oil, Dormant Oil, Sulphur, Diatomaceous Earth, Boric Acid, and BT (bacillus thurigenis). These insecticides will not control all insect problems but they can help control some of them.

Other organic methods to control pests are: Fly Paper, Indoor Fly Traps, Hornet & Wasp Traps, Mosquito Traps, Snail Traps, Pantry Pest Traps, Roach Traps, Tangle foot Pest Barrier, Spider Traps, and the 'Smart Trap' (a trap that catches all types of moths). top of page

Beneficial Insects

Although beneficial insects may not be as fast or as complete as chemical controls, they do have a place in the garden. Sometimes natural pest controls can be very slow controlling certain pests, but they will give good long terms controls. Beneficial insects can be expensive to use, and they will not always stay in your yard. The beneficial insects you release in your yard may actually move down the street to one of your neighbor's yards, and control their insect pests.

Sometimes the best way to control unwanted pests in your yard is to use a combination of both chemical and natural insect controls. If you use natural pest controls exclusively, be patient, learn to enjoy a few 'not so perfect' fruits, vegetables, and flowers: eat around the insect damage. You can also plant a few extra plants to share with the unwanted pests in your garden; just like the pioneers did!

We have Ladybugs, Praying Mantis, Beneficial Nematodes, and Ladybug Lure from mid-April through June.Other beneficial insects that are available from other specialized suppliers are: Lacewings, Encarsia, and many kinds of Predatory Mites. top of page

Weed Preventers

Perhaps my least favorite job in the garden is pulling the weeds. A week after I finish weeding, another crop of weeds has taken over the garden; the weeds never stop. By preventing weeds from starting to grow I can enjoy my garden without all the extra work.

• Mechanical (hoeing and cultivating)
• Physical (mulches, weed cloth or plastic)
• Chemical weed preventers can be safe and very effective in vegetable gardens, flower gardens, around trees and shrubs, and in most areas of the yard. Choose the weed preventer that will work best in your garden situation and start enjoying your gardening even more! Do not use excessive amounts of chemical weed preventers or the chemicals begin to affect the desireable plants as well. top of page

Slug and Snail Controls

There are many ways to kill slugs and snails but there is not a 'best way'. The most important thing to remember in trying to control slugs and snails is persistence: Don't give up. Keep trying to kill those pesky critters all spring, summer, and fall. Try different methods until you find one that works; then try a new one when the previous method stops working. Controls may include chemicals, handpicking, traps, and various other tactics throughout the year.

• The average yard contains more than 1,000 snails or slugs.
• Snails feed on dead organic material including tree bark, firewood and piles of trash.
• Snails prefer eating vegetable and flower plants but they will eat most anything in the yard, including the bark off trees.
• Snails have a mouth that is surrounded by fleshy lips and contains a single 'toothed' jaw used to tear away its food.
• There are not boy and girl snails; all snails lay eggs. However, snails must mate with another snail before laying eggs.
• Snails lay up to 100 eggs at a time, scooping a cavity in loose, moist soil to bury their eggs. These eggs hatch in about two weeks and the young snails immediately begin to eat.
• Snails are most active and feed during the night. However, they will continue to feed during the daytime when the weather is cool and wet (or when the gardens are kept wet with sprinklers).
• Snails will travel quite a large distance from their home base; you'll see a trail of 'slime' where they have traveled.
• Snails can live up to thirteen years. Snails can lie dormant up to four years and still survive.
• Snails require moisture to survive. Try to keep your gardens as dry as possible and still keep your plants healthy. top of page

Winter Chemical Storage

Your chemical storage area should be secure from unwanted visitors, both human and animals. Good lighting and ventilation are important to consider. Proper ventilation can prevent volatile chemicals from contaminating other materials in storage. Store flammable products outside living areas and away from ignition sources. Keep chemicals and fertilizers cool and dry. Extreme temperature variations can cause unwanted problems such as frozen, ruptured containers, or hot, volatile gases. Too much humidity or moisture may cause paper bags and metal containers to disintegrate prematurely. Do not store bags of fertilizer directly on the floor as it can absorb moisture. Wet fertilizer turns into hard bricks making it unusable.
Store all chemicals in their original containers that have legible labels. Do not ever transfer chemicals into an empty food container. Do not use an empty pesticide container to store food or water, even if the container has been thoroughly washed. Do not store pesticides near food, medicine, or cleaning materials. One way to minimize pesticide storage problems is to plan ahead and buy fertilizers and pesticides one season at a time. The small dcontainers that seemed 'expensive' in the spring may actually be the 'best buy' in the fall. top of page

Animal Repellents

Have you ever watched out your back window as a Doe and her two fawns saunder into your garden? They are so cute, the kids would love to watch them walk through the yard. They look so sweet; they wouldn't hurt anything. You watch as one of the fawns takes a bite of the lamb's ear growing on the edge of the garden: hasn't he learned that deer do not like plants with fuzzy leaves?
Unfortunately there is not a good solution to the deer problem. The only 100% control is to use physical barriers such as seven to eight foot tall fences around the yard or cages around each plant. Some gardeners have used chicken wire, shade cloth, burlap, or nylon netting to build cages.
Dozens of repellents have been tried by inventive and very desperate gardeners. They all work, for a short time, but deer get accustomed to them. The trick therefore is to switch repellents occasionally. top of page