Just when we think weather tempests are behind us, new challenges spring up to thwart our peaceable garden kingdom. The following is an excerpt from an article I wrote for Northwest Garden News:
Spring will be an extra busy time in the garden this year. In addition to routine digging, dividing, feeding and general clean up, many of us will be hunting down replacements for those plants that didn’t survive the harsh winter. But experienced gardeners know to make the time to control pests early in the growing season. As anyone who has admired their lovely spires of lupines one day only to find them covered in a black jacket of squirming aphids the next can attest, succulent new growth and mild spring temperatures can foster an overnight pest population explosion. Inserting some gentle controls now helps to strike a balance and reduces pest numbers for the rest of the growing season.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to control that relies on common sense and careful observation. The goal is never complete eradication, but rather managing pest damage by the most economical means with the least possible hazard to people, property and the environment.
Knowing the enemy is a vital component to smart pest control. A bug book with good photographs will help you sort the good guys from the bad guys out there. Not all insects, weeds, and other living organisms require control. Many are innocuous, and some are even useful (more on that later.)
As I move toward growing more and more food alongside my ornamental plants I find myself somewhat less willing to abide creepy-crawly indiscretions. Finding a tiny slug in a fresh garden salad is a real spoiler at the dinner table. No one is fooled when I point out that at least it’s a very clean mollusk, having survived a whirl in the salad spinner. As a result I practice a bit more diligence patrolling pests on my edibles and tend to allow the rest of the garden a little more leeway; hopefully affecting a balance that works for diners and Mother Nature alike.
Every garden is different and your pests may not be the same as those I battle. Bird watchers that maintain feeders and plant to encourage habitat may find their efforts rewarded as their feathered friends dispense with soft bodied insects which they find very tasty; a lovely and symbiotic example of nature’s balance. Those aphids – sap-sucking nuisances to you and me – are actually a valuable source of nourishment during critical nesting months. Me? I’ve got a rangy tom cat and it seems cruel to lure birds to their demise. Instead I carefully pick and choose from the following practices and controls depending on that day’s battle.
Traps, baits, lures and picking
Iron phosphate-based slug bait has meant that organic gardeners can put away disgusting saucers of beer filled with dead, drunken slugs. While these baits are non-toxic, cautious pet owners can use the various covered traps which have long been on the market to bait the garden. NOTE: bait stations lure pests, best to place them away from favorite plants.
Aphids prefer the tender new growth at the tips of growing stems. Neatly dispatch these suckers with a quick zip up the affected stem with pinched fingers, gloved if you must. A dampened, rolled up newspaper will attract earwigs and pill bugs at night; in the morning, throw out the newspaper and its overnight lodgers and you may save your dahlias from being chewed. At the end of the day – literally, after dark – nothing beats grabbing a flash light and hand picking cutworms from targeted plants to interrupt their nightly noshing. I’ve found if I concentrate on keeping the foxgloves clean, apparently a taste treat in my garden, I can greatly reduce impact throughout the entire garden.
Tomorrow we’ll uncover the inside scoop on barriers and repellants and take a look at the “big guns” – insecticides.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t know if it is available in the USA, but in the UK there is a product that contains a parasitic nematode that targets and kills slugs. In my experience this has been considerably more effective than the traditional methods.
So Sluggo is really, really okay? I have been relying on it but worry that residue washed into the storm drains is not good. I keep meaning to do my research… ew, picking cutworms by night, I have just never been able to bring myself to do it! I should have, I had a climbing hydrangea in my previous garden that arrived with chewed leaves, so the worms got a headstart and never gave up! I keep waiting for the aphids to show up on my honeysuckle, they always do as soon as it blooms. Could it be the harsh winter did them in? Nah, probably not.
Karen’s last blog post..Surprising Returnee
Hi Lorene!
Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. The black beans are pole beans, and it’s best to soak them for a few hours before you plant them. I totally meant to write that on the package!!
I’m so glad to find your blog–I am looking forward to reading through it.
best wishes for a delicious summer,
sk
sk’s last blog post..trying real hard…
I’ve heard of this product…I think of it as a “magic bullet” as I’ve had good luck with nematodes controlling cutworms. I wonder if this product would target the “good guys” as well; believe it or not there are native slugs that are beneficial – they eat the bad guys.
Sluggo is iron phosphate, and yes it is effective…expensive but effective. The good news is you don’t have to use very much to control the buggers – a light sprinkling does it. I’ve always characterized it as “like you were feeding chickens” – as if I had chickens or knew how I would feed them… At any rate, a light application conserves the spending product while still controlling the pest and a lighter application will break down quicker and is less likely to be washed into a storm drain. Of course if IT WOULD STOP RAINING maybe there would be less runoff altogether!!!
Thanks again SK for my swap package. This is my summer of the bean so your timing is perfect! I’ve got big plans for creating bamboo structures for the beans to climb on…stay tuned.
Lorene