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Preventative Pest Control |
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Written by Patrick
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Monday, 03 May 2004 |
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I
get a lot of question about organic pest controls. Everything from
organic weedkillers (there is such a thing), to vicious predatory
ladybugs (I see a B-Movie coming on...) can be used to protect your
plants from the plagues of locusts "o'er the land" and other biblical
disasters.
The key to going organic is preparation and prevention. For example:
Weed out all the poorly perfoming plants in your garden. These are the
ones that will provide the foothold your foes need to force their way
into your empire. By eliminating the struggling rose under the oak
tree, and re-seeding your lawn with a tougher lawn mix, you're allowing
the plants to do most of the work for you.
Good Preparation Tips:
In the summer, mulch all flower beds heavily with humus, bark
or compost. Putting a two inch layer will knock out 99% of all your
weeds and protect the plants form heat stress during the summer.
Set a consistent clean-up schedule. By preventing
dead and decaying plant material from collecting on the ground, you
eliminate many of the places that disease lay dormant during their
"off" season. Give yourself an hour or two at least once a month
(You'll need more time in Spring and Fall). Treat the yard like just
another part of your house. How much time do you spend cleaning the
Living Room on a monthly basis? You'll probably need less time that
that for your yard. Also, it's important to avoid composting any plant
material that you suspect of carrying a disease, otherwise you run the
risk of spreading it throughout your garden in the compost.
Fertilize consistently. A vigorously growing plant will be a
stout ally in your battles against evil. Either use a slow-release
fertilizer that you can apply a few times a year, or set a schedule of
fertilizing every 4 to 6 weeks.
Move the sick and elderly to retirement homes and hospitals.
If you have a treasured plant that is sick or just slowly fading away,
dig the plant up and transfer it to a large pot and move it to a more
protected location. Often times such plants will benefit from the
protected location and be re-envigorated from fresh soil and
fertilizer, and the increased attention under the patio.
Evaluate the plants in your garden to see that they
are performing well. Go out with a notepad and keep track of how
certain plants are performing throughout the year. If a plant doesn't
seem to be suited to your garden, replace it with something better.
Pick native species for your garden. Obviously, this
won't work for roses and fruit trees, but by choosing natives and
adapted species for your garden, you will have to spend less time
keeping your plants healthy and more time enjoying your garden.
Get beneficial "pets". Box turtles will eat slugs and snails
for you, allowing you to avoid dangerous snail baits and unappetizing
traps. You can encourage both bats and owls to move into your yard with
special-built houses.
Set a healthy watering system. This can change depending on
your rainfall, average temperatures, and soil types. In Modesto, many
people are guilty of setting their sprinkler timers to water daily for
5-10 minutes at a time. This drowns the top few inches of soil, causing
rot to set in, while at the same time leaves everything deeper than 6
inches dry as a bone. In our area, it is much better to soak the area
for hours at a time, then follow up a week later.
In hot weather areas, misting the plants will help protect
them from heat stress. When coupled with a thick mulch and deep
watering, any yard should be able to withstand 100 degree days for
quite a while.
It's important to keep in mind that none of these steps actually
require any extra work on your part. In fact, by planning your garden
with preventative pest control in mind, you can actually lower your
work load by avoiding the many messy, difficult tasks required to deal
with pest problems, and letting the plants pull their own weight!
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