Organic Pest Control keeps Your Lawn and Your Family Healthy
Organic pest control is a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional lawn pest control methods.
Whenever you grow a lot of the same plant in one place, eventually you will have a pest or weed that gets out of hand. If you practice organic gardening, you can also practice organic pest control to keep your lawn healthy. An added benefit of organic pest control is that it creates a better environment for enjoying your yard and garden. There are some elements of organic garden pest control that work across many species and conditions. Other are more specific to individual pests or plants. Below, is an overview of general and specific pest control techniques.
Good Gardening is the First Defense
The number one thing you can do to keep your lawn and garden healthy is to practice proper garden culture. Site plants where they will do well, not necessarily where you want them to be. Give plants water when they need it, rather than on an arbitrary calendar schedule. Be observant so that you can catch pest problems before they get out of hand. Plant flowers, vegetables and herbs together-avoiding monocultures when possible. Plants do “help” each other by repelling pests away from an area, or attracting them away from a plant that needs protection. Prune and feed according to the plant’s needs. These techniques will go a long way toward organic pest control.
Specific Organic Pest Control Techniques
Some techniques are specific to individual pests. Below is a list of different pests and the organic ways to eradicate them.
Weeds: There are several good ways to organically eliminate weeds. In the lawn, regular application of corn gluten acts as a pre emergence herbicide. It can take several years to achieve a weed-free lawn with this method, but it one of the only organic ways to do so. To eradicate weeds in the garden, you can pour boiling water over them or burn them with a propane torch. Vinegar is also a good weed killer.
Soft Bodied Insects: Your best bet with these types of insects (aphids and mites are two soft bodied insects) is to use insecticidal soap. You can buy special formulations of this at garden centers. In a pinch, a teaspoon of dish soap in a quart of water will work, but dish soap is not formulated for use with plants, and the grease-fighting agents can be so powerful that they dissolve the protective waxy cuticle on plant leaves, which damages the plants.
Slugs and Snails: Beer does actually lure and kill slugs. To make this organic garden pest control method work, you need a straight-sided container like a tuna can or a small Tupperware. Bury the container so that the lip of it is even with the soil, and fill it with beer. The slugs will fall into the container and die. Diatomaceous earth is also an effective deterrent for slugs. This is made from fossilized sea creatures with silica in their shells. Silica is basically glass. When slugs try to move over the diatomaceous earth, they are literally cut up from the outside, in.
Rodents that Chew: Rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and deer are all difficult to repel. One remedy that will make your plants less tasty to these critters is ground red pepper. The capsaicin in peppers is unpleasant for small mammals, and will sometimes deter them from munching if sprinkled around the ground and on the leaves of the plants.
Grubs: Grubs are a problem in the lawn and garden beds because they are 1) the larval form of Japanese beetles and other destructive pests and 2) they attract moles, which eat the grubs and make tunnels and holes in the lawn in the process. The best way to control grubs, and thus moles, is to use milky spore, which is a bacterium. You can buy milky spore at garden centers. You need to water it in. Milky spore can last for several years in the lawn.
The above list of pests describes some of the most common lawn and garden pests, and forms of organic pest control to save your plants.
