Managing pests organically in gardens and orchards involves using environmentally friendly and sustainable methods to control pest populations and minimize damage to crops.
It’s that time of the year when your garden is coming alive, and it’s very exciting for most gardeners, but then you notice a strange insect or some damage on some of your favourite plants.
Now, before we jump into active pest management, we would like to go through how we have passively set up my garden to manage the pests for us.
What You Should Know About Managing Pests Organically in Gardens and Orchards
- The first thing we have done is encourage population regulation through predatory species. We have released ladybugs into my garden several times to deal with outbreaks.
Once released, the predators can take care of the outbreak that we may have by leaving some areas relatively untouched and providing a food and water source.
Predator populations such as ladybugs and spiders have become established. The presence of these predators is usually enough to keep the pest species population numbers down. That said, we would like to go further.
Read also: What Does Pest Control Do In Apartments?
- The second path of the method is through polyculture. This is a technique where you intermix plants, and the pest species have a harder time.
Finding their desired victims. If they’re hidden among non-desirable plants, they do find them, and the predators cannot keep them under control.
You may have faced an outbreak last year. We had a huge problem with cabbage, moths, and larvae attacking my Brassica family plants.
- Here, we thought we would fight back. We did not plant any cabbage family crops in our garden.
The reason is that this generation, this growing season of those pests, does not have any food sources that will greatly reduce their population numbers in my garden, making it a little more manageable for me.
That said, last year we did actively manage the past outbreak to see if we could sell the Jenny of the crops.
- The fourth and hardest thing to do is identify the pest you are dealing with. It is important to know if the pest you see is the one causing the damage.
For instance, ladybug larvae look nothing like ladybugs but can do a lot of pest management for you if you can take a photo of the pest or the damage to the plant that it causes.
This is a great start. If we cannot, immediately identify the pest you are dealing with.
Read also: 10 Beneficial Insects You Want in a Garden
- There are organic ways to manage pests after you have identified the pests you are dealing with. It’s time to start managing them.
Each pest species is very different and may require different strategies to gain control.
However, here are some general tips. We usually start with the physical removal of the pests from the plant.
- We remove any pests and eggs. We can see if you would prefer to keep your distance. A hose burst usually freezes them from the plant without bothering it too much.
If this does not work, there are other methods you can continue with at this point. We would recommend taking photos of your pests and the damage that they caused in a garden centre and talking to a horticulturist to ensure that you get the proper plan for managing them.
We are very hesitant to use any type of spray, whether organic or not, in our garden.
The reason is that these sprays will often kill beneficial organisms, like spiders and ladybugs, just as readily as the pest you’re trying to control.
So, if you wipe out your ladybug population or your spider population, you’re much more likely to have an infestation later on in the growing season because you have eliminated your first line of defence.
We would rather use an aggressive strategy like crop elimination to bring pest species population numbers down to a manageable size with my passive management strategy.
Read also: How to Control Garden Insects without Pesticides and Insecticides
Conclusion
For the last few years, we are proud to say that our garden has been completely chemical-free, and it’s only been a handful of times that we have needed to actively manage a breakout.
By integrating these organic pest management strategies into your gardening and orchard practices, you can effectively control pests while promoting biodiversity, soil health, and ecosystem resilience in your growing environment.
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