Five Methods for Organic Pest Control
One of the biggest problems in organic gardening is pest control. If left unchecked, harmful insects can kill plants or render them unable to produce. From ants and aphids to slugs and snails, there are a number of ways to rid your precious produce of pests without harming the environment. Here are five great ways to get rid of pests organically.
1) Natural herbs – Many plants naturally repel insects. Mint, lavender, and garlic are great additions to your garden and have been shown to ward off some of the most common pests, including aphids, moths, and beetles.
2) Other insects – Some insects attack and eat other bugs while leaving plants unharmed. Everyone’s favourite, the ladybug, loves to feast on aphids and can consume 50 or 60 in a single day. A praying mantis can eat 16 crickets a day and will attack almost any insect that is harmful to plants. Nematodes, a type of small parasite, are also very effective in managing a wide variety of pests, although they can be deadly to other useful insects.
3) Botanical Sprays – Some pesticides have been certified for use in organic gardening. These include neem oil, sabadilla, and rotenone. Neem oil is derived from the neem tree in India and has been used in gardening for the past 4,000 years. Sabadilla is produced from the sabadilla lilly and is considered the least toxic of all natural pesticides. Rotenone is derived from two roots in the leguminoceae family and can protect many plants from the ravages of insects.
4) mineral based pesticides – These are simply powdered chemicals sprayed on and around the plants. Sulfur was used as a pesticide over 3,000 years ago by the Greeks and is non-toxic to mammals. Lime sulfur is a mixture that is applied to fruit trees but has the unfortunate drawback of smelling like a rotten egg. Care must be taken when using sulfurs in temperatures of 80 degrees and above, as they can be harmful to plants.
5) diatomaceous earth – This is a non-toxic insecticide that is extracted from the remains of fossilized silica shells of small sea creatures. It is especially good at getting rid of slugs, millipedes, aphids, and grasshoppers. This solution is particularly lethal to insects because its microscopic edges open them up and dry out their interiors.
As you can see, controlling harmful insects organically isn’t very difficult or expensive, and often results in tastier produce. Many gardeners are now embracing natural pest control methods because they work well and are friendly to the environment.