Pests in your beautiful garden are never welcome. They can destroy, disrupt and damage plants. Pesticides and herbicides kill pests...but they also kill vital pollinators necessary for healthy gardens and ecosystems to thrive. 

One sobering fact: homeowners use about three times the amount of pesticides as farmers. That’s right. Each year North American homes use approximately 136 million pounds of pesticides on lawns and gardens, and in the home. And most wildlife pest poisonings, and most surface water contamination from pesticides come from single-family homes. It’s mind blowing. These tips from EarthEasy are simple ways to control garden pests in the safest ways possible:

Prevention is Everything

The easiest way to prevent insect damage in your garden is to discourage them from coming in the first place. A healthy garden is the best defense.

Pull the Weaklings

They may already be infected. If not, they will attract predators. Pull the plant and dispose of it away from the garden area.

Focus on Healthy, Organic Soil

Natural composting methods, mulching, and top-dressing your soil with compost or natural fertilizer is the best way to develop strong, vigorous plants. 

Do Not Disturb

Practising no-dig or no-till gardening will help minimize the introduction of pests to the soil and increase the beneficial microbes.

Seaweed Mulch or Spray FTW

Seaweed contains trace elements such as iron, zinc, barium, calcium, sulphur and magnesium, which promote healthy development in plants. Seaweed fertilizer in mulch or spray form will enhance growth and give plants the strength to withstand disease. Seaweed mulch also repels slugs.

Clear the Clutter

Clear your garden area of debris and weeds, which are breeding places for insects. Use clean mulch.

Rotate Crops

Insect pests are often plant specific. When plantings are mixed, pests are less likely to spread throughout a crop. Rotating crops each year is a common method to avoid re-infestation of pests that have overwintered in the bed.

Keep it Real...Dry

Water early so foliage will be dry for most of the day. Wet foliage encourages insect and fungal damage to your plants. See our page on drip-irrigation for methods of delivering water to the root systems without wetting the foliage.

Disinfect

If you’ve been working with infested plants, clean your tools before moving on to other garden areas. This will reduce the speed of invading insects.

Stop Suspicious Transplants

When we move plants from one garden to another, we can also transport pests and disease. Be sure to purchase plants and soil amendments from a trusted source to ensure any introductions are clean and disease (and pest) free.

Welcome Snakes

While snakes may not be everyone’s favorite visitor, garden snakes help control small rodents, slugs, grasshoppers and more. Learn about the beneficial snakes in your area and do what you can to increase their habitat in and around your garden. 

The smallest changes in how you look at and tend to your flower and vegetable gardens can make a huge difference not only for your own personal garden, but for the gardens, wildlife and waterways where you live. Start planning this year for how you will approach garden pests next year. You’ll be ahead of the game!