Potions and Practices for Organic Pest Control

On any warm summer day, your garden is filled with flying, crawling, and jumping insects. But very few of these creatures arc plant pests. Most of them—including spiders, lady beetles, and many wasps and flies—are more interested in capturing other insects than in aggravating gardeners. So controlling the few insects that are pests really isn't hard. Organic gardeners have devised lots of useful sprays, barriers, and traps for controlling pests without chemical pesticides.

Pest insects usually have specific food requirements. Many of the pest control formulas in this chapter work by tricking pests into thinking that they are on the wrong plant or making them eat something that they can't digest.

You'll also find formulas in this chapter for bigger pests, like squirrels, deer, cats, and dogs. These pesky animals can frustrate gardeners by eating or trampling plants. But, although we don't want animals to hurt our gardens, we also don't want to hurt the animals, so all of the formulas you'll find here are strictly nonpoisonous. They work by conditioning ani- Ichneumon mals to look elsewhere for dinner. wasp Use these same approaches when developing your own formulas to solve unusual pest problems in your garden. For example, if you have a problem with an insect that eats one type of plant but is never seen on another, try planting the two types of plants close to each other to confuse the pest and lessen the damage. Or you might brew a tea from leaves of the plant the pest ignores and use it to drench the plant that the pest likes. It just might fool them!

Your first defense against Pests

If you spot insect pests on a plant, simply pick them off! Then dispense with the pests using two flat rocks or whatever squashing method you can think up.

If the pests are too small, fast, or numerous for hand-picking, take action right away with an appropriate pest control formula. Pest populations tend to build up very quickly, and it's always easier to control a pest problem the day you discover it than to wait for another day—by then, you may face double the problem.