Garden Pest Control Methods
You have to hand it to gardeners for their stamina, perseverance and their ability to fight pests with garden pest control methods. It is incredible how you can prepare garden beds, plant seeds, nurture plants, kill diseases and then you must deal with pests. Consider these suggestions to win the war against pests.
Keep your garden as clean as possible so as not to attract mice, rats and various other rodents. Sweep up plant litter weekly that attracts pests looking for shelter, shade and food. Watch for signs of rodent activity including droppings or chewed plants to identify if you have a problem. Employing proper fertilizing and watering techniques can help to resolve pests.
Remove the Open Sign: Gardens that have a lot of clutter lying around such as leaf piles, rocks, bricks, stones, leaf and weed piles and logs become the perfect hiding places for small pests or insects. With all these great hiding places and food sources, you are basically saying the garden is open and come on in. Stay on top of clean up. Try companion planting where you plant one vegetable type next to another to repel insects.
Protect Plants Against Insects: Floating row covers consisting of long sheets of sheer material can be placed over plants to help protect them from insects. Fencing can work to control deer and elk. A cement trench under fencing will prevent digging pests such as rabbits.
Physically Remove Pests: Use the good old-fashioned method of picking bugs off your plants. It is slow going, but it can make a dent in the population. You can try traps for a wide variety of pests. Stores carry water/beer traps, live traps, pit traps and sticky traps. Lights, motion detectors and sprinkler systems may scare pests away.
Natural Pesticides: Try natural pesticides to control insects. Options include Neem oil, insecticidal soap, boric acid or diatomaceous earth.
Chemical Pesticides: As a last resort, you might try chemical pesticides. They can be purchased in granules, dusts and sprays. Be extremely careful with these. They also kill beneficial insects and could harm pets in the garden.