Garden Centre

Monday, February 4, 2008

Garden pests - the natural solutions

I've made a late new year’s resolution - well, it’s not really a resolution, because we already use almost no non-organic products in the garden, but this year I am committed to trying to remove the last few baddies from our patch. The main area in which we argue, Himself and me, is pest control. I loathe all forms of pesticide, and he says he does too, but just show him a rose being attacked by aphids and he’s into the shed, to dig out the battered old packet of Aphid-cide or whatever it’s called, that he’d promised me he’d thrown away …

So what’s the problem?

Well, traditional synthetic pesticides (which is the real name for what most of us still call insecticides) are very effective. Too effective. They kill nearly everything that come into contact with and therein lies the problem. Because it’s actually a tiny proportion of insect life in our gardens that is classed as a ‘pest’ – less than 4% in fact. All the others, from massive staghorn beetles to microscopic soil organisms, are either neutral or beneficial – but the pesticides don’t care, they kill them all!

A more responsible approach is to select products that are either entirely specific to the particular pest you are trying to control or use control systems that break down swiftly into non-harmful components when exposed to the weather. We’ve been using a combination of these two approaches, so, for example, we have a problem with slugs and we’ve invested in nematodes to deal with them. Look away now if you’re squeamish …

... on my packet from last year it says ‘Phasmarhabditis Hermaphrodita. Each pack contains millions of these microscopic nematodes that kill slugs both above & below ground. Once the nematodes have been applied to the soil, they search out slugs and will enter the slug through the mantle - the saddle like structure on its back. Once inside, the nematode releases a bacterium which it feeds on and as that bacterium multiplies, the slug dies. The nematodes multiply inside the slug and within 3-5 days the slug stops feeding and will burrow underground to die. As the slug decomposes in the soil, the nematodes are released back into the soil to search out more slug and the whole process starts again.’

Lovely.

Anyway, we also use a simple mixture of water, white vinegar and washing up liquid in a spray bottle to attack aphids, and it is 100% successful within 48 hours. We simply squirt them, each morning, with the foamy spray and after 2 days the rose will be aphid free.

Labels: aphid removers, garden pest solutions, garden pests, nematodes

The All Seasons Gardener at 8:46 AM 0 Comments

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