NATURAL PEST CONTROL

As the cold days of winter begin to wane, warmer days and bountiful blossoms lay anxious to spring forth, igniting the new season in an explosion of color and fragrance.  Yes, spring time conjures thoughts of our gardens awakening from their long winter slumber, but as our gardens come to life, so do the many pest insects that love to devour them like an all you can eat salad bar.  For many, this is the time of year to start sprinkling and spraying chemical pest control.  After all, you’ve waited all winter to see your lovely gardens come to life, and you’re not about to let some pest insect or animal rob you of your beautiful plants.  We don’t blame you one bit.  However, before you run to the arsenal of chemical pesticides, we want to equip you with natural pest control alternatives that are just as affective, only safer. 

Due to the high ambient moisture levels in the spring, slugs and other moisture-loving pests seem to thrive in our gardens.  One sure proof way to stop them in their tracks is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the base of all plants that may be in danger.  Diatomaceous earth is formed from ancient seashells that have been deposited over millions of years layer after layer, to form thick shelves.  The Chinese have been using these “ancient sea shells” for thousand of years to control a diversity of pest insects, and you can too.  Diatomaceous earth is dust like, and although it feels smooth, it is wrought with many razor sharp edges that cut the pest insects that try to crawl or slither through it.  Sounds harsh I know, but it works very well and will last in the garden for months.  The best part about it is that it is non-toxic and safe for humans, pets and the environment.  For any insect that has to creep or crawl to your precious plants, diatomaceous earth is a must have.  On a side note, sprinkling diatomaceous earth around the foundation of your home can be used to help deter termites and carpenter ants as well.

One very large pest that most have a love/hate relationship with is the common deer.  Deer wreak more havoc on our gardens than any other pest in our area.  From herbaceous perennials to woody shrubs and trees, the deer seem to have full reign in the garden if left unchecked.  Although impractical for many gardeners, fencing works best.  The two fence systems we have seen work are tall (9 or 10 foot high) fences anchored firmly in the ground or shorter (4 to 5 foot high) fences running parallel to each other positioned 4 feet apart.  The tall fence works because no deer (maybe a moose) can clear a fence at that height.  Marvin’s Organic Gardens offer this style fence to our customers, and due to it’s dark coloration, almost disappears into the landscape.  The shorter double fence works well because the deer cannot jump across both sets.  Although fencing will work for some gardeners, it will not work for all.  For those gardeners, may we suggest some practical mixtures and products that will confound or better yet, disgust the deer, forcing them to flee from our yards in search of better smelling plants to forage.  Repellents include pantyhose or other breathable satchels filled with different deterrents that can be hung on tree, shrubs or at the base of perennials that may fall victim to deer (or rabbit) damage.  Deterrents may include but are not limited to dog and/or human hair, bars of soap, pelletized coyote urine (Shake Off is a product name) and even dried cows blood.  All of these repellents play off of deer (and rabbits) acute sense of smell.  We have tried many such repellents with great success.  One must experiment with various products and mixtures to determine which one or combination works best in their gardens.  Wind chimes strategically placed throughout the gardens seems to startle deer, but it is best to periodically move the chimes because deer are intelligent and overtime become accustomed to a certain noise coming from a specific location.  Selecting plants based on deer resistance is a great solution.  For a fairly comprehensive list of  “Rarely Damaged to Severely Damaged” landscape plants, please visit the Ohio State University Extensions website “Ohioline” at http://ohioline.osu.edu.  Another simple homemade deer/rabbit repellent that has been used for centuries is 4 eggs mixed with a gallon of water sprayed directly on the surface of “at risk” plant foliage.  Deer (and rabbits) abhor the smell of rotting eggs, but at this dilution rate humans can’t detect it.  Lastly, Marvin’s Organic Gardens encourages the use of our private labeled organic fertilizer as a deer deterrent.  Our fertilizer has both blood meal and chicken manure in it, and if used as a seasonal fertilizer, will help to deter those plant-munching mammals from making your garden their next meal.

The last group of pests we want to discuss are those many species of insects that come to our gardens atmospherically.  Insects with wings will not be stopped with controls such as diatomaceous earth, but one need not worry.  Birds to the rescue!  Marvin always tells us, the more bird wings we attract to our garden the fewer pest insect wings we have to deal with.  Birdhouses and bird feeders are a great strategy to encourage greater bird diversity, but why stop there. Marvin’s Organic Gardens offers many trees, shrubs grasses and perennials that bear fruit, seed or habitat conducive to healthy bird populations.  Some of my favorite bird-loving shrubs are winterberry holly, viburnum, red and black chokeberry, shrub dogwood, spicebush, inkberry holly and elderberry.  Some trees that act as bird beckons (no pun intended) are serviceberry, dogwood, magnolia, smooth sumac, crabapple, American holly and American fringe tree.  Although many perennials attract birds, some beak smacking garden delicacies are, summer aster, Mexican hat, coneflower, cupplant, giant tickseed, sunflower, lupines and Queen of the prairie.  Most ornamental grasses are cherished by birds for their seed, and as cover from predators.  Our philosophy is that nature should be working hard to take care of our gardens so that we have more time to enjoy them.  Dormant oil sprays such as our Golden Oil Pest Spray work well with many pest such as aphids, scale, white flies and mites.  The oil works by smothering these critters into oblivion.  Bt, better known as Bacillus thuringiensis is a naturally occurring bacterium that is lethal to certain caterpillars and bagworms, even mosquito larvae.  When using Bt, one must make sure that they are using the correct Bt strain for their target insect because Bt is very host specific.  Lastly, another garden friendly companion at Marvin’s Organic Gardens are frogs and toads.  Studies have shown that these hungry amphibians can eat up to three times their weight in insects per day, and are one of the least discriminate of all insect predators.  To attract more frogs and toads to your garden, simply construct a water garden, or invite us to build one for you.  For ideas about water gardens please refer to the 2006 March issue of Cincinnati Magazine.  Marvin’s Organic Gardens has some great water garden styles and concepts in the garden section you may want to take a peak at.

Garden pest will come and go, but with the right knowledge you can resist these invaders without the need for toxic chemicals.  Amending beds with compost and fertilizing with organics throughout the growing season will keep your plants healthy and more resistant to attack.  For more information about Marvin’s Organic Gardens products or services please stop in or call us at 513-932-3319.  We are opening our new retail garden center this spring so that you have more natural options for pest control and organic gardening.  We look forward to seeing you this spring.