By Alton N. Sparks
University of Georgia
Volume XXXII |
Sanitation. With the loss of Dursban and Diazinon, home gardeners have no legal insecticides to control soil pests like white grubs and wireworms. But good sanitation is the first approach for controlling these pests and will help with others, too. Remove all vegetation, including weeds, from your garden when it's not in use. This makes it less hospitable for these insects.
Cultural controls include selecting plants that resist or tolerate certain insect problems.
To avoid some early-season problems, use transplants. That can eliminate several pests that can attack germinating seeds and young seedlings. Early transplanting keeps the pest buildup to a minimum in late spring and summer.
If you use direct seeding, it may be better to delay planting so seeds germinate and grow fast.
Mechanical or physical controls are often the simplest and most overlooked. Use physical barriers to keep pests from reaching the crop until it's large enough resist significant damage. Pick them off plants and squash them. It's that simple, and it's an excellent approach for small gardens.
Biological. Beneficial insects can provide efficient biological control. They feed on the insects that cause plant damage but leave the plants alone. But manipulating the beneficial insects can be tough. Both pests and beneficials readily move.
The most common and successful approach to biological control is simply managing pests in a way to that avoids killing the naturally occurring beneficial insects.
Chemical. Insecticidal control is still one of the quickest and easiest ways to control insects. But use it only when necessary.
Sticking to a strict spray schedule is a waste of money in most cases. It may actually create pest problems by killing beneficials, and it's generally not good for the environment.
Read and follow the label of each pesticide you use. Pay close attention to the crops that pesticides can and can't be used and how much time you have to wait between the last application and harvest.
How you use these options in your final insect management program depends on many factors. Do you have to have perfect produce? Are you OK with some insect damage? Is safety your biggest concern? How you answer questions like that will determine the approach that's best for you.
(Alton "Stormy" Sparks is a vegetable entomologist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
