Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
When Prevention Fails

Pest problems are a fact of life for any dedicated gardener. Pests aren't anything to get upset about (although we usually do). They're just another task to be done during the growing season.

While prevention is always the best course of action, it's not always possible to keep a bad bug down. Integrated pest management control methods can help before the bad guys become unmanageable.

Integrated pest management (IPM) relies on control techniques to keep pests at acceptable population levels without excessive (or any) use of chemicals.

The Principles of Integrated Pest Management

The basic principles of IPM include keeping an eye on your plants (called scouting and pest monitoring), determining tolerable injury and loss levels (the thresholds beyond which you attack), and applying relevant and appropriate strategies and tactics.

Other methods of pest control require that pesticides be applied on a rigid schedule (usually based on known bug emergence dates and the bug's life cycle).

IPM applies only those controls that are needed, and only when they're needed, and only if the pests will cause more damage than the threshold level you set for your gardens.

Most garden insects are harmless or even beneficial. You don't want to kill the good guys, who sometimes look like the bad guys.

You need to properly identify all of the insects before considering any control strategies. It's also important to recognize the different stages of insect development.

For example, the caterpillars eating your plants may be the larvae of the butterfly you've been trying to attract to your butterfly garden.

And the small larva with six spots on its back is probably the young of the ladybug, a very beneficial insect. Some control practices are most effective on young insects. Different stages may also be more damaging than others.

It's not necessary (and not possible) to kill every insect, every weed, and every disease organism to have a healthy yard. This is where the concept of thresholds comes in. The economic threshold is the point where the damage caused by the pest exceeds the cost of control.

In your home garden, this is difficult to determine. What you're growing and how you intend to use it will determine how much damage you're willing to tolerate.

Larger plants, especially those close to harvest, can tolerate more damage than a tiny seedling. A few flea beetles on a radish seedling may warrant control whereas numerous Japanese beetles eating the leaves of beans close to harvest may not.

If the threshold level for control has been exceeded, you may need to employ control strategies. You can discuss them with the Cooperative Extension Service, or garden center/plant nursery staff.

Click here for some pest management practices for diseases and larger animals.

Parts of this article about integrated pest management are courtesy of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

If this page was valuable for you, please share your new knowledge. Click Like...