Tips to Keep Pests - and Pesticides - Out of the Garden

Attract beneficial insects.

Virginia Cooperative Extension recently published a great article called "Tips to Keep Pests - and Pesticides - Out of the Garden."  The Extension office recommends seven methods of insect control in the vegetable and ornamental garden that do not use pesticides. Instead, they rely on simple, common sense organic gardening techniques that can work very well in the home garden.

Among the advice offered in the article, the Extension Office recommends:

• Removing many insect pests by hand: A simple method to remove pests like the Colorado potato beetle and cucumber beetle larvae uses soapy water to drown them. Simply use a clean glass jar with a lid, like a spaghetti sauce jar that you're going to put into the recycling bin anyway. Place one tablespoon of liquid dish washing soap in the bottom and add water until the jar is one-quarter to halfway full. Then, put on a pair of rubber gloves or gardening gloves and pick the bugs off, one by one, dropping them into the soap water. The soap makes it impossible for them to climb out. Close the lid when you're finished insect removal and place the entire jar in the trash.

You can remove insects by hand instead of using pesticides.

• Using aluminum foil "collars" around seedlings to prevent cutworms: I never thought of using aluminum foil, but instead use newspaper or paper collars. Fold a strip of paper to make a thick collar, tape it shut, and place it around seedlings to act as a barrier for the cutworm. You can also cut a paper cup in half and use the open ring of paper as a cutworm collar.

Cutworm collars can be made from recycled materials. These are made from PVC pipe scraps. You can also use aluminum foil, newspaper or paper cups.

• Attract beneficial insects: Planting flowers around your vegetable garden not only attracts pollinators, it increases the number of beneficial insects in the garden, too. Predatory wasps can take care of tomato hornworms. Ladybugs will gobble up mites. A variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables offers a feast for insects of all types, but especially beneficials who will help keep the harmful insects in check.

Herbs like these chives planted among other vegetables attract beneficial insects.

For more tips, please see: 7 Tips to Keep Pests - and Pesticides - Out of the Garden from the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Homemade Garden Remedies

As you're perusing your favorite social media outlets, you may spot pretty pictures touting this homemade weed killer or that remedy for mildew and fungus on plants. Before gathering the ingredients and dousing your plants, STOP! While homemade remedies may be fine, it's important to "do your homework" and research any remedies you see shared on social media.

Why It's Important to Research Homemade Garden Remedies

I was speaking with a friend the other day who said that her impatiens had died. We chatted for a while as I tried to diagnose the problem. It wasn't until she mentioned that she had whipped up a batch of homemade weed killer that I realized the problem. She's sprayed her plants with almost pure saltwater!

"But it's meant to kill the weeds," she protested when I broke the news to her that her homemade weed killer may have also killed her flowers.

While that's true, spraying your garden beds with such a homemade mixture actually sows salt into the soil. Do you remember how, in ancient times, invading armies would sow salt into fields to starve out the population? That's because salt kills plants and makes it impossible for new ones to grow.

Now this particular homemade remedy may have been fine to kill weeds in sidewalk cracks, but it wasn't a great idea to use it on her annual flowers. The same goes for many of the "miracle" cures I see touted all the time on social media. Some may work, some may not, but all should be used with the same care you would take if you bought chemicals at the store to spray on your garden.

Before using any homemade remedies in the garden, take the following steps to do your homework. Your plants will thank you for it.

• Read the instructions carefully: Many of these social media posts are in the form of pictures with just a few lines of text. Use a search engine to research the remedy thoroughly. Read pros and cons, if you can, or any cautions.
• Search the Cooperative Extension sites to see if they've tested the remedies: You can do this by typing your search query into your favorite search engine, then typing " + ext " after it. This returns only Cooperative Extension websites. The Extension conducts thorough, scientific research into many areas. That remedy everyone is raving about may have been tested by actual plant pathologists or horticulturists; find out!
• Conduct a test: Conduct your own scientific test and use the remedy on only a small section of your garden. Wait a few days or weeks to see the results. You may save a few pennies but not creating a big batch of homemade weed killer, fertilizer or fungicide. You may also save your garden by not spraying something that harms the plants!

Just because something says "organic" doesn't mean it is without risks. After all, things like poison ivy are "organic" and "natural", but you wouldn't want to make a salve out of poison ivy sap. The same goes for organic, homemade remedies. Many offer useful applications in the garden, but do use care and common sense. 

In this day and age, when anyone can share anything with the click of a mouse, a lot of misinformation gets into your news stream. By searching on Cooperative Extension research, testing remedies, and using your common sense, you'll save yourself a lot of heartaches and headaches in the garden.