Most home gardeners probably have heard about using beer to
attract snails.
Most home gardeners probably have heard about using beer to attract snails. Well, I’m all for natural pest control methods, but I’m also in favor of not wasting beer. Take it from me, using beer in pie tins to attract and trap snails is just a waste of good beer.
Ah, but there are some natural pest control methods in the garden that work! One of my personal favorite methods involve spraying with plain water. Others include mixing up a concoction of either a liquid soap spray, horticultural oil or Bt; or even luring insects with sticky traps.
PLAIN WATER
A jet of plain water from the garden hose will go a long way toward dislodging aphids and spider mites from roses and other infected landscape plants. Once knocked off the specimens, they won’t be able to climb back aboard in most cases. Just make sure you don’t soak your plants with overhead sprays during the heat of the day. Do it in the cool of the morning or at dusk.
INSECTICIDAL SOAPS
Insecticidal soaps, meanwhile, have become the mainstay pesticide spray for organic gardeners. You can mix your own using a few tablespoons of liquid soap per gallon of water, or you can buy already-mixed formulations at the nursery. The latter will include so-called stickers that will improve their effectiveness. Insecticidal soaps will kill or repel a wide variety of insects, including aphids, leafhoppers and spider mites.
HORTICULTURAL OILS
Horticultural oils have also come a long way compared to the dormant oil sprays of yesteryear. The latter oils could only be applied on dormant deciduous plants to smother insects and eggs. Today’s new and refined petroleum-based formulations can be sprayed any time of the year as it won’t harm leaves or delicate flower petals. Many times these horticultural oils are all you’ll need to kill insects without the more powerful chemical insecticides. Again, make sure you spray during the cool of the day rather than in temperatures are 85 degrees and above.
BT
Also known as Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt, is the most familiar biological control. It utilizes different strains of bacteria and fungi to target specific pests, and are relatively nontoxic to beneficial insects, animals and humans. There are various Bt products at nurseries that will kill caterpillars, beetles and more.
STICKY TRAPS
Different colors of traps attract adult insects to the sticky coating of traps, much like old-fashioned fly paper works. You can use yellow traps for aphids, gnats, leafhoppers and thrips; white traps for whiteflies; blue traps for thrips and red, round traps for apple maggots.
You can even make your own traps, using colored paper and a spray of a product called Tanglefoot.
In most instances, I’ve found that these safer organic methods of pest control will work just as effectively as chemical ones, and we’re helping ourselves and the environment at the same time.
Next week: I’m going to cover the benefits of using Epsom salts to give your plants a boost.
Keith Muraoka lives and works in Gilroy. E-mail him at [email protected].
