Natural Pest Control Part 1

 

Using Liquid Seaweed

Liquid Seaweed is very important because it provides plants with the necessary trace minerals to build up their immune systems. It also provides bacteria for the plants' natural systems to work with. Use distilled or spring water or well water for this as city water may kill off the bacteria (or you can filter the water. See garden filter page.). Read the chapter on organic fertilizers in this book for details on what organic fertilizers to use. Remember that the first line of defense is careful planning. Many plant troubles blamed on diseases and pests are really caused by poor soil. By providing plants with healthy soil to grow in, you will find that plants will be healthier, and less prone to attack from diseases and pests. A good organic grower plans ahead. He or she works into his soil as many different varieties of organic materials as he can get. He or she adds manure and mulches and provides the soil with as much and varied sources of nutrients as possible. This is the key to successful organic growing as well as to organic pest controls.

Check out my Superseaweed which I invented in 1972

Superseaweed


Proper Watering Methods

If a plant is improperly watered, it will suffer stress and open itself up to attack by insects and rodents. The lack of regular watering causes nutrients to disappear and become unavailable to plants. Learn the correct methods of watering. Too much water is just as bad as not enough. Insufficient lighting also contributes to stress. Trees weakened by improper watering, root damage and improper feeding are more likely to be attacked by pests such as borers than are healthy trees. Bugs and diseases act as censors in nature. Bugs like unbalanced soil.


The Invisible Gardener says: "Hand-picking" is the best!

This means that you must first know your pest. Get a hand lens and examine the stems, leaves and fruit surfaces to see what is causing the damage. Look for tiny eggs, tiny puncture holes, trails, excrement and insects. In other words identify the problem. There are many good books on insect identification on the market1. Not all insects are bad, so be careful which ones you place the blame on.

Also learn to identify insect eating habits. Some insects are chewers such as caterpillars, earwigs and leaf miners. Others are suckers such as aphids, and mites. Still others feed below ground such as nematodes, maggots and rootworms, and others are feed above ground such as apple maggots, beetles and tomato fruit worms.

_______________________________
1...A good one is Natural Insect and Disease Control by Roger Yepsen Jr (Rodale Press, 1984). Another good book is Common-Sense Pest Control by William and Helga Olkowski and Sheila Daar (Taunton Press,1991).