Gardening Resources

A few key things I like to point out about pesticides/insecticides:

First, be proactive: If you keep an eye on your plants and spot problems early on, they are usually easy to solve with minimal effort. Many times a simple hard spray from a garden hose will wash away unwanted bugs! You may have to do this once or twice a day... but it's not so bad getting outside to chat with neighbors or spend time in your garden, right? After all, isn't that why we create our nice gardens? :)

Wasp with small caterpillar

If you can tolerate a very small population of pests to establish themselves in your yard, you'll find the beneficial bugs will come to the rescue! You may have a lot of small caterpillars, but birds and solitary wasps and other critters will find them and prey on them and keep them from becoming a problem. (A note about wasps: I know at first, the idea of having wasps around can seem like a scary thing! Many of the wasps that will take care of your caterpillars and other bugs don't make big nests and are not social. They're solitary, so they are much more docile than wasps that congregate and become aggressive to protect a large nest. They are fascinating to watch when you spot one in action.) If we kill all of the small bugs, the beneficial bugs won't have anything to eat, so you may not find them around. Plus, caterpillars turn into butterflies and moths, so there's that!

If you have a specific kind of bug that's giving you trouble, and you need to exterminate it (yellow jackets love to build their nest right under swing sets and playgrounds, for some reason....), please be sure to find a product that will target ONLY the specific insect that you want to eradicate, and use it only on that insects' nest or infestation area.

Lastly, pesticides and chemicals should always be used as a last resort, and only when a problem is present. Please do not use insecticides as a preventative measure.
There are certain exceptions to this, such as diseases and pests that are spreading amongst trees. None of us want to lose our big established trees or risk them falling on our (or a neighbor's) house.

All of that being said.......

A great place to get started and learn more about the products you're using in your garden is Grow Smart Grow Safe: http://www.growsmartgrowsafe.org/

They have some great product charts where you can evaluate what you're already using and find out if you should try a safer or more natural approach: http://www.growsmartgrowsafe.org/Products.aspx?Category=57695&SearchStr=

Their chart includes some really useful information, like the toxicity level of products to humans, to pets (and wildlife), to aquatic life, and also water pollution- those last two are very important, since we live next to Holmes Run and need to be diligent about protecting this natural area and water source.

As you scroll down the page, you'll see that some ingredients are highlighted in blue. You can click on those to find out more about that ingredient.

For example, many people will suggest using insecticidal soaps as a more natural alternative than other chemicals. One of the active ingredients of many insecticidal soaps is "potassium salts of fatty acids." When you click that ingredient, you'll be taken to this page:
http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehipm/insctrodntslug.html

This page has a similar toxicity chart, with an added column specifically for bees. You can see here that potassium salts of fatty acids have a low toxicity to bees, which sounds great for a neighborhood that's catering to bees. But both charts will show a high toxicity to aquatic life, so we should look for a better alternative.

Here is a whole list of minimum-risk pesticide ingredients:
http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehipm/ipm_minriskpest.html

If you have a smartphone, you can bookmark the above charts in your browser so when you go to the store, you can easily look up products.

Planet Natural is a great source of natural gardening products, including fertilizers and pest control:
http://www.planetnatural.com/


Please feel free to comment below and share any natural remedies for pests that you've found to be effective! Or, if you have a problem with a specific pest, you can comment and ask for advice. I'll do some research and do my best to respond. Now that it's fall, we have all winter to research and prepare for next year!

Let's start 2015 off pesticide-free!