Integrated Pest Management
When it comes to pests in your garden, it can be overwhelming to figure out how to approach diagnosing and treating your plants. Here at Seascapes, we follow the guidelines of Integrated Pest Management, or IPM.
IPM is a holistic approach to prevent and mitigate the likelihood of pest, weed, and disease issues on a large-scale and small-scale system. This dynamic approach to horticultural practices aims to reduce the use of chemical pesticides, encourage natural pest control through creating a biodiverse ecosystem, and target pest and disease issues with the environment in mind. These methods are designed to work for large-scale agricultural systems, but they can also be used in your home garden. There are five main principles of IPM: Preventative Cultural Practices, Monitoring, Mechanical Controls, Biological Controls, and Responsible Pesticide Use. These principles are often portrayed in a pyramid, starting with the cultural practices as the first line of defense, and turning to pesticides only as a last resort once all other methods have been found ineffective.
The IPM Pyramid starts from the bottom with cultural practices that can prevent pests & diseases and works through other methods before turning to pesticide use.
1. Preventative Cultural Practices
The best way to fend off pests and diseases is to prevent them, and there are a number of ways you can proactively take steps to create a healthy ecosystem in your garden. One way to do this is to create a cropping plan. By planning your crops for the year, you can rotate your crops throughout the season to help build strong soil and increase nutrient availability. By breaking different life cycles in your soil, natural pest and disease control will happen over time. Rotating your crops throughout the season, or companion planting different crops together, will allow varying root depths in your soil and your soil biology will be more diverse. By planting biodiverse crops, you can improve the biodiversity of your soil.
Ensuring sufficient nutrient availability is the cornerstone of growing strong crops. The soil will help to create natural resilience to pests and diseases. If you’re not sure what your soil is lacking, it can be helpful to do a comprehensive soil test and analysis. Especially when rotating crops, it is imperative to know and understand the contents of your soil before establishing crops. Tissue analysis during the different growth stages of your crops can help better inform what your crops require. It is equally important to avoid excessive nutrient availability, as this can cause nutrient lockup and result in antagonistic effects of some nutrients on others. Crops with sufficient nutrient availability are balanced. These crops are more vigorous and can better out-compete pests and better withstand disease issues.
2. Monitoring
The next step of IPM is to monitor activity in your garden and observe how your plants are reacting to the practices you have in place. By regularly inspecting your crops, you can detect any pests and diseases early and mitigate their spread before they get out of hand. Documenting signs of beneficial insects, pests, and any damage caused over a period of time can help you better understand when to take action against pests and diseases in your garden. Larger monitoring practices can involve putting out traps like sticky traps or bait to better understand the level of pest activity and even help locate hot spots throughout your property. With the risk of invasive pests on the rise, it’s good to be on the lookout for these high-risk predators and detect them early on to best treat the issue and prevent further spread.
3. Mechanical Controls
Mechanical controls, also called cultural controls, are methods you can use to modify your garden to make it less suitable for pests. The easiest step to take is to remove and control weeds. By removing weeds, you are removing ideal host plants for pests and diseases. This can also help create better airflow in your garden which will help to mitigate the risk of disease. Another mechanical control method is to create physical barriers. Cover cropping is a great barrier method, as it can help to protect your plants from pests. Other mechanical control methods include covering your crops with protective netting to prevent pests from getting to your plants, especially slugs and snails that tend to eat leaves and greens in your garden. It is also advisable to start your crops in a protected area, even in a greenhouse or under cover to prevent pests from destroying your plants in their early stages. Mechanical control methods are a great first step to combating pests and diseases in your garden.
4. Biological Controls
Biological controls are the next step you should take if the methods above have not worked to control your pest and disease struggles. There are natural pest predators already existing in your garden that you can use to your advantage to help protect your plants. These natural enemies can help to manage pests by suppressing pest populations with reduced or no pesticide use. For example, ladybeetles are a natural predator of aphids. By protecting or introducing these beetles into your garden, you can naturally defend your plants from these pests. Planting pollinator plants can also help encourage bees and other beneficial insects in your garden to help defend against pests. There are also natural microorganisms and bacteria in your soil that can help to defend against pests, so avoid excessive tilling and disrupting the soil as much as possible to allow these beneficial controls to work for you in your soil. By identifying and understanding what pests are in your garden, you can use beneficial predators as natural enemies to defend your plants from pest problems.
5. Responsible Pesticide Use
Once all of the above methods are implemented and have proven ineffective in protecting your plants from pests, it is time to move on to responsible pesticide use. Chemical controls are harsh on pests and diseases, but they can also be harsh on your animals, your family, and your environment. These chemicals should be specifically marked for home use, as commercial-grade products can be harsher and require special permitting or certifications. You can start with more natural products, like neem oil, horticultural oil, or soapy spray. Moving on to harsher chemicals should only be used after carefully reading the application instructions, ensuring that the warnings for required PPE and restrictions are being followed. Also be sure to note and follow the Return Entry Interval, or REI. To avoid pests developing resistance to one product, and thus developing a genetic mutation that is resistant to treatment, rotate the products used. This will prevent the pests from becoming resistant to one chemical and better defend your plants from future pest issues. Pesticide use can have negative long-term effects on you and your family. Certain chemicals can cause asthma and allergies, and even lead to more severe health issues when used regularly. That is why it is imperative to work through the IPM methods and follow all other courses of action before turning to pesticide use. Be sure to read all warning labels and instructions carefully, store products in a safe, secure location where children and pets cannot reach them, and document all pesticide applications to monitor and track treatments.
