In every garden, expect pests and diseases to affect your plants at some point. When you find yourself in a distressing ordeal with withering plants and pest infestations, you might utilize chemicals to get rid of them. Although chemicals can deliver quick results, they can be detrimental to beneficial insects and organisms in your garden.
Over time, the use of chemicals will also put your health and the environment at risk, disrupting the natural ecosystem. If you want a safer approach, it’s best to switch to organic methods when controlling pests. Using an organic approach is both safe for you and the environment, on top of being effective, in the long run.
If you want to effectively control the number of pests in your garden in a safe approach, here are several organic ways to try out:
1. Use Organic-Based Products
You can control most pests using non-toxic or organic sprays. Even a strong spritz of water from a garden hose is a quick way to dislodge pests on your plants. For a more practical approach, you can utilize products that contain plant extracts from neem, sabadilla, or pyrethrum as natural alternatives to chemical pesticides.
If you want to learn more about organic products that you can use to control garden pests and keep your plants healthy at the same time, checking out sites like Seasol would greatly help.
2. Select Resistant Plants
If you want to lessen the chances of the disease spreading among your plants, it’s best to choose resistant plants. Check the plant for disease and pest resistance. When planting in your garden, combine plant families for diversity to prevent the spread of diseases or pests that target specific plants.
3. Control Weeds
When weeds start to grow in your garden, they compete with your plants for resources, such as nutrients, light, and water. In some instances, weeds might harbor pests and parasites. Thus, make it a priority to pull out weeds along with their roots out of the ground once you find them clustering in your yard.
4. Use Insect Traps Or Lures
To eliminate undesirable pests in your garden, you can use both olfactory and visual lures. Use yellow adhesive boards to deal with whiteflies, cucumber beetles, thrips, and cabbage worms. When you have slugs and snails, prepare shallow pans filled with beer. Additionally, placing a rolled, moist newspaper in your garden will attract earwigs.
5. Prepare Clean Soil
One of the ways to prevent pests in your garden is to use good soil in the first place. To prevent pests and diseases in your garden, you need to prepare the ground with the following steps.
- Add organic matter such as compost at the start of the growing season. It helps keep the soil clean due to natural elements and compounds that drive pests away.
- After tilling, conceal the site with black plastic or cardboard for up to six months. As the heat increases beneath the plastic or cardboard, it’ll eliminate most pests and their eggs, parasites, weeds, and other detrimental microorganisms.
- Once you remove the plastic or cardboard, cultivate the soil slightly so that it’s ready for planting.
6. Trim The Plants
Make it a routine to trim your plants now and then since weak, small plants are at risk for disease. If you overlook this issue, they can spread the disease to your healthy plants.
It would be best if you prune or trim away damaged, diseased, or dead shoots or branches that limit the airflow right away. Always remember that plants require good air circulation to breathe and stay in good health.
7. Introduce Beneficial Insects In Your Garden
A natural way to prevent and deal with pests in your garden is by introducing beneficial insects. You can release ladybugs, praying mantis, lacewings, trichogramma wasps, or spined soldier bugs to keep the number of pests under control. Ladybugs are a must-have in your garden since they eat mites, aphids and eggs, and larvae of various pests.
You can find most of these beneficial insects in horticultural suppliers. Remember to avoid using any chemical ten days before releasing the insects. As an alternative, try to cultivate plants that supply pollen and nectar for the beneficial insects. Additionally, adding herbs, such as dill, fennel, caraway, lemon balm, and spearmint to your garden will also attract beneficial insects.
8. Clean Your Garden Regularly
If you want to keep pests and diseases away, you must keep your garden clean and free of plant debris. Ensure that you’ll get rid of fallen leaves, tree branches, wilting blooms, and weeds since the decaying matter will serve as the ideal breeding environment for diseases, fungi, and pests.
9. Water Your Plants In The Morning
Plants require water to aid with photosynthesis during the day. Watering late in the afternoon can result in moist leaves during the night, making them prone to fungus and other diseases. One tip to remember is to soak the roots instead of getting the foliage wet.
Conclusion
If you want to deal with pests and diseases in your garden effectively, you no longer need to turn to detrimental chemicals. Going with the organic approach will be a safe yet effective way to get rid of destructive pests and diseases. With the help of these organic methods in controlling garden pests, your plants will stay healthy and free of pests and other conditions throughout the year. You can use the garden supplies to add flavor to the food you are selling online.
Emily Hawthorne
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