How to Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Utilizing the method of Integrated Pest Management how I garden - period.

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Here it is in suburban farmer speak : “ Do n’t use a dozer when a bridge player trowel will do . ”

The theme here is start with the least toxic curative to a potentially spoilt situation and move up the run . It ’s one technique used insustainable gardeningpractices . Before I actually used IPM , I listen in on a talk with a with child sigh in my breast . On one hand , I ’d be look at a germ notice , making sure to keep an intensely studious smell on my brass . On the other paw I ’d be metaphorically unscrewing the hood of an Ortho product . The speaker held up a picture and I spot the evil bug . It turns out it was a soldier beetle ; killer of all aphids . I think it was then that I settle to be intimate the cap back on .

For the most part IPM relies on the farmer monitoring and gathering information . Do n’t panic , not at Stanford University storey ; just on your own little plants in your own backyard . Here ’s how the Integrated Pest Management system of rules is practise in a nutshell .

1.Name That microbe – The first thing we modernistic Farmer have to realise is that the bare mien of an insect does not a problem make . In other dustup , what form of bug is it ? How do you make love it ’s feed your plants ? In the soldier beetle ’s lawsuit , he ’s the horse cavalry . He ’s there to rid your green goods of aphids . Are you get to thank him by dousing his skinny bug derriere in poison ? I thought not .

hear your creature , dudes . Nothing book - worthy – just the local anesthetic . If you really have no estimate what the heck you piffling insect is , catch it in a jar . Bring it on down to your local nursery for proper designation . You were plausibly going down there anyway to seize some of those heirloom tomato plant .

2.Assess The Damage – Has all your sister Spinacia oleracea become a snail family ’s dinner party ? Or are there a duo of cosmetic blemish on a few pieces of fruit ? Has this pest move all of his family and friends into your home ? Or is it just the two of them on a day trip-up ? guess about it ; there ’s a broad difference . Sometimes , you really do n’t need to do anything . In the typesetter’s case of slightly blemished fruit , you have to admit the rude balance of thing is passably stable . If those are all the worries you have , then that critter ’s lifelike enemy must be plentiful in your garden . In fact , if that is all the worry you have , this is what we call successful gardening .

3.Look For The Cavalry – Where there are unfit guys , there are stick to be good Guy otherwise known as beneficial insects . See if you may blob them . Remember , pesticides are the biggest non - differentiator in the earthly concern . They ’ll kill ‘ em all and permit God screen ‘ em out . A great bug identifier to have hanging around your backyard farm is Mac ’s Field Guide . It ’s available through Amazon.com and is laminated , so you may throw it just about anywhere . On one side you ’ll witness the good garden hemipteran and on the insolent side the bad ones . It tells you where you ’ll bump both case of hemipterous insect as well as which plant quicken their appetency .

4.How Many pesterer Can You permit ? – Something else to think about is that everyone has their personal tolerance levels . One person may image that the impairment is n’t a big deal ; plus insect provide food for thought for wildlife , as well . Another individual may finger that the particular industrial plant is n’t worth the hassle . They may choose to rip out that one and supersede it with a more pest - resistive species altogether .

IPM Control Methods

IPM Does n’t Prohibit Pesticides

On occasion , bigger is better and a big hired gun is necessary . If you decide you do have a major pestilence problem and you ’d like them to just get the hell out of Dodge , pesticides are a valuable tool . But they should be chosen and applied cautiously so they can be the least hazardous to mass , pets , and the environment . “ Spot treating ” is really the way to go when it comes to pesticide in the farm or garden .

Use pesticides exactly where they work best and when they are needed although this may have to be done a pair of times to be perfectly in effect . In this way , you are using a hoe ( albeit a slightly big hoe ) in place of a bulldozer . Here are some things to believe about before spray pesticides :

Utilizing the method of Integrated Pest Management how I garden – period . I ’m probably going to get string along up by the organic gardening law for that admission ; but before you limit the torch afire let me say this . I ca n’t think of the last clock time I ’ve resorted to any chemicals at all except for Sluggo ( and iron phosphateis an organic controlso even that does n’t depend ) . Consider me a living will to constitutive gardening because the organic method acting work so well that I never get close to the level of even low - toxic chemical . Which reach me an organic gardener by nonpayment . Now , put down the Mexican valium and consider me the unadulterated litmus test .

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I know, right? He looks slightly threatening, but the soldier beetle is your cavalry against aphids. Photo byJR Guialliumunder the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.

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