Organic Tips and Methods (part4) Practical Prevention(s)/Preventative measures Many simple mechanical methods can be used to exclude pests and reduce their numbers, these cause little harm to the environment and many can be made from recycled materials. Hand-picking is effective against many pests; Gooseberry sawflies or Cabbage caterpillars, for example: can be dealt with in this way, and many minor infestations can be squeezed with finger and thumb, slugs and snails tend to return to the same site so they can be spotted with a torch and picked off. Battery operated vacuum cleaners are very good for rounding up flying insects such as: White flies or Flea beetles which jump when disturbed, use the jet from the garden hose to knock off Aphids and other pests off plants, some may return, but others will not. This works well in combination with sticky bands. Nets: Nets are the best way of/for protecting fruits, a complete cage is best and makes economic sense, though any pieces of net can be used to protect a branch or two and can be help in place with cloths pegs. The netting bags that fruit, vegetable and nuts (or even flower/plant bulbs) come in are good for individual fruits and branches; even the feet of a pair of stockings or tights can be pulled over long branches of fruit such as redcurrants. Fine mesh bags can exclude wasps as well as birds, but many encourage Mouldo botrytis. Fine netting, woven fleeces and punctured plastic sheets can be used to keep pests off vegetables and fruit and are good at preventing carrot fly attacks, this fly is about the size of a horse fly, has to lay its eggs next to the seedling, so a barrier gives 100% control. The same materials can also be used to protect cabbages from root flies and butterfly caterpillars and to keep birds off beetroot and salad crops. Carrot root flies can be stopped by a simple barrier of netting anything 60-90cm (2-3ft) high around small beds stops the fly, if the fly can’t jump the barrier, it would have to walk round to try and find a place to jump on the bed, so make sure the barrier reaches all the way around the bed. Carpet Squares: Cabbage root flies need to lay their eggs in the soil next to the stem, a barrier made of 13cm (5in) squares of cardboard or old carpet or even tarred roofing felt fitting/sitting snugly around the stem will seal the soil underneath and prevent access. Carpet can be used to seal larger areas trapping insect pests underneath when they emerge from their hibernation or their pupae; this can dramatically reduce infestations of gooseberry soil flies, raspberry beetles and pear midges. Carpet laid on a wet lawn will bring leatherjackets and other pests to the surface overnight, lift the carpet at first light (in the morning) and those pests can either be swept up by yourself with a broom or left for the birds to feed on. Bands: Bands of cloth, carpet and/or corrugated cardboard tied around your catch, beneficial ladybirds can be retained and released to continue their good work in the garden, while the unwelcome pests are evicted/eradicated. Earwig Traps: many creatures, especially earwigs will crawl into hollow bamboo tubes and can easily be blown out into a bucket; earwigs are especially attracted to straw filled flower pots on sticks (for some strange reason). Sticky-Boards and Fly-Papers: These are especially good in the greenhouse where they trap many pests, especially; Whiteflies and Thrips, different colours attract different insects; white attracts Sawflies, blue attracts Thrips and yellow attracts Whiteflies. They are even more effective if they’re given a pheromone scent and hung in the trees, these sticky boards are a good way of reducing codling moth and plum fruit moth attacks. Wasp Traps: Wasps are beneficial in the early season as they hunt other insects in huge numbers, but in late summer, they turn their attention to fruit and should be trapped, a bottle half full of water and jam with a foil cap to crawl in but not to fly out. Do not use traps near flowers or with honey, because bees may also be lured in (which is not good). Slug Traps: Slugs can be stopped in their tracks by barriers of wood ash, pine needles, sharp grit or sawdust; they are also reluctant to climb over rings, 10-13cm (4-5in) high cut from plastic bottles and set into the ground. Slugs can be trapped in slug pubs, saucers or yogurt pots half full of fermenting beer, in which they obligingly drown/drink themselves to death, sink the pots or saucers up to the rim into the soil, friendly ground beetles however also drown, unless you give them some twigs to help them climb back out. Slugs and snails also collect under melon or orange shells/peel and up-turned pots and saucers as well as the obvious cool, shady/dark, damp areas of the garden. Lures: It is possible to make lures for most pests, tins or yogurt pots buried in the ground with bits of potato or carrot in the base will attract mostly millipedes and woodlice, slugs and snails will come to fruit and wireworms will come to bran or germinating grain. Dead full traps follow the same principle, but without the lure of fruit or vegetables to entice pests. Sticky Bands: The bands stops pests climbing the trunks of trees, which few pests need to do. They are especially effective against the female winter moth (which is unable to fly), earwigs and ants, ants farm aphids, moving them to tender shoots and then milk them for honeydews, a sticky band reduces aphid populations, because the ants cannot tend to and protect them. Sticky bands can be applied can be applied to the bark of older trees, but on young bark they are better used on top of a foil strip, as the sticky material may soak in. Isolation Trenches: Digging a trench about 25x25cm (10x10in) around vegetable beds, presents mice, slugs and other small creatures with an effective barrier. Bird Scarers: These psychological barriers work for a short time, so use several and change them either daily or every other day in an alternating fashion, scarecrows and glitter-bangs (coffee packaging bags are effective), unwanted cd’s and flashing/humming tape (an old video tape cassette is cheaper than bought tapes) are worth trying, black-cotton fur-hat-cats, garden hose snakes, and paper hawks worry them, but not for very long. Copper Tape: A hoop of copper tape around a pot will deter slugs and snails as they don’t like to cross it. None-set Glue: None set glue can help to protect plants from vine weevils both indoors and outdoors. Child and People Proof: Human pests can be the worst of all pests with their senseless damage, fences, barriers and locks are now required, especially for succulent fruit, signs saying “beware of wasps nests” can be more effective than keep out. Dogs are considered to be the best guard dogs, but geese are just as good as well as having other benefits.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 11:49:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015