Tips for Controlling Garden Insects Organically - Guest Post

The following is a guest post by Marco over at http://www.livetogarden.com/ - Pop over and check out his site!

Tips for Controlling Garden Insects Organically


There are many reasons to avoid using chemicals to protect your property against insect pests. When you're growing produce that will eventually be eaten, organic gardening isn't a nicety; it's a necessity.
While deterrents like bright lights, motion-sensor-activated sprinklers or noisemakers may work well for larger animals, they are useless against preventing tiny insects from gnawing away on your garden vegetables or your precious marogilds. Just because you’re avoiding chemicals, however, doesn’t mean that you have to put up with a less-than-stellar garden;—it just requires a different type of nontoxic pest control.


Organic Pest Control Methods

Two ways of dealing with the insects that damage your crops are to apply nontoxic mixtures directly to the plants or fight fire with fire by enlisting the aid of insect defenders to repel the predatory insects from your garden.
Natural ingredients like garlic, onion, lemon- or orange-peel extract, hot peppers and neem oil can be used to form a spray that you can apply directly to your garden plants without harming them or disrupting the pH balance of the soil. These sprays either attack bugs directly or make the produce less palatable to them. A simple DIY pest control recipe involves using 4 ounces of chopped garlic bulbs mixed with 2 tablespoons of mineral oil, a teaspoon of fish emulsion and a pint of water. This mixture kills aphids, onion flies and mosquitoes.


One of the best natural pest control gardening ideas is to try companion planting, where you plant different species that naturally attract insect defenders to repel the insect attackers from your crops. Small flowered plants like rosemary, daisies, mint and marigolds can attract beneficial insects, depending on what type of garden you’re growing. It’s a good idea to include native plant species in your garden. They tend to have a stronger immune system against parasites and can help bolster the plants around them.


Whether you choose to apply natural compounds to your plants, use companion planting or employ a combination of both, you’ll still need to know exactly what you’re up against for maximum effectiveness. Start a garden journal and take notes on the pests you discover, as well as the type of damage you notice on your plants. From there, you can learn which insects prey upon the pests and add the corresponding plants or compounds to address the situation.


Lastly, there can be no substitute for your own time and efforts in tending your garden. Get in there with your own two hands and a garden spade and attack those weeds yourself. Pay close attention to the pests attacking your plants and the techniques you use to treat them, and you’ll be able to learn for yourself what works best for your gardening ideas. Sphere: Related Content