Integrated Pest Management

Soil Preparation

Plant Selection

Cultural Practices

Encourage Beneficial Insects

Beneficial Insects and Mites

Chemical Controls

Soil Preparation

The best way to control insects and disease problems is to prevent them.

Maintain a slightly acid soil (around pH 6.5). If in doubt, have a soil analysis done through your local Extension office, by a private lab, or with a commercial soil test kit.

Build a biologically active, healthy soil through regular addition of organic matter, such as yardwaste, compost, and manure.

Grow winter annual cover crops, such as clover or rye grass, to provide additional organic matter.

Till the soil in the fall to expose pests living near the surface to natural enemies and weather, and to destroy insects in crop residues.

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Plant Selection

Plant crops that are suited to the soil and climate. If you do plant vegetables or fruits that are not normally grown in your area, provide them with necessary conditions.

Use disease-free, certified seed, if available.

Select insect- and disease- resistant vegetable and fruit varieties, when available.

Select sturdy plants with well-developed root systems. Diseases and insects in young seedlings may start in greenhouses or plant beds and cause heavy losses in the garden.

Buy plants from a reputable grower who can assure you that they are disease- and insect-free, or grow your own from seed.

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The most effective and most important of all practices is to observe what is going on in the garden. Many serious disease or insect problems can be halted or brought under control early by the gardener who knows what to look for and regularly visits the garden for trouble -shooting.

Water in the morning so plants have time to dry before the coot evening. Drip irrigation systems prevent foliage from getting wet at all when watering.

Use interplantings in the vegetable garden as opposed to solid plantings of a crop. This can slow the spread of diseases and insects, giving you more time to deal with them if they occur.

Space plants properly and thin young vegetables to a proper stand. Overcrowding causes weak growth and subsequent insect and disease problems.

Keep down weeds and grass. They often harbor pests and compete for nutrients and water. Leaf mulches are extremely effective for weed control.

Use a mulch to reduce soil splash, which brings soil-borne diseases into contact with lower leaves.

Rotate your garden plot, if you can. Do not grow the same kind of produce in the same place each year. Use related crops in one site only once every three or four years.

Avoid injury to plants. Broken limbs, cuts, bruises, cracks, and insect damage are often the site for infection by disease- causing organisms.

Stay out of the garden when the plants are wet with rain or dew to prevent spreading diseases.

Do not use tobacco products, such as cigarettes or cigars, when working in the vegetable garden. Tomato, pepper, and eggplant are susceptible to a mosaic virus disease common in tobacco and may be spread by your hands.

Remove and dispose of infected leaves from diseased plants as soon as you observe them. Remove severely diseased plants before they contaminate others.

Clean up crop refuse as soon as you are finished for the day.

Keep old sacks, baskets, decaying vegetables, and other rubbish, which may harbor insects and diseases, out of the garden.

Staking tall flower and vegetable plants or planting them in wire caves prevents the blossoms or fruit from coming in contact with the soil.

Time plantings in such a way that the majority of your crop will avoid the peak of insect infestations. For example, plant squash as early as possible to avoid borers, which lay eggs in July. Keep a record of the dates insect problems occur.

Plant warm-weather crops after the soil has warmed to avoid problems with seed and root rots; growth will be more vigorous, as well.

Inspect plants for egg clusters, beetles, caterpillars, and other I insects as often as possible. Hand-pick as many pests as you can. Avoid sprays until the population of insects has reached a critical level.

Where slugs are a problem, use traps and try to create drier conditions. Heavy mulches may sometimes encourage slugs. Spread crushed eggshells or hydrated lime around affected plants.

Enlist the aid of birds in your garden. Overall, they do more good than harm. Consider planting shrubs and trees with fruits that attract them. Keep in mind, however, if you attract wild birds, you will have to protect ripening fruit (and even some vegetables) by using bird netting or scare devices (aluminum pans banging in the breeze are fairly effective).

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Encourage Beneficial Insects

Naturally occurring predators and parasites are found in gardens, orchards, and fields. Learn to properly identify these species as benefits of your environment. Avoid using pesticides around them. They are as susceptible to insecticides as the pests.

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Beneficial Insects and Mites

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Chemical Controls

If a pest problem requires chemical controls, use the least toxic materials according to the label. A certified nurseryman or Extension agent can help you identify the proper pesticide and the method to use it.

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