Organic Garden Pest Control

This article will give you a foundation to build your organic garden pest control plan.

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Home-grown organic produce is the best of two worlds. Not only is it grown using natural, chemical-free practices, but it is also loaded with that amazing flavor that you can only achieve in a home garden.

However, growing organically means we need to learn some organic garden pest control methods to help our garden flourish. Pest Management is an important part of any organic garden. Since we are not using harsh chemical sprays to deal with pests we need to learn to manage them naturally.

The first things you need to look at in your garden are small proactive and protective practices that don’t require using any “organic sprays” or treatments.

These general gardening principles will help provide an environment where plants can thrive and that is welcoming to beneficial and predatory insects.

Adjust Your Expectations for Organic Garden Pest Control

Insects are a natural part of an organic garden. Most of the insects you will see in your garden are beneficial or at least neutral. You want a garden that is thriving with life and the presence of insects in your garden is not a bad thing.

But in any garden, there will be some bad players. The key to organic garden pest control is to keep the bad bugs in balance while still allowing the good bugs to thrive. You can’t reach this balance by covering your garden with pesticides (even organic ones). Remember the key is to have a balance in your garden.

So the first thing you need to recognize as an organic gardener is your garden produce isn’t going to be perfect! There’s a reason why grocery store produce looks so good. They douse them in chemicals and there is also often a HUGE amount of waste as farmers throw out produce that doesn’t meet the grocery store idea of perfect produce.

Your lettuce might have an occasional hole chewed in it by some random bug. Your tomatoes might not all be perfectly shaped and might have an occasional healed wound from a bird peck.

The point is you need to expect some crop damage in an organic garden. That damage comes with the added benefits of no chemicals and much better taste!

As long as you are not losing entire crops to pest damage and the damage you see is fairly limited your garden is in good shape.

Garden Hygiene

One key to a well-managed garden is hygiene. Piles of debris, dead or dying plants, and piles of wood are all places for insects to hide or even over winter.

A tidy garden 365 days a year will help keep pests at bay.

Some will argue that those same piles of debris may be harboring beneficial insects as well. And this may be true. However, in my experience most beneficial insects are highly mobile (think bees, ladybugs, mantis, and wasps) and at the same time many “bad” bugs are fairly immobile and end up coming back in the same spaces every year.

Keep your vegetable garden clean and tidy all year long. By all means, let fallen leaves and other debris sit in flower gardens and other naturalized portions of your yard. That will give plenty of cover for overwintering bees and other beneficial insects. But keep your main garden clean to help prevent those problem bugs from overwintering close to your crops.

If you are growing in containers and you’ve had pest problems before, be sure to clean and disinfect your containers before reusing them.

Healthy Soil and Plants

A healthy well-balanced organic garden starts with healthy soil.

Healthy, fertile soil builds strong pest-resistant plants.

Plants that are lush, strong, dark green, and thriving will stand up much better to the attacks of pests. A healthy plant, even if damaged, will simply outgrow most things a pest can throw at it.

A healthy plant starts with the soil it is growing in. Be sure to add plenty of compost and other organic materials to your soil each year. Water using drip irrigation to help keep the nutrients in the soil from washing away. And protect your healthy soil with a good layer of mulch.

Plants that are stressed, struggling, and lacking vital nutrients will send out chemical signals to pests attracting them to the already struggling plants.

Beneficial Insects

There are 3 different types of beneficial insects:

• Pollinators
• Parasitizers
• Predators

Of course, we always love having pollinators in our garden like butterflies, but since we are talking about pest control I’m more interested in Parasitizers and Predators.

Parasitizer-are insects that lay eggs that then become parasites to other insects and eventually destroy them. One of my favorite examples is the parasitic wasps that lay their eggs on tomato hornworms.

Predators-are good bugs that hunt down and eat some of our problem bugs. These include ladybugs, praying mantis, spiders, assassin bugs, and many more.

You can buy many predator bugs at your local nursery and online. Doing this can be effective for a short time, but eventually, those predators will move on to someone else’s yard.

Instead, you can do things that promote their presence naturally in your garden including never using un-targeted pesticides (even organic ones), and planting varieties that attract them.

Adding many flowers to your garden will attract pollinators and predators. Also, plants like cilantro, dill, parsley, and Queen Ann’s Lace will bring in parasitic wasps.

Adding a shallow dish of water with some small rocks in it will also help. Just be sure to change the water often so you don’t get mosquitoes.

Organic Garden Pest Control Methods

Barrier Methods & Repelling

• Row Covers
• Bug Nets
• Bird Nets

The first method for controlling and preventing pest damage in your garden is the barrier method. This method involves using fabric row covers, bug netting, and bird netting to simply keep the pests away from your plants. They can’t eat your plants if they can’t get to them in the first place.

Light Fabric Row Covers

Using a light fabric row cover as a barrier against chewing and sucking pests is a great way to protect your vegetables. Fabric row covers are usually made from spun-bonded polyester or polypropylene.

These thin sheets keep the pests out, but still let in rainwater and 95% of sunlight. They also have the added benefit of some added protection from light frosts in spring and fall. Place Fabric row cover over simple hoop structures as you see here.

Put row covers directly over your crops and hold down the edges with rocks or fence posts as you see here.

What do Fabric row covers protect against?

Fabric row covers will protect against pests like aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, cabbage moths, cabbage loopers, and leaf miners. If you get your row covers on very early in the growing season they can almost completely prevent these problems.

Row covers can also be partially effective against pests like squash bugs, squash vine bore, slugs, snails, birds, and squirrels.

When using fabric row covers be sure to use covers rated as “light”. This will usually have .90 ounces per square yard or less. Anything over 1 oz per square yard would be a heavy row cover and it will exclude too much light and water, and would be considered a “frost blanket”.

Bug Nettings

Similar to fabric row covers, bug netting is also becoming popular with organic gardeners. These bug nettings work just like the row covers and can be placed over a hoop structure or can be placed directly on top of the crops. Bug netting will tackle the same pest issues as the fabric row covers, but are a little harder to find.

Bird Netting

Bird netting is an organic fruit grower’s friend! Simple bird netting will usually be made from basic plastic and is put over the tops of berry bushes to keep the birds from eating the fruit.

Bird netting can be very effective, especially on low-growing fruits like strawberries.

Netting can also be used on fruit trees. But it can be hard to manage on larger trees and will be less effective on those bigger applications.

Bird netting can also help deter squirrels, groundhogs, and to some extent even deer. But recognize it will help with these pests, but won’t be a 100% cure.

Bagging

Bagging is an organic method for protecting fruit from pests.

There are several different bagging methods that have been used over the years. Currently, the most popular method is to use simple organza bags to protect your fruit.

This is a simple barrier method that keeps pests out! Organza bags are simple little mesh bags with a drawstring on top. If you have ever been to a wedding and been given a bag of treats and mints they were likely in an organza bag.

They work by keeping egg-laying insects like coddling moths (the enemy of apples) from having access to the fruit. They can also help with other pests like birds and squirrels.

The key is to get the bags on before the pests are present, which can sometimes be tricky.

We have found bagging to be very helpful for apples and peaches. They can also help protect tomatoes and peppers.

This is a very labor-intensive method. Putting hundreds of bags on your apples can be a lot of work so be prepared for the time commitment of this method.

Companion Planting

Different plants can help repel bugs from your garden, some can even help keep away mammals. Adding some of the following plants to your garden could help keep those bad bugs at bay.

• Marigolds
• Chrysanthemums
• Mint
• Basil
• Lavender
• Chives
• Petunias
• Garlic
• Rosemary
• Lemon Grass
• Alliums
• Nasturtiums

Many of these plants can also be used in the kitchen so they have that added benefit. Scatter these around your garden to help keep the pests down.

Trap Crops

Trap crops are sacrificial crops that you can plant in your garden that will attract specific pests keeping them away from your more valuable food crops.

A wonderful example of this is Blue Hubbard Squash. This squash is the preferred host for bugs like Cucumber beetle, Squash Vine Bore, and Squash Bugs. Plant one of these plants on the border of your garden and all of those bugs will go for that plant and will leave your cucumbers, zucchini, and other squash alone.

A few other examples of trap crops include:

Basil – Keeps thrips away from garlic
Beans – Keep Leafhoppers away from corn
Dill – Keeps Tomato Hornworms away from tomatoes
Horseradish – Keeps Colorado Potato Beetles away from Potatoes
Nasturtium – Keeps Aphids, Flea Beetles, Cucumber beetles, and Squash vine bore away

If you can identify the pest you are having problems with, look it up to see if there is a trap crop that might help!

Hunting & Trapping Pests in the Garden

Mechanical Control (Hand Picking)

Very few bugs can survive the wrath of a 7-year-old who’s making $0.10 a bug! And that is a great way to control pest populations in your garden!

Hand-picking can be a very effective form of pest control for larger easy-to-catch pests. Slugs, Snails, tomato hornworms, and squash bugs can be fairly effectively controlled by hand-picking.

Another great mechanical control for pests is to look for and remove eggs before the bugs hatch. This can be a great way to control squash bug populations. Just a few minutes a day checking the underside of leaves and removing egg clusters can effectively control or even completely remove populations of squash bugs and leaf miners. Look at this article to find out more about how to get rid of Leaf Miners.

Check your tomato plants after dark with a black light to identify and remove tomato hornworms.

Go out in the early morning, or after an afternoon rain storm, and all your garden slugs and snails will be out in the open and easily removed. Be sure to toss them in a plastic bag that you tie shut before putting them in the trash so they can’t escape.

Hand-picking is one of the most effective pest control strategies in our garden. It takes some time and effort but is well worth the extra work.

Traps

Traps can be an effective control strategy for some pests.

A great example of this is using traps to control slugs and snails. Simply bury a shallow container, like a tuna can or a cottage cheese container, up to the rim. Then fill the container with beer or even lemonade. The slugs and snails are attracted to the smell and climb into the container.

They slip into the liquid, can’t get back out, and drown. If you want to learn more about controlling the snail problem in your garden check out this article.

Similar traps can be made for earwigs and sow bugs using soy sauce and vegetable oil.

The internet is full of similar examples all of which may not completely remove your problems but will thin out over populations of pests.

Traps can also be effective for rodents like mice and rats. If you are adventurous you can use larger traps to catch squirrels, raccoons, gophers, groundhogs, and even skunks (if you are crazy). You can use kill traps or more humane traps and then relocate the animal to a wilderness area. Before you do this check the legality of relocating wild animals in your area. In some areas, it is illegal to relocate or kill them.

Organic Sprays and Baits

Have you tried all the natural solutions and you still have a problem that is out of control? Well maybe for a short time, you need to introduce a few of the following organic garden pest control options to get things back in balance.

Insecticidal Soaps

Insecticidal soaps are simple mixtures that are very effective against soft-bodied insects like aphids, whiteflies, and spider mites.

You can buy organic versions of these sprays from your local plant nursery or big box store. Or you can make your own.

Making your own is simple. Just add 1 tablespoon of pure Castile soap (like Dr. Bonners) with a quart of water in a spray bottle. Shake it up and the mixture is ready to go. Using Castile soap is important, it’s the oils in the soap, not the soap itself that do the work here. Normal soap or even dish soap won’t do what you need for this to work.

Treat pest infestations by spraying the soap directly on the pests (don’t worry most are slow and hard to miss). The oils in the soap break down the bodies of the insects, killing them. Plan on multiple applications every 7 days to completely solve your problem, especially if you have a big aphid issue.

Neem Oil

Neem oil is a byproduct of Neem trees. The oil is extracted from the leaves and seeds.

Neem oil is considered organic and is a more “natural” solution than harsh conventional chemicals. However, when it comes to “organic options” I consider Neem the “nuclear” option. I usually recommend using less harsh methods first before resorting to Neem Oil.

Neem oil is effective against over 200 different pests, but that also means it can affect beneficial insects as well. It is also an effective fungicide and can even help with some bacterial problems.

Neem needs to be used exactly as it is prescribed on the label and keep in mind that this is a very aggressive option that can and will kill beneficial insects. Neem is safe to use around pets and wildlife, it is biodegradable and does not “build up” and become persistent like chemical sprays.

Sluggo/Sluggo Plus

Sluggo and Sluggo Plus are commercially available pest control solutions that I have found to be fairly effective against pests.

Sluggo is strictly meant for slugs and snails. It works like traditional snail baits, attracting and then killing the slugs and snails that consume them.

Sluggo Plus has the added benefit of attracting and killing more pests, including earwigs, sow bugs, cutworms, and pill bugs. Sluggo Plus is more expensive.

They are both OMRI-listed and are labeled as safe for birds, pets, and children.

BT (Bacillus Thurlengensis)

According to the Minnesota department of health, “B.t. is a naturally occurring bacteria that is commonly found in soil and food. It has been used safely for over 30 years to control insects in the United States, Canada, and other parts in the world. B.t. operates through a well-known protein mechanism that causes toxicity in caterpillars (i.e. insect larvae).

This mechanism is not known to be present in humans or other mammals.
B.t. is a biological control method that is an alternative to chemical pesticides. B.t. does not harm most non-target organisms.”

BT is considered organic in most applications and is usually used to control caterpillar-like pests or soil grubs.

I consider BT a “nuclear” option to be used only when you are desperate. Follow the label exactly and limit use to times when you really have no other choice.

DE (Diatomaceous Earth)

DE is made of the fossilized remains of tiny aquatic creatures called diatoms. These fossils are made of silica.

DE is used for applications in industry but can also be used as an organic pesticide. It works by causing insects to dry up and die by absorbing the oils and fats in an insect’s exoskeleton. The tiny particles are also very sharp and abrasive to insects speeding up the process.

It is effective on a broad range of insects, but can also affect beneficial insects. There are also some risks to humans if you inhale it repeatedly. So be sure to use it according to the label instructions.

Again I only recommend the use of DE if other methods are not working.

Beneficial Nematodes

Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic non-segmented roundworms. They are used to treat many soil-borne insects like grubs, cutworms, root weevils, wireworms, and other lava-type pests.

They are spread over infested soils and then hunt down the insects. Once they find their targets they enter the bodies and inject a bacteria that kills the insect, then they eat what they need and move on to the next target.

Beneficial Nematodes can be very effective against soilborne problems and even have uses against soil diseases.

They are considered organic and are safe to use around people, pets, and wildlife.

Conclusion

All of these ideas, both the gentle changes listed at the beginning and the more aggressive methods of sprays and treatments are so much better than conventional pesticides.

Organic options are gentler on your soil, less likely to harm beneficial insects, pets, and wildlife, and do not have the potential to accumulate in your garden.

I hope these ideas help you strike a great balance in your organic backyard garden.