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Grow a healthy plant. Pack the garden with diversity and try to have blooms throughout the growing season to attract lots of insects. If a garden is blessed with a large number of insects of all different species, chances are the insects themselves will keep populations in check. And there is nothing more natural than allowing insects to control themselves.
Grow a healthy plant. Pack the garden with diversity and try to have blooms throughout the growing season to attract lots of insects. If a garden is blessed with a large number of insects of all different species, chances are the insects themselves will keep populations in check. And there is nothing more natural than allowing insects to control themselves.
In a nutshell, that is the basic idea of natural insect control.
Natural insect control uses a wide variety of of 'tools' to deal with insects. The most important 'tool' is to know the insects and wildlife in your area. Information on the pest's (and the pest's enemies) life cycle, mating habits, choice of food and other characteristics can clue a gardener on ways of dealing with the pest. Most practitioners of natural insect control try the following:
1. Grow healthy plants - the plant must be given a good chance to live with proper sun and proper water. Insect infestations are often nature's way of killing off unhealthy organisms.
2. Allow for some damage to your plants without over-reacting. Pests exist in the world and there will be some around at all times. Decide what is an acceptable level of damage. In an ornamental plant, that level might be quite high if it is common, quite low if the plant is rare. In edible plants, the matrix would be similar based on one's perception of the food value.
3. Encourage the largest possible variety of wildlife, including insects, in the garden to find a balance. The gardener with the most insects probably has the least problems with insects because the competing interests of different species keeps populations in control. Having something in bloom during the entire growing season will encourage many beneficial insects to stay close and they are one of the best tools for pest control.
4. Avoid spraying until the last resort.