Gardening and Pest Control - Organic or Insecticide?

If you are a person that really likes gardening and pest control from time to time, then the tips contained in this article will help you get even more out of your garden.

Gardening and pest control is at least as old as agriculture. It's an industry that's growing rapidly. The pest control business has grown more than 50 percent in the last 5 years or so, and nationwide it has become a $7 billion industry.

More and more homes are being built in remote locations. People want to live in the desert or the woods. When you're building in these areas where insects and animals live, it's their home. They only become pests because they come into YOUR home.

What is Gardening and Pest Control?

It's basically the reduction or eradication of pests. Whereas structural pest control is the control of household pests and wood-destroying pests and organisms or such other pests which may invade households or structures, gardening and pest control tends to be the control of pests that are affecting your plants, lawn and/or soil. That can sometimes spill over into the house as well, but by and large, it's the garden we're talking about here.

In order to protect our growing areas as well as our health, proper gardening and pest control is a necessity. It is often ignored until pests and their damage are discovered or it has got out of hand. Well there are measures you can take to help eradicate the problem.

How Do We Control Pests in the Garden?

Many people see gardening and pest control as a do-it-yourself job. Well that's fair enough - up to a point. Gardening pest control is like visiting the doctor: to prescribe effective treatment your physician must correctly diagnose the problem and determine the extent of the injury as well as the potential for further injury. In
surveys, it's been found that many householders don't bother to read the instructions carefully or feel the need to vary the instructions 'because they feel they know better'.That leads to over-concentrated doses of insecticide for example
which could be hazardous to your health and any visitors. Of course we are specifically referring to chemicals, as chemical pest control is still the predominant type of pest control today. However, that said, the long-term effects of chemicals has led to a renewed interest in traditional and biological pest control towards
the end of the 20th century.

For those who don't do DIY gardening and pest control, there is the option of monthly visits from your local pest control company. One advantage to monthly pest control is that someone should be looking at your house and garden for pest problems regularly. One disadvantage of monthly pest control is that homeowners insist that PCOs apply a chemical treatment monthly whether there is a
pest problem or not! The facts of pesticide use in the home and garden are very
surprising:

- Each year 67 million pounds of pesticides are applied to lawns.

- Suburban lawns and gardens receive far heavier pesticide applications per acre than most agricultural areas.

Think before you spray a pesticide. You may kill the insects that are heping you keep pests in check. This means you will have to spray more in the future. Also, insects benefit your garden by pollinating your plants, helping them grow and propagate. Don't use persistent, broad-spectrum, contact insecticides like diazinon, malathion and carbaryl. These provide only temporary pest control
and are likely to kill more of the natural enemies than the pests. When their enemies are gone, pest populations may soar and become more of a problem than before they were sprayed.

Most consumers also don't realize how potentially harmful they can be:

- Children are particularly vulnerable to pesticides, and the most likely to be exposed to lawn pesticides. Children living in homes that use pesticides (indoor or outdoor) are at a higher risk for developing asthma, lymphoma, childhood leukemia and brain cancer.

- Garden chemicals harm the environment. The US Geological Survey routinely finds every type of garden chemical - particularly weed killers - in the streams and rivers around urban centers.

It's an eye-opening shock isn't it? Can we really, really not be without these methods of pest control?

Gardening and Natural Pest Control

We believe the logical approach to gardening and pest control is to create a balance of organisms in your yard or garden. Natural pest control is less expensive than buying and applying pesticides, and it's safer for your garden, natural wildlife and the environment.

Let's look at some hints and tips to help your gardening and pest control:

- Physical controls like traps, barriers, fabric row covers, or repellants may work for pests

- If a plant, even a tree, has insect pest or disease problems every year, it's time to replace it with a more tolerant variety, or another type of plant that doesn't have these problems.

- By preventing pests from reaching your plants, you can avoid the damage they cause. And in cases where you only see a few pests, physically removing them can often keep the problem under control.

Let's also look at some useful bugs you want to encourage in your garden:

Assassin bug
Beneficial nematode
Bumble bee
Damselfly
Ground beetle
Honey bee
Mason bee
Parasitic wasp
Soldier beetle
Spider

Use these tips to make dealing with gardening and pest control a lot easier. If you follow the basics you will virtually eliminate your problem of garden pests forever.

Make it easier to start using natural pest control, quickly & easily. Learn the essential steps and get a bug-free environment with minimal outlay. Start learning by visiting the gardening and pest control website.