Bugs. They’re inevitable in a garden, so what do we do about them?
In our gardens, we aim to do the least harm to ecosystems while producing beautiful, plentiful produce for our clients. Because we want to support beneficial insects and pollinators while minimizing pests, no one-size-fits-all pest-management tactic will work for us. We look to IPM (Integrated Pest Management) to balance and treat pest pressure in our gardens.
What is Integrated Pest Management?
IPM is a set of principles that inform ecological-based long-term pest treatment that minimizes harm to humans, water, non-targeted organisms, and the environment. (Here, a pest is considered anything that may cause harm to your plants - insects, disease, or poor conditions.)
IPM lays out a series of steps to follow continuously, even before you notice a problem:
The key to treating hornworms is catching them early. Regular inspection is key!
Step 1: Inspection
At least once a week, walk around your garden and observe it closely. Look at the soil, the undersides of leaves, the joints of your plants. Do you notice any holes in the leaves? Any spotting, yellowing, or browning? Do you see any insects? Frass? Eggs?
Step 2: Identify
Identify what those symptoms or insects are. Are the spots on your leaves yellow, brown, white, or black? What is that insect? What are the eggs on the underside of your squash leaves? Insects can be especially hard to identify - many look very different in their nymph stage from their adult stage. Try to learn how to ID each step of their maturation.
Step 3: Inform
Once you’ve properly identified a pest, learn about its life-cycle and biology. What can they eat? What attracts them? Do they lay their eggs in the soil or on the plant? Are they pests during their whole life cycle or just when they are nymphs? At what stage of their life-cycle is treatment effective
Stay tuned for steps 4, 5, and 6 of IPM: determining tolerance, action, and evaluation!
Would you recognize this as a ladybug larva?
Lady bugs are an extremely beneficial insects - they happily eat all the aphids in your garden.
Insects like this Swallowtail Caterpillar may seem like a pest at first - they eat parsley, dill, and fennel. But if you let them pupate, they’ll reward you as beautiful and beneficial pollinators.