Pest Control For Organic Gardens
Oct 3rd, 2008 | By cathi | Category: Gardening- Image via Wikipedia
Man-made pesticides have been thoroughly disrupting our environment since World War II. While it may be true that the concept did succeed in its first few decades, in time their chemicals not only made tougher and more resistant bugs, it has also poisoned a lot of plants that fell victim to the chemical-enriched sprays that hogged the plants air.
Nowadays, people are finally making it a point to consider alternatives, especially organic pesticides, in order to curb this recurring problem. There are a few countries in the world that put a step forward in the elimination of synthetic pesticides by outlawing them, an example of which is The Virgin Islands, and have promoted incessantly the hidden advantages and new techniques of organic gardening.
What’s So Bad About Insecticide?
While it may thoroughly kill the pests that may hound all plants, big and small, it has slowly strengthened these pests into freakish super-bugs. Let me explain. The main feature of insects that have been overlooked by our ancestors is that they have short life spans and they can multiply at powerful degrees, making swarms in a blink of an eye. That means that their evolution is faster than humans, who have long life spans and take a little longer to evolve. With that in place, the select few that could have survived the pesticide blast may mate with another bug and create an offspring that has inherited that pesticide-repelling gene. And since life spans are short, these bugs keep mating until they make a powerful swarm that enables them to get to their goal, which is eating up the plants, without them getting hurt by pesticides. This is the conundrum that the contemporary farmer must face. The old pesticides don’t work as effectively as before, and new ones will only make them stronger in the long run.
This is only the first and most important problem of synthetic pesticides.
Another problem that this kind of pesticide causes is that they may poison the plants and even us if we partake in pesticide-drowned plants. Just think about it: what are the chemicals in pesticides? Of course, the chemicals involved are the ones that can kill bugs and potentially humans. Even though it only hurts us in rather trivial degrees, a large amount of which can hurt us if we eat and eat the same chemical-blasted plant again and again.
In a nutshell, synthetic pesticides may seem beneficial for us in the short run, but if we look forward to the generation of our children, we will see a huge problem that threatens our food supply and more importantly, our existence.
Organic Alternatives: Natural Strategies To Fight Pests
There are a lot of wily strategies that farmers use to tackle the recurring problem of pests without threatening the human race in the long run. And that is using Mother Natures old methods to outsmart and outmuscle these pests.
The first one is cultural control; this is the process where the farmer does the little things to avoid pests potentially living in their garden. One may remove diseased plant material and cutting off weeds and plentiful plant debris that may potentially be used as a home by insects. The farmer must also remove dead plants and corn plant stumps to avoid the same predicament. Another wily method is planting specific plants in raised beds in the rainy season, making the pests attempt crossing at a miniature moat which will likely kill them if they tried. There is also the option of rotating crops time and time again to different locations so that the problem of soil insects and disease build-up will be minimized. This requires a lot of planning and may stress out the average farmer, but crop rotation is the most effective method around.
Another method is using Mother Natures natural poisons. It has been said again and again by farmers that if it is natural, then it is safe The most deadly poisons present in nature are actually the ones found in certain plants. You have to be careful when handling these poisons because it may hurt them too. So use them carefully, but use it without impunity against those annoying pests. Common poisons found in plants are Nicotine, Pyrethrum, Rotenone and Ryania.
And another effective method is Biological Control, where one utilizes natural predators to prey on pests to keep their population down. But don’t forget to maintain that natural balance by also finding some animals that prey on these pest-munching predators. It’s a bit complicated, but a little remedial lesson of the life cycle won’t hurt.
Don’t sway into the pitches of salesmen saying that synthetic pesticides aren’t only effective, but also take the hassle out of farming. Please don’t buy into that. History has proven that this kind of pesticide has created two major problems in our agriculture and has hurt the human race in many ways. Stick to the tried and tested methods and don’t forget to use Mother Natures weapons and humankind’s ingenuity to curb this recurring problem in our gardens.
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