Pest Management Strategies –Short Term

Some Immediate Methods for Treating

Pests, Diseases, and Weeds for the Short-Term

Short-term solutions are what people usually think of as pest control. “Oh, no! I have a pest! How do I kill it?” Ask instead, “What is the condition that is attracting this pest? What is the message from Mother Nature here? What imbalances are contributing to this problem?” These questions lead to long-term prevention and smart treatment practices. Please, correctly identify it first. Get professional help from the UAF Cooperative Extension Service’s Pest Scout -- 907-745-3478.

---Some short-term management methods---

Physical barriers: ash, collars, floating row covers, Diatomaceous Earth, mulch, clear plastic, copper strips, and cloches.

Confuse and distract with interplanting

Lures to disrupt mating and life cycles with pheromone traps

Disrupt life cycles of pests in soil by cultivating

Modify habitat or environment

Traps

Handpick pests

Introduce predators

Dusts and sprays to confuse, kill, or repel:

--Aromatics such as fish oil to confuse pests.

--Purchased products, e.g. Safer brand and other products to repel or kill.

--Homemade soaps and sprays from plant material such as onion, hot pepper, garlic, herb teas.

Note: If you want to make your own homemade repellant mixture, remember to put those plant sources in the freezer the season before you need them. When the pest strikes, your repellant plant, such as hot peppers, may not be mature. So plan ahead and be ready. Timing is essential.

Companion planting: it’s helpful to map your ideas on paper before planting. Use references to choose your combinations.

Kinds

• Sacrifice plants, trap crops

• Allies and look- alike plants

• Interplant light and heavy feeders, also can mix flowers, vegetables, and herbs, root crops with cole crops to confuse pests.

• Enemy plants and repellant plants, especially by aromas.

• Inhibiting and allelopathic: Certain plants exude a repellant or growth inhibitor chemical that prevents other plants nearby from growing. Examples: redwoods, walnut trees; quack grass roots. Corn gluten, if applied at the right time, suppresses weeds.

• Beneficial plants: to nearly all vegetables, herbs, flowers: lemon balm, marjoram, oregano, and Mexican marigold

• Stimulators of soil life: sprays of stinging nettle; molasses

  —-Botanical Pest Controls (Least drastic)—-

  These are some examples of OMRI-approved pest controls.

  Bacillus thuringiensis = Bt. This is a bacteria to kill caterpillar stage of insects. Select the correct variety for correct pest. Bt is sold as Dipel.

  Spinosad is a newer biological pesticide. Controls caterpillars as well as leaf miners, thrips, Colorado potato beetle larvae, and even fire ants and fleas. It’s toxic to many pollinators.

  Neem from nut of neem tree. For fungi & insects.

  Beauvaria-

  Bordeaux spray- for fungi

  —-More Drastic (& Not Recommended) Short Term Pest Control Examples—

  Please note:

  1. They are made from plants with broad pest-killing properties.

  2. Most of these degrade in a few days and leave no poisonous residues. Thus they have shorter persistence, compared to synthetic chemical pesticides.

  3. These controls will likely kill non-pest species, too.

  4. Many of these are high-risk danger to humans as well.

  5. They are hard-hitting, last resort options.

  Derrik- from a derris tree: an alternative to rotenone.

  Margosan-O - from neem tree. Insect stops eating, can't molt, and dies.

  Nicotine tobacco- the toxic residue may persist in plant tissue.

  Pyrethrin- from pyrethrin daisy extract. Try making your own spray by grinding daisy flowers in blender, or purchase. Effective against aphids, spider mites.

  Quassia- for slugs and mealy bugs

  Rotenone- may cause Parkinson’s disease in human applicators. Will kill fish. Don't spray ANYWHERE near lake, river, stream.

  Ryania- from ground stems of a native plant of tropical America. Ryania is highly toxic to the fruit moth, coddling moth and corn earworm, European corn borer, and citrus thrips. Ineffective against the cabbage maggot, cauliflower worms or boll weevil.

  In general…

  —Strive for gentle and selective controls.

  — Avoid the more drastic measures.

  —If you have to use a hard-hitting pest control, choose one that degrades quickly and affects the least number of non-target species, including beneficial insects, spiders, birds, microbes (on leaves and in soil) and humans.

  —Remember that every kind of pesticide has detrimental effects on non-target organisms.