Polite Pest Control

Pesticides, and the “spray and pray” method they often encourage, can do more harm in a garden than good. Luckily, there are several better ways to keep the (bad) bugs at bay.

by guest columnist TIM DURHAM

thomas Je FF erson mar how “agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happi ness.” granted, at the time, fully 90% of the can population were farmers, with a smidgen of other vocations.

Fast forward to 2023, and only 1.5% of us are involved in production agriculture. ing — aggies by proxy — has a certain allure, with a population eager to hone their green thumbs. Just how many avowed gardeners are in the U.s.? The number is elusive. Fifty-five percent of households seems to be a reliable estimate.

That’s a staggering community of practice, and a testament to the Zen-like qualities of plant rearing. it literally commandeers hearts and minds, bordering on obsession. generationally distanced from their farmer forbearers, gardeners are getting reacquainted with this noblest of pursuits — and all its frustrations. Farmers welcome you back into the fraternity with open arms!  cucumber beetles, which come spotted or striped, can wreak havoc on your cucumbers, squash, corn, beats, beans and other vegetables. rest assured, hordes of unrepentant pests and pathogens are eyeballing that delectable foliage (or scrumptious fruits) planted in impeccably prepped beds, mulched with straw, and fertilized with the latest bio-based concoction. For all your efforts, you’re an epidemic away from waving the red flag. short of a greenhouse, some factors are beyond our control, like the weather (torrential downpours, temperature extremes and hail, among others). These are generally a lost cause, an unplanned reset. concede defeat, salvage what you can and start anew. it’s best to focus on factors that we can manage (more on this later). This is where integrated pest management (ipm) comes into play. ipm has many variants in the agriculture multiverse – integrated crop management (icm), integrated disease management (iDm) and integrated weed management ( i W m ) among others. Whatever the acronym and target, the fundamentals are identical. For simplicity, i tend to generalize by using ipm as a catch-all.

The theory and practice of ipm traces its beginnings to the 1970s. inspired by agroecology — the realization that plantings are miniature (albeit human- influenced) ecosystems — it stresses that we should try to work within the parameters of nature’s model. how is this best accomplished? By leveraging a multifunctional toolbox of strategies and tactics that antagonize the pest and/or pathogens. it’s a veritable swiss army Knife, informed by science and economics. in a short fifty years, ipm has evolved into the universal decision support system for farmers and gardeners alike. rational, systematic and scalable, it focuses on management rather than control. What’s the difference? control implies a 100%, scorched-earth, death- to-the-enemy-at-all-costs approach. management doesn’t have that same degree of dogged absolutism, with the understanding that a few escapes won’t undermine success of the overall mission. in fact, a decision to intervene is dependent on a critical threshold. Does a single insect pest on a tomato plant portend disaster? Does it necessitate deploying an entire division of proverbial troops? is that a sound use of resources for minimal gains? probably not. But twenty pests might raise some security eyebrows. Time to pull a solution out from that miracle toolbox, because once the plant has fifty insurgents, it’s effectively been annexed by the enemy — game over for your dreams and aspirations. however, you might be philosophically against pesticides. as such, your gut tells you to use take a different tact because it’s more compatible with your ideals. ok, then biocontrol (beneficial predatory organisms are the strategy, and the specific critter you choose is the tactic) might be a better bet. however, there are tradeoffs. Biocontrols take longer to establish and kick in to reduce pest numbers, and you may lose more plants in the process, or the entire planting. after weighing this potential consequence, you ultimately decide to use a natural pesticide as a short term fix to whittle down enemy combatants. you’ll follow-up with periodic introductions of predatory ladybugs (hired mercenaries) into your garden as a long term,

Whatever solution you choose is entirely up to you. ipm deftly straddles art and science. This is where strategies and tactics come into play. Flexibility is a hallmark (and arguably a moral and artistic overlay) on this otherwise scientific system. if you’re on the (threshold) cusp of no return, you need instant gratification. a chemical pesticide (the strategy, while the specific material in a jug that you choose would be your tactic) would be the most cost-effective and fastest-acting solution.