Garden Pest Control – See What You Would Have to Deal With
A cozy house with a front or back garden is a dream of every house owner. Madison, Wisconsin has a continental climate, experiencing all basic seasons. This also means that people of Madison get to enjoy varied varieties of garden vegetations and flowery plants. But there is someone else who enjoyed them more than the residents – the pests.
With all the laborious work in building and maintaining the garden, pest control must be on your regular schedule list. The professional pest controllers must-have tools and equipment to handle all kinds of garden pests. The major pests that an exterminator would be on a lookout for will be:
- Birds – eating sown seeds
- Butterflies – laying eggs on plants
- Slugs & Snails – destroy foliage faster than the plants can grow
- Aphids – also called plant lice, greenfly, whitefly, and blackfly. They eat sap and can feed on just any plant in the garden. Their saliva is toxic to plants.
Some of these pests are very slow in destroying the crops. The gardener may sometimes accept their presence. This is because they are too many in numbers and it is difficult to prevent them from coming to wet soil. But they do meddle with the quality of the plants and fruits of the garden. It would be both, effective and time-saving if you hire the services of exterminator Madison WI to tackle these cheeky beings in your garden.
Methods of Pest Control in the Garden
Most of the household pest control methods can be applied for the garden as well. However, it is more challenging to adopt the pest control methods in the wide & open garden area, where there can be millions of small insects, hiding in the roots or leaves of many plants.
Pesticides
It is a common pest control method. Based on the type of pests, the measures are taken in the three areas to attract and destroy them.
- Herbicides – used to kill unwanted plants and weeds
- Insecticides – used to kill insects
- Fungicides – used to kill fungi
Some of these insects, weeds or fungi, can be a serious threat to agriculture.
Traps
To deter rodents, slugs & snails, certain moths, wasps, and beetles, one can use traps, if you are not approved of other pest removal ideas.
Pest Control Covers & Barriers
Covering the crops to protect them from insects, animals, and the weather is a great option. There is a variety of range of materials available in the market, with each one serving its special purpose:
- poly covers – for pest and weather protection
- micro mesh – netting for protection from insects
- bird netting – for bird and butterfly control
- fleece covers – for providing protection from cold and few pests.
Barring the path of these pests, via natural and manmade materials, works well too. Like cabbage collars protect cabbages and other brassicas from the root fly, copper slug and snail. Garlic barrier products are widely used as a natural pest control system for repelling aphids, slugs, and snails.
Electronic Pest Control
For deterring bigger species of animals, such as wild cats, dogs, foxes, martens, and rabbits, electronic pest control methods are used. They are completely harmless, multi-frequency deterrents. They are a quick and easy way to protect your lawn or garden, fish ponds, birds, flower beds, pets, and livestock, from these unwanted pests.
These devices work like miniature motion sensors. On sensing any movement, they emit an ultrasonic alarm. They are built to be placed on ground, wall or on the fence.
Biological Pest Control
The biological pest control method makes use of other living organisms who are natural predators for a certain type of pests. For example, pet cats can be used to control a rodent problem. Similarly, ladybirds can help in controlling the population of aphids.
Some micro-organism, like Nematodes are helpful in combating the attack of insect pests. These are found in healthy soil and are harmless to children, earthworms, pets, etc.
Psychological Pest Control
Scarecrow is the best example of psychological pest control. From time to time, more modern bird scares have been designed.
Companion Plants
Just like the organism, there are few companion plants species which can naturally keep the pest away from your garden vegetation.
The companion plants must be grown together so that they can help the other plant to grow and remain out of reach of the pests.
For example, growing marigolds and nasturtiums can help in deterring aphids, sage repels slugs, aphids.
You can use more than one methods if the infestation of pests is getting uncontrolled. And enjoy a beautiful pest control garden.