Managing Pests

Early detection of pests means healthy environment.

Good planning can put you a step ahead of unwanted insects, weeds, and diseases. Healthy, vigorous plants minimize pest damage. Regular monitoring of your lawn or garden is the best way to stay on top of potential plant health and pest problems. If you see minimal damage, it is often easiest to just tolerate it and continue monitoring. If pests begin to cause serious damage, there are a number of management methods.

Preventing pests

  • Plant disease and pest-resistant or tolerant species.
  • Clean up litter and remove weeds before they go to seed.
  • Don’t over water or over fertilize your plants. It can make them vulnerable to insects and disease.

 

Physical pest control

  • Remove insects by hand.
  • Wash pests away using a water spray nozzle.
  • Set traps where possible.
  • Make physical barriers around plants, such as a wire mesh fence partially sunk into the ground for rabbits, aluminum foil wrapped around vegetable plants for cutworms, and solid barriers to prevent weeds from invading flower beds or vegetable gardens.

 

Beneficial insects

Having the right insects in your garden or backyard can keep pests and weeds in check. Beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, assassin bugs, and praying mantises, prey on insects that can harm your plants. The following insects are encouraged for your backyard as they can help control pests:
Ladybugs and lacewing larvae for controlling aphids and a wide variety of other insects.

  • Preying mantises for controlling many insects.
  • Predatory mites for controlling pest mites, thrips, and many others.
  • Ground beetles feed primarily on caterpillars that attack trees and shrubs.

Chemical controls

If the methods listed above fail to solve your pest problem, use chemicals of low toxicity and rapid decomposition. Always read the label, follow directions, wear protective clothing, and spot-spray. Some of these chemicals are:

  • Pesticidal soaps for aphids, scale crawlers, whiteflies, and thrips.
  • Insecticidal dusts for aphids, beetles, fleas, ticks, ants, and crickets.
  • Horticultural oils for aphids, mites, leafhoppers, mealybugs, scales, plant lice, and mosquito larvae.
  • Biologically based pesticides such as Bacillus thuringiensis (B+) or spinosad for control of caterpillars
  • Botanicals for leafminers, fleas, and ticks.
  • Liquid formulations and products for control of insects, mites, diseases, nematodes, and weeds.
  • Before you apply pesticides, make sure that they will not harm beneficial insects or be hazardous to humans, pets, or wildlife.


Mosquitos, as we all know are a maddening nuisance. They can also spread some potentially deadly diseases to both humans and birds. The best defense is to control them around your house by minimizing areas where standing water accumulates such as leaf litter, bromeliads, old tires, plugged rain gutters, etc.

Additional Resources

Source: "Hawaii Backyard Conservation" (PDF), The U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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