Controlling plant pests

Vigilance is the key to growing good plants; paying close attention to how the plants are growing will pay off.  As these guidelines will show, finding a pest or disease problem in the early stages is preferable to suddenly discovering that the crop or plant in question is seriously infected with some problem.

• Large insects, such as caterpillars and beetles, can be picked off by hand and dropped into a bucket of soapy water. When larger plants, like trees, are attacked, the soil directly under their foliage can be covered with drop sheets and the plant shaken to dislodge the pests. The drop sheets can then be carefully lifted and the pests destroyed.
• Caterpillars that congregate in webbing "nests," like tent caterpillar and fall webworms, should be controlled during the day, when the young larvae have left the nest, by spraying them with Bacillus thuringiensis.
• Another alternative is to wait until evening when the caterpillars have returned to the nest. Prune off the nests and immerse them in a bucket of soapy water to kill the larvae.
• Plants can be protected from damage by soil-dwelling caterpillars, like cutworms, by enclosing them in a barrier made from half a frozen juice can or a circle of heavy-grade tinfoil pushed slightly into the soil.
• Wireworms (orange and curl into a half circle) and millipedes (dark brown and curl into a spiral) both live in the soil and feed on plant roots or burrow into root crops. They are seldom numerous, except in reclaimed pastureland, but destroy them when digging.

• Quick-moving small pests, such as flea beetles, carrot flies, and leafhoppers, can be kept away from young plants — the most vulnerable — by covering them with a floating row cover supported on wire hoops made from cut-down clothes hangers.
• This also gives protection against late frost and against sun-scald on newly planted plants.

• Slow-moving small pests, like aphids and mites, can be washed off many plants with a strong stream of water, however, this should not be used on plants with large, soft foliage, or on the fragile growing tips of plants.
• Mites can also be kept to a minimum by spraying frequently with water, using a hand sprayer, and soaking the undersides of the foliage. Planting flowers that attract native predators also helps to control aphids and mites.

• Nematodes are microscopic worm-like creatures, some of which attack plants, but others are beneficial and attack plant pests.
• They are especially useful for controlling some lawn pests and are simply mixed with water and applied with a watering can.
• In warmer parts of the country, one application will give several years control, but in the North, the cold kills them and they need to be reapplied if the problem occurs again.

Insects can be lured to bright yellow or red traps coated with a non-drying sticky substance, which holds them. There are also traps baited with scent lures called pheromones. These are scents released by insects to attract others of their species. When used in a trap, they may imitate a female scent and entice many of the males to enter. The unbalanced population results in a large reduction in the number of eggs laid, and young hatching.

Arming yourself with the proper knowledge about plant pests will help you spot a problem before it gets out of hand.