Monitor for Signs of Trouble

To reduce pest problems in your garden, combine a number of strategies and monitor the garden regularly.

by Helga OlkowskiApril 1997from issue # 8

If you need to lose system of weights , chance are you will combine several strategies like do more , eating a low - fat dieting , and drinking a lot of water to accomplish your end . You ’ll also supervise your weight on a regular basis to see how you aredoing . You might use a bathroom scale , that twain of pants that is too tight around the waist , or your paradigm in the mirror to observe those Lebanese pound slip off . similarly , if you want to dilute cuss problems in your garden , stick with the same approach by combining a routine of strategies and then monitoring on a regular basis to see what ’s happening .

Be consistent and publish matter down . Monitoring means even reflection . Professional pest direction specialists monitoring a landscape painting usually retard it at least once a calendar week during the growing season . Then , if a job does show up , they might check it more frequently . If any form of mastery scheme is implemented , they will supervise both before and after to see the results .

Most gardeners already supervise their garden in an intimate way , but often by the sentence they notice a trouble , it may be too late to carry off it in a non - toxic manner . Also , human memory and our busybodied lives being what they are , it is often difficult to recollect the exact conditions observed at a previous clock time . So , the key to effective monitoring of anything , whether it be your weight or garden pests , is writing down what you see .

A bare and effective way to record your observations when monitoring is to keep a garden logarithm . The log might be aggregate with other gardening notes , such as when you planted other shekels and whether a special tomato plant variety was productive and tasty . Or , if you had some especially nasty pest trouble last year , regard a little notebook just for pest direction records .

One form a garden record might take is a sketch showing the positions of garden plants in a mathematical function layout . Perhaps you made such a map when you planned out your vegetable patch ab initio . Be sure all of the plant are label , then make copies of the mapping , staple them together , and you have an ideal form on which to jot down down your observations . Be sure to appointment each page as you sate it out . Write your observations in a color that contrasts with the background map .

round-eyed tools of the trade . Many insects are diminutive , so a hand lens is a dandy tool to have with you in the garden . Also , you may care to gorge a pocket with some containers to have self-possessed specimen . organize a few empty pill bottleful by pasting on a fresh label and cook a fuddled cotton - ball stopper for each . Do n’t utilise the air - pissed pileus that come with the feeding bottle because any specimen you put inside will mold from the wet . A plastic bag or two might also come in ready to hand for larger sample of leaves or plant pieces that are showing symptoms of disease . Blow up the bag and shut it tightly with a mi so air surrounds the sample . Learning to translate the clue . At time , it ’s hard to tell what ’s significant and what is n’t in the garden . In ecumenical , it ’s good to say you are search for creatures , large and diminished , that are out there on or around your plants . Also look for plants that seem to be doing poorly and have noticeable changes in the gloss or texture of their foliage . If you are a beginner , you may need to jot down everything that strikes you as strange , whether it ’s leaves wilt , mourning band sprouting , or unidentified worm in the filth .

Sometimes you see damage without knowing what stimulate it . But by deliberate observation you will acquire to spot the clues . goo trails think of slug and escargot , and rowlock sizing , round kettle of fish are probably flea mallet . thripid rasp off the surface cells of the leave-taking making them wan and slenderly shiny . Cutworms break up very young seedling at the base , leave the tops lying nearby , and caterpillar and weevils often eat semi - Mexican valium in foliage edges .

Now and then , you could judge the type of pest problem from the frass , or insect manure , leave alone behind . For instance , thrips leave tiny brown spot on folio aerofoil , industrial plant insects like genus Lygus bugs entrust smallish brown smirch , but tomato hornworms leave behind relatively tumid fecal sedimentation . Eventually , as you become attuned to the wildlife in your garden and keep notes you could name to afterwards on , you will become adept at relate plant hurt with the critter responsible . Putting a name to a face . You may come across an unfamiliar insect and wonder if it is a plant eater or a good insect that eats plant eaters . This is when you whip out your prepared , cotton fiber - stopple pill bottleful . On the label , write the appointment and plant from which you roll up the insect . Specimens you want to obliterate quickly and pull through can be put in the freezer overnight .

Once you have your specimen , how can you describe it ? Luckily , there are a turn of serious illustrated book to help you . Your library is another good source . Knowledgeable folks at the local garden club , plant nursery , residential district college , or cooperative extension office can help oneself you decide what kind of an dirt ball you have , even if they can not put a species name to it . If you are lucky enough to have a master nurseryman programme in your area , stop by the billet with pill nursing bottle in hand for help .

Quantifying what you see . If you think trouble is brewing , make an effort to quantify what you see . Often , quick activity , like hand - picking insect , will preclude extensive damage . pretermit the undesirables into a wide - mouthed jar half - filled with water and strong detergent . enumerate how many hemipteran you pick , either per plant , per grand or row , or per branch or leaf , and compose it down . Then , if you have the same job the following workweek , you will know if it ’s get better or risky .

The fun of monitoring begins when you go back to look the 2d , third , and fourth times . Now you have records that enable you to make comparisons with earlier atmospheric condition . you’re able to start out to correlate the numbers of pests you see with the terms they make . But do n’t panic prematurely . A tidy sum of flora - eating insect in the garden mean a lot of their innate foeman will hail around , too . So , there is no indigence to control anything unless you think the equipment casualty will become truly intolerable .

If you hold off , the predators and parasites of the pest may suppress them . Then you will have observed a great process at work — natural control .

Finding out what works . By monitor on a regular basis you will be able-bodied to determine just how many pestilence it acquire before action is ask . And , since you ’ll be look on what ’s happen , you may catch the cuss before their numbers build up . If you resolve to take action , by spray with insecticidal soap for case , make counts before and after so you will know if the treatment work or not . Ideally , a good monitoring platform help you figure out the least toxic approach to reducing pestis impairment in your garden . Good insect guidesTake one of these books into the garden with you . They all contain excellent color photos and entropy on dirt ball habitat , life cycles , and feeding habits .

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spidersby Lorus and Margery Milne

Rodale ’s Color Handbook of Garden Insectsby Anna Carr

Simon & Schuster ’s scout to Insectsby Dr. Ross H. Arnett , Jr. , and Dr. Richard L. Jacques , Jr.

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A monitoring tool box might include a good bug book, a hand lens, and specimen jars.Photo/Illustration: Scott Phillips

Corona ® Multi - Purpose Metal Mini Garden Shovel

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