Timothy Reynold’s Blog

The practice of pest control and gardening has been around for longer than you might think: at least as long as common agriculture. This industry is growing at a phenomenal rate. The pest control business has grown more than 50 percent in the last 5 years or so, and nationwide it has become a $7 billion industry.

Remote locations have become a very a popular site for new homes. People want to live in the desert or the woods. For an insect or an animal termed a ‘pest’ it is you who is the intruder into their habitat and not vice versa. They only become pests because they come into YOUR home.

What is Gardening and Pest Control?

It’s basically the reduction or eradication of pests. Whereas structural pest control is the control of household pests and wood-destroying pests and organisms or such other pests which may invade households or structures, gardening  and pest control tends to be the control of pests that are affecting your plants, lawn and/or soil. It could possibly effect the house also, but it’s the garden that we are more concerned about.

In order to protect our growing areas as well as our health, proper gardening and pest control is a necessity. Once pests are discovered in the yard, the damage has gotten out of control. Well there are measures you can take to help eradicate the problem.

How Do We Control Pests in the Garden?

Gardening and pest control is viewed by many people as do-it-yourself job. True, but it’s not the whole story. It is important not to haphazardly attempt to treat garden pests; you must find out exactly what the problem is and the extent of the damage before you can correctly proceed. Polls indicated that too many people feel they know what they’re doing when they don’t, and that they don’t need to read or follow the instructions on the can.

This could lead to the serious problem of overconcentrating doses of hazardous insecticides which are harmful in large doses. Naturally, we are talking about chemicals, since chemical pest control remains the primary method used in modern pest control. However, since chemicals can have long range effects, interest was redirected toward traditional and biological pest control toward the end of the 20th century.

If DIY is not your area of expertise concerning that of home pest control, consider the option of monthly visits from the local pest control company to keep garden troubles under control. One advantage to monthly pest control is that someone should be looking at your house and garden for pest problems regularly. Often homeowners are so worried about their homes becoming infested that they insist on monthly pest control treatments even when no problem exists.

The usage of Home and Garden pesticides are very surprising:

1. A huge amount of pesticide is applies annually to lawns, typically something in the region of 67 million pounds.

2. Much more pesticide is applied to city lawn and gardens per unit area than to most farmland.

Think before you spray a pesticide. In fact, you may be getting rid of the bugs that are beneficial to keeping your pest problem under control. In the future, this will probably mean that you must bug bomb your home. Further, various bugs contribute to plant pollination which helps your garden thrive and flourish. Don’t use persistent, broad-spectrum, contact insecticides like diazinon, malathion and carbaryl. Such products only work for a short time, and are even more likely to kill off the bugs you want around than those you don’t. When the insects who prey on the pests are decimated, you will notice the quick revival of the pests and, lo, these plant eaters multiply faster soon after you had used the spray.

Most consumers also don’t realize how potentially harmful they can be:

1. Pesticides can be tracked inside as an EPA study found 23 different kinds in the dust and air collected from inside someones home.Consumers don’t realize the dangers.

2. The US Geological Survey finds a large variety of chemical gardening products– especially weed killers– in bodies of water near population centers, leaving no doubt that chemical products are harmful to the environment.

The question of going without such forms of pest control is a thought-provoking one.

Gardening and Natural Home Pest Control

We believe the logical approach to gardening and pest control is to create a balance of organisms in your yard or garden. Natural pest control protects you, your garden, local wildlife and the environment and, as an added bonus, it costs less than pesticides.

There are several methods that can be used to help eradicate gardening pests:

1. Traps,covers barriers or repellants may work well in the physical aspect.

2. Maintain several varieties of plants as bugs that wage battle against pests thrive well in a garden that provide these friendly insects the nectar and pollen all through the seasons.

3. By preventing pests from gaining access to your plants you are preventing their potential damage. And in cases where you only see a few pests, physically removing them can often keep the problem under control.

So, you are not alone, this is obviously a problem encountered by a vast number of people. Hundreds upon hundreds of people around the globe that are also searching for solutions to home pest control problems, so we hope that this has been useful to you.