Preventing Insect Problems (6259)

The first step in preventing pest problems is to know precisely which insect pests are damaging your vegetable crops year to year. You can then learn more about the behavior and life cycles of these pests. How and where do they over-winter? What color and shape are their eggs, and where and when are they laid? Do these pests chew foliage or suck plant sap? How many generations do they produce each season? There are many excellent guides to garden insect pests that contain this type of information.

Here are ten tips to help you prevent insect pest problems in the home vegetable garden

1. Grow healthy plants by providing adequate sunlight, water, and nutrients. Add organic matter to your soil each year.

2. Attract a variety of beneficial insects with flower and herb beds adjacent to your garden. Members of the daisy, mint, and parsley families are highly recommended.

3. Drape floating row covers over plants to prevent damage from flying insects such as flea beetles, leaf miners, stink bugs, and cucumber beetles (exclusion method).

4. Place paper or cardboard collars around transplants to prevent cutworm damage. Builders' sand, ground crab shell, diatomaceous earth, and other sharp materials can be used to protect plants from slugs (barrier method).

5. Plant crops to avoid the emergence of damaging pests. For example, start summer squash indoors in the spring 3_4 weeks before the frost-free date to avoid the squash vine borer. Or sow squash seed directly in the garden from mid-June through mid-July (timing methods).

6. Pre-sprout your corn and bean seeds to prevent seed corn maggot problems.

7. Hand-pick insect eggs, larvae, or adults. Look for eggs on leaf undersides.

8. Spray a strong-smelling solution of water mixed with materials such as fish emulsion, seaweed extract, eucalyptus oil garlic, basil, or chili peppers. These sprays may repel pests or mask the plants' scent, making it more difficult for the pest insect to locate.

9. Till in late fall or early spring, which may help to disrupt and expose over-wintering pests (tillage method).

10. Keep your garden weed-free. Keep grass and weeds mowed down around the garden.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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