NATURAL PEST MANAGEMENT

Americans spend over $1 billion and apply over 70 million pounds of pesticides to suburban lawns each year, making storm-water runoff a leading source of water pollution.

Pesticides:

	kill thousands of beneficial insects, including honeybees, wasps, and ladybugs, for every insect that they attempt to control, and destroy the balance of nature.
	destroy the environment and collect in the tissues of animals and humans, causing disease and death.
	are especially harmful to children. Children absorb more pesticides relative to their body weight and are unable to detoxify from the chemicals as their organs are still developing.

Each year more than 43,000 children under age six are exposed to concentrations of pesticides high enough to cause cancer, respiratory illness, and central nervous system damage.

Common pesticides, like Dursban, that are use to treat lawns and ornamental plants, are nervous system poisons and exposure can cause headaches, aching joints, nausea, dizziness, disorientation, and inability to concentrate.

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that:

	children whose yards were treated with herbicides and insecticides had four times the risk of a certain cancer-soft-tissue-sarcoma.
	Fetuses exposed to home pest strips during the final three months of pregnancy had three times the normal rate of leukemia and children exposed to them after birth had twice the normal rate.

Many other common pesticides can affect the immune system and lead to problems with allergies and asthma and have been linked to increased occurrence of leukemia, brain cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma.

You can make the difference by paying for knowledge, not pesticides.

Eliminate pesticide use in your home, yard, schools and parks and practice natural pest management. Natural pest management utilizes simple, environmental safe, and effective practices to control pests while maintaining the diversity and balance of the ecosystem.

PEST MANAGEMENT STEPS

Try these natural pest management practices in the following order until your problem is under control:

1.	Do not use pesticides.
2.	Create a naturescape.
		A natural yard full of diverse plant and animal species is the best way to avoid pest problems. Replace your high maintenance lawn and conventional landscape with a low-maintenance, water-wise, naturescape!
3.	Attract natural predators.
		Birds, bats and beneficial bugs can provide you with natural, safe, and effective pest management.
		Go to attracting wildlife to see how to attract birds and bats.
		Go to beneficial insects to see how to attract good bugs!
4.	Observation.
		Check your garden regularly for pest problems
		Identify the problem
		What type of bug is it? Many bugs are beneficial and identification is critical for determining the right treatment
5.	Physical removal.
		Most insect pests and diseases concentrate on new plant growth and can be removed simply by hand removing insects or pruning off affected areas
		Dispose of diseased plant parts in plastic bags to reduce contamination of other plants
6.	Use natural remedies.
		Treat only the affected area with natural remedies.

NATURAL PEST REMEDIES

Oil Spray for Insect Control

	Mix 1 tablespoon of mild dishwashing liquid or baby shampoo with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a quart of water
	Spray every 5-7 days as needed
	Water plants the day before you spray
	Do not use on plants with hairy leaves, those with very thin waxy coverings on the leaves, or orchids
	For fungus control add 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the above mixture
	Spray both sides of the leaves thoroughly at the first sign of disease

Insect Repellent for Vegetables

	Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid hand soap with 1/4 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper, onion powder and garlic powder in a spray bottle and fill with water.
	Spray on infected plants

Ants

	Mix 1/8 teaspoon Boric Acid powder with 1/2 teaspoon honey for sugar ants (use fish oil or grease for grease ants) and in a soda bottle cap or similar container
	Place on path where ants are seen and away from children and pets
	Discard after ants have fed

Ticks/fleas

	Add 1/2 cup fresh or dried rosemary to 1 quart of boiling water
	Boil for 20 minutes, strain and allow solution to cool
	Wash and dry pet thoroughly, then apply rosemary solution with a spray bottle or sponge
	Allow pet to air dry

Mosquitoes

	Avoid dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active
	Try rubbing dryer fabric softener sheets on your skin
	Empty containers of standing water
	Put a few drops of olive or corn oil on the surface of small water containers

Rodents

	Keep pet bowls inside
	Store pet food and birdseed inside in covered containers
	Only put out enough birdseed in the morning that birds will eat in the day

Weeds & Grass Killer

	Spray weeds or grass with a solution of 25% vinegar and 75% water
	This is most effective when no rain is expected for at least 2 to 3 days after spraying.

BENEFICIAL INSECTS

99% of the insects in your yard and garden are beneficial -like parasitic wasps that control more than two hundred kinds of pests - and help keep the balance of nature.

One ladybug eats up to 100 aphids a day.

Pesticides kill thousands of beneficial insects, including honeybees, wasps, ladybugs and butterflies, for every one that they attempt to control - and destroy the balance of nature.

Think spraying pesticides for mosquitoes helps? Think again… Dragonflies are nature's mosquito control, consuming millions of mosquitoes. When you spray for mosquitoes you also kill dragonflies (and many other beneficial insects). Since the life cycle of a mosquito is just a few weeks and a dragonfly's is almost a year, you have just made your mosquito problem a whole lot worse. The mosquitoes will be back in a couple of weeks, but this time the dragonflies won't for another year - and neither will the butterflies.

1/3 of all food we eat is the result of beneficial pollinator insects, like bees and butterflies, visiting and pollinating a flower.

As a result of pesticides and loss of native habitat, wild honeybees are almost extinct and 1/4 of all commercial beehives have been lost in the last 5 years.

You can make the difference and have a healthy, pesticide free yard by planting as many native plant species as possible and encouraging beneficial insects like ladybugs and wasps to control pests.

Plant the following plants to attract these beneficial insects:

Create brush piles and leave parts of your garden untrimmed during the fall and winter so beneficial insects have a place to nest.

Research has shown that this mixture can increase the population of beneficial ladybugs by over 200% in just two days!

	Mix 5 ounces of sugar water with 1 quart of water
	Apply mixture with a watering can or sprayer to plants where aphids and other pests are a problem

By not using pesticides you will make your yard safer for people and pets, and protect valuable pollinating insects, birds and other wildlife.

BENEFICIAL BIRDS & BATS

Birds and bats eat millions of insects every day. Here are some of the top insect eaters:

Go to backyard birding and bats to learn how to attract birds and bats to your yard.

RESOURCES

For more information on natural pest control read Using Beneficial Insects, by Rhonda Massingham Hart (1991, Storey Books).

Go to schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/ to visit the National School Integrated Pest Management website.

Go to www.pta.org/programs/envlibr.htm for the National PTA's Environmental Resource Library.

Go to www.beyondpesticides.org for more information on living without pesticides.