Jacksonville Pest Control Services

Organic Pest Control – Is It Worth It?

You’ve got some bugs in your garden – what crop you’ve gotten has insect damage. Or some birds that won’t leave your tomato plants alone. Or deer that have discovered how sweet your roses taste. What can you do?

What The Masses Do For Pest Control

“Organic” is a word that the vast majority of people doesn’t think about much – though they should. Instead, they spray chemicals on their gardens to kill the aphids, whitefly, and other “nasty” bugs – not knowing they’re also killing the good bugs (like praying mantis, and ladybugs, etc.) – which only makes the cycle worse.

Their fruits and vegetables are tainted with the chemicals, and must be thoroughly washed before they can eat it or sell it. No more eating a tangerine or a cherry tomato while they’re out harvesting – they miss out on that delicious experience. There’s nothing fresher than that!

They also cannot claim to be an “organic” garden. While it must not seem like much to those who don’t want the certification, many of us do want to be known as “organic” and “chemical-free”.

Using chemicals is also often less effective than using a more natural method. The natural world has been effectively controlling pests organically for many thousands of years – them we come along and think we can do it better? I think not! While the natural world may need a bit of help from us humans, that doesn’t mean polluting their natural world with chemicals – instead, use organic pest control in your garden to help the natural world along. Pull weeds instead of spraying them, and mulch your plants to avoid getting weeds in the first place. Spray off plants with white fly with a strong blast of water from a hose – and you might be able to totally control the white fly naturally. There are many organic methods for pest control.

What The Rest Of Us Do For Pest Control

“Organic” isn’t just a word to the rest of us. We love by the maxim that “organic is best for us and our planet.” And so, we continually look for ways to control the pests – whether animal or plant – in our gardens.

We learn about the uses of beneficial bugs – the ladybugs and butterflies and praying mantises. We encourage them in whatever ways we can – growing their favorite flowers, or using natural products with pheromones to attract them to our feeding ground.

We use barrier methods – like fences (sorry, deer, eat outside the garden) or nets (or red Christmas balls in a garden with unripe tomatoes so the birds will learn that those red things aren’t edible – and they’ll leave the ripening fruit alone) or Liquidambar pods (on the ground around our plants that we want to protect from snails with soft underbellies).

We focus on sprays that aren’t harsh chemicals – using white vinegar to kill slugs within a few inches of where they are sprayed, and water from the hose to kill off white fly from our hibiscus.

When the focus is on finding organic methods of pest control, we can do it. You can, too.

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