You’ve got insects or pests, and you want to control them with a dependable pest control method that does not contain chemical pesticides.
Non-chemical pest control methods really work, and they have many advantages:
- Compared to chemical treatments, non-chemical pest or insect control methods are generally effective for longer periods of time.
- Non-chemical pest controls are less likely to create hardy insect populations that develop the ability to resist pesticides.
- Many non-chemical pest controls can be used with fewer safeguards, because they are generally thought to pose virtually no hazards to human health or the environment.
Two examples of non-chemical pest control methods are biological and manual treatments.
Biological Pest and Insect Controls Did you know that pests themselves may be eaten or otherwise controlled by birds, insects, or other living organisms? You can use a pest’s natural enemies (predators) to your advantage. These “biological controls”, as they are called, take many forms:
Tip: You can buy and release predatory insects for pest and insect control. They are available from sources such as gardening catalogs and magazines. Contact your local County Cooperative Extension Service, a nursery, or a garden association for information on how to attract and protect beneficial predators. - Parasitoids such as miniature wasps lay their eggs inside the eggs or bodies of insect pests such as tomato hornworms. Once the eggs hatch, the offspring kill their insect hosts, making parasitoids highly effective pest controllers.
- Microscopic pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses control pests. An example is milky spore disease, which attacks Japanese beetles. A number of these biological pesticides are available commercially at hardware and garden stores.
- Biochemical pesticides include pheromones and juvenile insect hormones. Pheromones are chemical substances released by various organisms (including insects) as means of communicating with others of the same species, usually as an aid to mating. Pheromones help to control pests by luring them inside a trap. Juvenile insect hormones interfere with an insect’s normal growth and reproductive functions by mimicking the effects of compounds that occur naturally in the pest.
Manual Pest and Insect Control Methods
- Spading and hoeing to cut up weeds.
- Hand-picking weeds from your lawn and pests from your plants, indoors or out.
- Using a flyswatter.
- Setting traps to control rats, mice, and some insects.
One or a combination of several non-chemical treatments may be just what you need to control your pest problem. You must be patient because results may not be immediate. And, you must work to prevent pests from entering your home or garden in the first place.
Source: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
