January , 2020

By now we hope you’ve read through our article outlining integrated pest management, as well as our “Prevention” article (stay tuned for our upcoming our extensive “Knowing Your Enemy” series on particular pests). Maybe at this point you’ve also done everything to prevent a pest population from reaching unacceptable levels but things got out of hand anyway. Fear not, we’ve provided everything you need to know to get things back under control in this next section of our pest patrol series, “Elimination and Restoration”.

Whether you’re an indoor grower reusing your soil or prepping your beds for next season, there are a number of ways to prepare your soil for reuse. Start by breaking up the soil. Then add humus, amendments and inoculants to add nutrients and life to your soil. Apply a little compost tea to kick it all off and your soil will be ready for another round of big harvests!

As we learned in the article on integrated pest management, maintaining an acceptable, manageable, level of pests is key to keeping things in check. This naturally requires maintaining an environment which is conducive to plant health but much less inviting to unwanted creatures so as to keep as many out as possible, allowing you to keep things under control. Preventing hoards of pests from entering the garden in the first place is the best defense against any pest and prevention starts with keeping an eye out.

The end of summer is the time of year when plants are finishing up their growth cycle and are just about ready to have the bounty you’ve worked hard to cultivate harvested. At this particular point in time, the plant is focusing most of its energy and nutrients on producing big, beautiful flowers, leaving its immune system weaker and vulnerable to hungry opportunists. Just before you can get your hands on the fruits of your plants’ labor, you might find that some six or eight legged creepers have beat you to the punch.