Least Toxic Pest Management

Least toxic pest management means using the least toxic means available to provide a given level of control for a pest.  Depending on your gardening and environmental philosophy, your decision on which pest management technique will vary. This section will show a very low toxic method for controlling most pests in your gardens.

Control Level

There is a level of pest infestation where one realizes all of a sudden that there is a problem.  This level is called the action level.  If there are only a few pests, then there may not be a need to control them.  Mother nature will take care of that.  Some pests may even come in the hundreds and not require action.  It all depends on what they are.  example: Hundreds and hundreds of aphids may be present on the flowering remains of lettuce plants in the vegetable garden.  No need to treat here unless you are growing lettuce seed.  The aphids won't generally attack other healthy plants, and they provide a food source for beneficial insects such as lace wings and ladybugs.

Soapy Water

I will start with the biggest tool in my toolbag.  I use soapy water to kill all insects that I can't kill with plain old water.  A couple of tablespoons of liquid dishwashing soap in a hand sprayer is all it takes. Any soap will do, some soaps may harm your plants more than others, some plants may be harmed by any soap, so test everything.  Test the mortality of your soapy water on your target insects too.  Pick a couple of the offending insects off of a plant and squirt them in your palm with the soapy water.  If they don't stop wiggling within about 15 seconds, increase the soap concentration.  You can kill almost any insect with soapy water.  Soapy water can kill wasps almost as good as the petroleum derivative freeze sprays.  Really, almost as good. Chinch bugs can be killed with soapy water, Aphids, harlequin beetles, and caterpillars, stink bugs and assassin beetles.  Give it a try, it's unbelievable.  If you are concerned about soapy water harming your plants, rinse them off after a few minutes to minimize any possible damamge.

Ants

I have not been able to get really good control of fire ants with soapy water. Instead I use pyrethrins in a wettable powder.  Pyrethrins come from the chrysanthemum plant and are still quite toxic although their toxicity is rapidly degraded in the environment.  Pour a gallon or so of dilute mixture directly on each mound. For control of significant fire ant populations use fire ant growth hormones such as fenoxycarb.  Growth regulators may take longer, but they work well.

Spider Mites

This little spiders can be effectively controlled with only a blast of water out of hte water hose.  The little insects are so tiny that it takes more than a lifetime to return to their host plant and the life cycle isinterupted.  But you cant' blast them all off of the plant the first time so the water jet method must be repeated every three to five days for several weeks.  Use as high a pressure as you can get and concentrate on the undersides of the leaves.  You have to get wet to use this treatment, but it's better than using a chemical systemic or spray.

Caterpillers

Some plants are caterpillar magnates.  These plants generally are called host plants in the butterfly garden.  But sometimes, like with young mountain laurel shrubs, the caterpillars can overwhelm a plant and virtually strip it of its leaves in just a few days.  Young mountain laurels in particular require constant observation when fresh young growth is on the plant. To kill, or as a preventative, spray the fresh young leaves, top and bottom with a product containing bacillus thurengensis. This is a disease specific to caterpillars that , once it is ingested causes the caterpillar to immediately stop feeding.

Fertilizers

Use organic based fertilizers, compost or dillo dirt if you really need to fertilize.  Remember, these plants all developed in this area and can utilize existing soil nutrients quite well. Often, fertilizer is never needed. Concentrated organic fertilizers work like  compost - slowly but surely.  Magnesium based products also work very well in the Austin area.  Magnesium is a chemical fertilizer similar to most "non-organic" fertilizers except it works differently.  Magnesium allows our limestone based soils to more easily release natural nutrients already contained in the soil that are beneficial to your lawn, so you don't have to supercharge the soil with nutrients using standard fertilizers.

Weed and Feed

Don't do it. These are really bad chemicals, plus they are time released so that they stay around in the environment to contaminate more than just weed seeds.  The best form of weed control for turf is a thick healthy sod.  This is another good reason to not mow the buffalo grass.