Learn To Garden In Agreement With Nature

WHEN a gardener hears the word “insect”, bad things often come to mind.  One thinks of caterpillars chewing their way to adulthood at the expense of tomatoes or of aphids sucking dry the leaves of cole crops.  (Master gardener by Tom Patrick)

But in the wildlife gardener’s yard, numerous kinds of six-legged creatures help to control the numbers of their injurious relatives, keeping plants in fine form if all other environmental factors are appropriate for good growth.

For example, adult robber flies attack practically anything, from beetles to grasshoppers and leafhoppers.  (Of course, this means that they will also catch insects you might prefer they did not, such as butterflies and bees. 

However, beggars—gardeners getting free labor—can not be choosers!)  Green lacewing larvae are also generalists, preying on mites, whiteflies, and the eggs of cabbage looper, corn earworm, Colorado potato beetle, asparagus beetle, and numerous other insect species, but they are best known as aphid predators.  Female braconid wasps (there are over 1900 species in North America) insert eggs directly into moth, beetle, and fly larvae or various insect pupae and adults.  The wasp larvae proceed to eat the host animal, minimizing the damage done by such insects as tomato hornworms.

To take advantage of six-legged “pesticides”, you should not use manmade insecticides to kill unwanted insects on your plants.  Predatory insects are equally susceptible to poisonous chemicals, including “natural” ones, such as the pyrethroids that are derived from plants.

You also must learn to hesitate to kill anything so that natural predators can get their meals and help you in the process by limiting—not wiping out—the numbers of plant-eating insects in your yard.  If you are not sure what kind of a small “slug” you are looking at, leave it alone.  It could very well be the immature form of a hover fly, an insect that can eat up to 400 aphids during its larval development.  The shrewd gardener is one who becomes an amateur entomologist, identifying as many insects as possible and learning about their lives.

To be a true wildlife gardener, live in agreement with nature.  Learn about the intricate network that exists among all organisms—especially those numerous insects!

Marlene A. Condon
Author, Nature Friendly Garden
Crozet, VA

Comments

[Tim Colman]

Marlene,

I enjoyed reading your story on growing a natural yard that encourages biodiversity.

I think master gardeners could do a lot of good by educating citizens about the bad side effects of all the poison being sold in Lowe's, Home Depot for yards.

It took me until this year to understand that weed and feed products are big ground water pollution -- because the fertilizers are designed to be quick release and the "weed" part of weed and feed is a botanic poison.

If master gardeners across the country started talking to gardeners about the amount of pesticides and herbicides people use -- and the natural alternatives or alternative yards -- as you have done, we would all be better off.

Here in Seattle, the yard pesticides and herbicides are significant sources of pollution going into Puget Sound.

I liked your focus on being in agreement with nature.

Best fishes,

Timothy

[Carole Brown]

I'd also like to see someone talk to Home Depot and Lowes about the numbers of invasive plants they sell a mostly unwitting public: English Ivy, Butterfly Bush, Pachysandra, Burning Bush, Periwinkle, etc. are all easily obtained at all the Big Garden Centers near me. It's a disgrace that they are able to continue to sell items that are invasive just because they can make some money.