You put a lot of work and pride in your lawn and garden. You want to protect your plants from pests. Before you apply a pesticide, make sure you are not doing more harm than good!

When a plant looks unhealthy or unsightly due to some discoloration or damage, our first impulse is often to apply a pesticide without really knowing what's wrong. This not only wastes time and money but can destroy a pest's natural enemies, which sometimes take care of the problem without any intervention. There's also the potential for greater harm to the environment, including other wildlife and even people and their pets. With Integrated Pest Management or IPM, pesticides are only applied as a last resort.

Principles of Integrated Pest Management :

• look at the total picture
• identify the insect, disease, or growing condition that appears to be causing a problem
• monitor the situation
• if any action needs to be taken, use least toxic alternatives first
• note that only 3% to 5% of insects are harmful and that most species have natural predators such as other insects, birds, bats and toads that keep them in check

By using a great diversity of primarily native plants and providing other habitat requirements for wildlife you will start to create a balanced community with less need for drastic treatment or control measures. If and when you determine that action is really necessary, physical and biological controls are recommended first, with conventional pesticides, used judiciously, only as a last resort.

Physical controls first:

• remove pests by hand or with a forceful spray of water from a hose
• use traps and barriers
• remove parts or all of the infected plant

Biological controls when physical controls aren't effective:

• attract or introduce natural enemies and naturally-occurring bacteria
• horticultural oils and insecticidal soap if there's still a problem

Pesticides as a last resort, but:

• time the application to when pests are most vulnerable
• don't apply when rain is expected
• follow label directions carefully
• apply only to the affected parts of the plants