Protecting Your Crops from the Most Damaging Garden Pests

Some gardeners wage an all-out war against wildlife in their yard. Pesticides, baits, and sprays are all tools of their choice in the battle against damaging garden pests. These tools are helpful, but they have lasting effects on the environment.

Broad-spectrum pesticides target many living creatures aside from the pests in question. They’ll kill the pests, but they’ll also kill the predators that keep the pests in check. Without the predators, damaging garden pests return in full force to claim the crops for themselves. 

Building a healthy garden ecosystem is the best way to prevent and control infestations. We’ll use clever methods to prevent pests instead of spraying pesticides. A few targeted techniques manage them once they arrive. 

Protection starts at planting, and it ends after the harvest. With careful attention to detail and routine garden checks, you’ll keep your crops safe from pests during the growing season.

Which Pests Live in the Garden?

There are many other critters aside from the small bugs that eat plant leaves. Any creature that eats your plants is technically a pest.

Insects

Most damaging garden pests you think of are insects. Aphids, thrips, and scale are all insects that target crops and wildflowers. Their infestations start small and multiply quickly into large-scale invasions. 

Insects are a part of the larger ecosystem outside of the yard. Birds, snakes, and small mammals eat adult insects and their wormy larvae. Encouraging them will help control the insect pests in the garden.

Arachnids

Spiders are common arachnids, though they’re generally helpful. Their webs and underground nests trap insect pests; they’re effective predators, both indoors and outside! Spiders kill and eat flies, mosquitoes, moths, beetles, caterpillars, leafhoppers, and aphids.

Spider mites, unlike spiders, are nuisances. They target dry leaves during the summer. You’ll notice tiny webbing all over the infested plants.

Mammals

Rodents, like mice, rats, and squirrels, are frequent garden visitors. They love the excess produce that falls off homegrown crops. Mice and rats like to pick through compost piles, turning them into ravaged messes. 

Larger mammals, like raccoons and possums, may also invade the garden at night. They look for fruit, vegetables, and rotting organic matter in compost piles. 

Deer aren’t common in the city, but they’re pesky in rural regions. These forest dwellers are infamous for their courageous nature. They’ll hop fences, and they’re indiscriminate in their eating habits. They’ll eat annuals, shrubby perennials, and young trees.

Birds

Birds are a boon for the home garden. Though some love cherries and similar-looking fruits, there are also birds that eat aphids and similar pests. Birds are also good indicators of a healthy ecosystem. If they’re in your yard, they’re probably looking for food, shelter, or mates.

Invite birds into the site with a bird bath. They love wetting their feathers to cool down during summer. Keep them out with a scarecrow, or place mesh netting over your fruit trees. 

Protecting Your Crops

The most damaging garden pests are those with big appetites, like deer, and those that multiply quickly, like aphids. They each target crops in different ways, but they both have the capacity to cause significant damage. Use the following techniques to protect your plants from these unruly critters.

Install a Fence

A fence is the first thing a garden needs. It keeps out mammals like deer, raccoons, and possums. There are many different types of fences, and some work better than others. A white picket fence is gorgeous, but it has holes in between the slats that critters can crawl through.

Deer are known to jump high over tall fences. Build yours to six feet tall or higher to keep them out. Place the wood planks close together to prevent young mammals from crawling through. 

Wood and wire fences are beautiful and protective. They have wires in square patterns that mammals cannot pass through. 

Drape Row Cover

Row cover is a useful tool for the organic gardener. It drapes over your garden beds, preventing damaging garden pests from landing on your crops. You won’t have to worry about cabbage loopers in your cabbage or leafminers in your chard.

Row cover consists of a fine mesh that is too small for most pests to crawl through. It keeps insects away from crops in your raised beds. Drape the mesh over your trees to prevent birds from eating the fruits.

A row cover isn’t effective for beetles and burrowing critters that can dig underneath it. Use underground traps or barriers to protect individual crops in the garden beds. 

Hose Off Pests

This simple trick knocks small, damaging garden pests off the crops, protecting them from excessive feeding. It’s much less harmful than spraying a pesticide! Simply turn your hose on, then spray the infested area with a strong stream of water.

Do this daily, or twice daily, until the pests disappear. It may take a week or two to make them go away. 

I use this trick to knock aphids off my cabbage, but it helps protect tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Pests like spider mites, thrips, and whiteflies dislike wet leaves; frequent spraying discourages them from infesting the foliage. 

Recycle Crop Debris

What is crop debris? When the growing season is over, dead leaves and stems fall to the ground where they linger throughout the winter. The debris houses overwintering pests. They use it to stay safe and secure during the cold months, then they emerge when the weather warms in spring.

Don’t throw the debris in the trash. Organic matter is incredibly useful! Hot compost the stuff to kill any lingering bacterial diseases and damaging garden pests. Composting converts decaying organic matter into humus, a valuable soil particle. However, some more vigorous viral and fungal diseases will persist in compost. Fungus and virus-infested diseases should be thrown away.

You may also bury the debris underground to snuff out any insects or arachnids on it. Dig a hole a foot down or deeper, then bury the dead stems underground. 

Keep Plants Happy

Healthy plants are more pest-resistant than struggling ones. Some simple tricks ensure wildflowers, vegetables, and shrubs stay perky and healthy despite garden invaders. Water moisture-loving crops regularly, and add mulch to cover bare soil. 

Some plants need support, like vines, indeterminate tomatoes, and pole beans. Use trellises or bamboo stakes to keep them upright.

Others need particular sun exposures. Grant sun-loving vegetables plenty of direct sunlight, and keep shade-lovers in the shade. 

Integrated Pest Management

One way to identify and treat pest populations is to use integrated pest management (IPM). IPM uses prior knowledge and research to identify, prevent, and treat issues related to pests. Start employing it now, and you’ll be an expert in no time. 

Prevention

Prevention is key! A great way to control damaging garden pests is to prevent them from arriving. Pests need two things to survive: a conducive environment and a host. Removing the host or altering the environment is enough to discourage them from spreading. 

Row cover and fences are two ways to prevent pests, though there are many others. Mesh netting, plastic sheets, and deceptive tools are also available. Deceptive tools consist of things like fake owls, scarecrows, and man-like structures that scare animals away.  

Monitoring

Alongside prevention, monitoring is a crucial aspect when protecting your crops. You want to know which bugs are visiting and which aren’t! Sticky traps are one way to bait them. Fungus gnats and thrips get stuck to the cards, and you can identify them. Note that these traps will harm other beneficial insects that are attracted to yellow.

Other traps, like pheromone traps, bait coddling moths that infest apples. They’re helpful in determining when to start a treatment schedule. 

Alongside traps, regular garden walks are a proper component of IPM. Your senses are the best way to know what’s going on in your garden. Walk daily, or more often, to keep an eye on your crops. Multitask and smell fresh blooms while you’re at it!

Intervention

Intervention may be necessary if the pest infestation grows out of control. Areas with frequent pesticide exposures will be devoid of wildlife for a while until they recover. Some intervention helps prevent the damaging garden pests from multiplying out of control while the predators recover.

Barriers are an excellent way to prevent critters from reaching your crops. Use sticky traps near sensitive crops, and place beer traps for slugs and snails. 

Spraying water with a hose knocks small bugs off plant stems. Use your fingers to pick off large caterpillars like tomato hornworms and cabbage loopers. Squish them, or throw them in a bucket of soapy water to kill them.

Knowledge

Tying all three steps of the process together is the underlying knowledge of gardeners, farmers, universities, and scientific institutions. After many years of protecting the yard, you’ll notice patterns that help you make good gardening decisions in the future. 

When in doubt, do some research! Look up what bugs look like, which birds are native to your area, and which crops are most susceptible to pest damage in your region. Ask your neighbors how they deal with the issues, and consider swapping information to share the knowledge. 

When It Doesn’t Work

Occasionally, all protective measures fail. Bugs may multiply out of your control, or birds may damage your fruits. The good news is that you’re a home gardener! You don’t have to worry about trying to sell your produce.