Chemical vs Natural Pesticide Control
Applying chemical pesticides to your plants may not only be toxic to your plant, but also to you. On the other hand, using natural pesticides to rid your vegetable garden of unwanted bugs can be time consuming, and not all natural remedies work for every gardening situation.
To control pests in your vegetable garden without using any form of pesticide, natural or chemical, you need to physically pick the bugs off the plants several times a day. Some of these plant-eating bugs feed at night. Therefore, you would need to patrol your garden 24 hours a day picking bugs. This method of pest control is very unlikely. So, if plant-eating bugs have invaded your vegetable garden, you need to decide how to handle the pests; use chemical pesticides or a find a natural organic remedy.
Chemical pesticides will work in ridding the garden of unwanted bugs. If used correctly, chemical pesticides claim to be safe for use on foods that are consumed. The question remains, what the long-term affects of these chemicals are. What are the chemicals doing to the soil and the area around your garden where rainfall and runoff occur? Could this pesticide affect your water source? Can the chemical pesticide harm animals or children if they come in contact with it? These questions should be considered before choosing which chemical pesticide you use.
On the other hand, while a chemical free, natural organic garden, may take more time and effort, natural remedies for pest control are less expensive. Most of the ingredients and tools you would require are probably in your kitchen, or lying around your house.
Vinegar is a very popular choice as a natural pesticide for bug control in your garden. Vinegar has been tested as a weed and grass killing herbicide with wonderful results. Therefore, take caution when spraying on your vegetable plants. The vinegar may indeed kill the bugs, but may also kill your plant as well.
Also insecticide soap has been proven to kill and deter pests. Precautions must be taken when using soaps. If sprayed onto the plant in full sun, it could burn the leaves. Also, the soap is meant to be sprayed directly on the bugs. This remedy may take several days to actually kill the bugs so keep an eye on the plant destruction.
Garlic is also known to be a natural deterrent to the plant eating bug population. Some bugs find their food through smell. Garlic has a pungent odor and therefore bugs and plant eating critters stay away.
Used coffee filters also deter bugs. Place the filter around the base of the plant. Bugs don’t like the feel of the paper or the grounds, and won’t venture to the plant. Also, the filters are biodegradable and the coffee that remains on the filters contains beneficial Nitrogen.
Choosing natural methods of pest control in your garden will take more time to maintain. But the fact remains, chemical free gardens are better for you, your family, and the environment.
Tagged with: Chemical Pesticide • Natural Pesticide • Pesticides
Filed under: Pesticide Control
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Great post, Fred – and will be of growing importance as more and more locales ban the use of chemical pesticides on residential properties!
Great tips. I’ll try the vinegar trick, I hate weeding especially on my patio. The grass and weeds get inbetween the stones so maybe the vinegar will help. Garlic seems to be a wonder solution for many things
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Pretty neat new blog that you have started. I have a small garden and don’t try not to use any chemical sprays. The only thing that I had to use them on this year was the potato bugs. I also mulch with stray and turn that under when the crops are done.
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you ppl are freaks. who wants to spend hours a week trying to keep pests out. coffee grounds? that’s crazy. chemical pesticides are most widely used for a reason.
I recently bought 2 LB of organic (chemical free pesticides if any) grapes for $4/lb from a local specialty store and when I got home I found a massive empty spider nest in the grapes. I go to through the surrounding grapes out, then as I came back to the counter I saw a huge hairy tropical spider that had crawled out of the bag. The spider was black and had yellow patch underneath it. Probably poisonous. I would MUCH have rather had mainstream pesticides on my grapes than go through what I went through.
chem-free pesticides are not worth the insect infestation that occurs in their absence, and are not practical for use in mass-production of fruits and vegetables – unless the farmers partner with Starbucks: then their leftover coffee grounds wouldn’t go to waste anymore!