Biologicals Do a Number on Pests

When faced with the need to use an insecticide, here are a few guidelines to using the least-toxic ones.

Launch Gallery

by Helga OlkowskiApril 1998from issue # 14

When dirt ball pests attack the kitchen garden , savvy gardeners turn first to non - chemical methods to forbid plant damage . On occasion , however , a pesticide is postulate to augment physical control like trap , course covers , plastic mulches , and facilitate from predatory insects . When faced with the need to apply an insecticide , here are a few guidelines .

In ecumenical , you want to choose an insect powder that has some or all of the following characteristics : low toxicity to humans and wildlife , selective toxicity to specific pest species while being non-poisonous or less harmful to beneficial organism , honorable biodegradability , and low-down mobility with small likelihood of contaminating aerofoil or groundwater .

fortuitously , the list of least - toxic insecticide has been rise . Biological insecticide gain from flora are called botanicals ; those derived from microorganisms like fungus kingdom , bacteria , and roundworm are called microbials . Like conventional semisynthetic insect powder , these products are most effective when used in compounding with nonchemical methods , and should be applied as spot treatments when pest numbers imperil to pass your tolerance horizontal surface , rather than indiscriminately throughout your garden .

The biologicals mentioned are currently registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for manipulation on pests that attack both intellectual nourishment crops and ornamentals . Since EPA registrations vary frequently , ensure the label to check the Cartesian product continues to be record for use in the kitchen garden . recall that biological insecticides may contain living organisms , so store them in a cool , saturnine orbit or refrigerate them . They will die out if exposed to excessively dusty or hot temperature . Neem oil comes from a tree . This botanic insecticide is prepared from extracts of oil from seeds of the tropic neem tree , Azadirachta indica , native to India and the Asian subcontinent . Neem crude oil is effectual against leaf - manducate and sucking insects including aphids , mallet larvae , caterpillars , leafminers , leafhopper , thrips , and whiteflies .

This product has several modal value of action against dirt ball . Primarily it acts as an insect growing governor , entail it forbid pre - full-grown insects from successfully exuviate from the juvenile person to adult point . Treated larval and pupal dirt ball discontinue feeding and die without multiply . It also inhibit plague feeding and contains ingredients that repel insects .

Neem products are applied as liquid sprays directly onto infested leaves . Thorough reportage , include the bottom of leave-taking , is essential to success . If not washed off by rainfall or irrigation water system , neem remains active on leaves for two to seven days , sometimes longer .

Bacillus thuringiensis(Bt ) is a microbial insecticidemade from a course occurring bacterial pathogen . The product is cultured in magnanimous tub in a process standardized to brewing beer . Bt is very discriminate in the number of coinage it affects . One of the strengths of this production from an environmental position is that it is toxic to only a narrow-minded range of insects and does not harm good insects or appear to bear upon man or other animals , Bronx cheer , or Pisces the Fishes .

Bt affects only the larval phase of susceptible insects . It will not defeat grownup moths or butterflies . To be effective , the Bt spray on leaves must be run through by caterpillars or larval beetles . When ingested into the stomach , the bacteria immediately free a toxin that causes the insect to blockade feast and eventually die .

There are several commercially available strains of Bt , and each shoot down a dissimilar dirt ball radical . Btk ( k = kurstaki ) and Btt ( t = tenebrionis ) are the most utile strains for the veggie garden . Btk is specific to caterpillars such as cabbage looper , corn earworm , and tomato horn louse . Btt kills the larval stage of Colorado spud beetle . Bt is enforce as liquidity spray onto upper and low surfaces of plant life leaves . It is best to apply these products when cat or larval beetles are young and humble and easier to vote down . Since caterpillars have to feed on treat leaves to ingest a lethal amount of Bt , the younger the larva , the less wrong to plant . Treatments last up to 14 days if there is no rainfall to wash away the bacterial spores , or temperatures are not too mellow . You may have to spray again if pest populations are high . Steinernema carpocapsaeare worm - attack nematodes . These microscopic beneficial organism attack only the larval stage of insects and do not harm plant . Commercial product are primarily used to keep in line soil - dwell insects , although some can also be applied above ground to curb dull insects , gypsy moth larvae , and other pest cat that migrate up and down tree bole .

Steinernema carpocapsaeare in effect against root maggots , white grubs , wireworms , flea beetles , armyworms , strawberry root weevil , black vine weevils , and many other dirt ball species with soil - inhabiting life stages .

parasitical nematode penetrate an insect through its cuticle or other openings and expel toxic bacteria that stamp out it . They regurgitate , and young nematodes journey through the soil to locate and infect other insects .

Most parasitical nematode worm are trade in a gunpowder - like signifier trip by mix with water . Be sure to water garden soil before applying the nematode answer . After apply nematode via lachrymation can buoy , hosiery - end applicators , tank sprayers , or drip mould irrigation system , irrigate again to irrigate them in , and keep the soil moist for a calendar week . roundworm are in force when grease is moist , and temperature are between 55 ° and 100 ° F.VAM is unretentive for Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungus kingdom . These products are made of beneficial fungus kingdom ( genus Glomus and others ) suspended in a gunpowder . VAM spores in the soil move onto origin surfaces , form a protective mantel and rush physiologic change in the server plant that curb flora - attack nematodes , rootage pathogen , and possibly other organisms that damage plant life . The fungal threadlike matting expands the horde plant ’s access to pee and nutrients , thus increasing its resistance to tenseness , let in pest damage and drought .

pulverization laced with fungous spores is applied as a root - dip to transplants or is summate to soil in the planting gob . It can also be applied in the garden as a water result injected into the root zona of growing plants . Once mixed with urine , the fungal result must be used rapidly as deficiency of zephyr pour down the spores .

These products are but the tip of the iceberg of biologically base pest restraint get into the commercial market . Some will be sold in their innate form and fit the least - toxic criteria . Others will be genetically engineered to isolate and raise their toxic dimension , with unknown consequence . Wise gardener will use any pesticide with dandy caution and only when dead require .

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Biological insecticides, from left to right: Bt, beneficial nematodes, neem, and VAM fungi.Photo/Illustration: Scott Phillips

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