Managing Insects In Your Home Garden

When there are plants, there usually are some pests involved. This is why farmers usually spray on a big deal of pesticides and put up a menacing looking scarecrow to keep them away. However, when you are keeping a garden in your home, a scarecrow no matter how creepy it may look cannot simply keep your garden bug free. A good gardener must be equipped with some tricks and techniques of his own to keep those bad insects at bay. Here are a few of them.

* When sowing transplants in your garden, make sure that your purchase is free from any insects or diseases before and at the time you do the planting. Check the leaves, the stems and the roots thoroughly. It is always advised to purchase your transplants from a reliable dealer with a proven good reputation. This is one kind of assurance that you are getting quality plants. As much as possible, go for transplants that have not yet started flowering.

* Insects like humans tend to follow a specific pattern so do as much to mislead them. Rotate and alternate the location of your plants and crops in your garden. Do this at least once in every two to three years.

* Make it a habit to survey and inspect your garden at least two times in a week. Scrutinize every bend, turn and curve; from the roots on the soil, to the health of the stem, from the back and front of every leaf and of course, do not forget to check the flowering buds.

* When you do find insects in your garden, do not exterminate them all at once. Some insects are quite beneficial so save those. These beneficial insects include lady beetles, assassin bugs, praying mantis, big eyed bugs, spiders and even wasps. As for the bad insects, there is a way for you to get rid of them without having to use chemicals. It may seem uncanny for some people but large insects can be easily taken out of your garden by hand. Then you can simply place them in a bucket of soapy water.

* If your garden really has a serious pest problem, it is now time to bring out the chemicals and the pesticides. You must be able to identify the kind of insects or pests you have in your garden to be able to purchase the right pesticide to use. Spraying on just any insecticide may not work to get rid of the bugs and can even harm your plants. In this case, you lose money on your purchase, you still have pests on your garden and your plants are now spoiled. Proper selection can do a lot of help. Also remember to follow the instructions in the label of the pesticides to the word. Again, a simple mistake can cause more harm than you think.

* Experts advise that you do your spraying and bait setting in the afternoons or during the early evening. Most insects do their feeding at night so your chemicals are still fresh and in place just in time when they start crawling in.