Organic approaches to pest control in Garden Design

Did you know the use of slug pellets in the UK was banned in April 2022? This was because they contained methaldehyde which was toxic to mammals.

It is easy to get frustrated by common pests in the garden. Aphids attacking our beloved roses or slugs decamating our dahlia’s.

But it is possible to keep pests to a manageable level without compromising the health and biodiversity of your whole garden.

In this blog I am going to share a few of the methods I have tried and tested myself.

What is organic pest control?

Oragnic pest control methods just mean methods that don’t contain harmful chemicals. You don’t need to be a certifed organic garden to adopt these principles either.

Opting for organic methods is an easy way you can do your bit to protect the wildlife in your garden, whilst also giving your beloved plants an opporutnity to thrive!

Methods of organic pest control you can try today

Increasing your pests natural predators

Knowing a little bit about your pest is really helpful as you can identify the predators that want to eat it, reducing your pest issue!

For example, did you know that;

frogs and toads will eat slugs,
birds will eat snails and;
ladybird larve will eat aphids.

With this in mind you can consider are there ways you can encourage those natural predators into your garden to help keep your pest population down.

This could be as easy as increasing your bird feeding, or taking on a new project and introducing a small wildlife pond?

Using nemotodes

This is similar to the above point as nemotodes are biological controls, and are microscoptic eelworms that are naturally occuring in soil.

Neomotodes are live when they arrrive and either need storing correctly, or using immeidtely. They can’t be stored for long periods as they will die so only order them when you are ready to use.

There are different neomotodes for different pests. Some require mixing with water and applying to the soil, others can be released from containers.

They work best when the soil is warmer, otherwise they will die before they have tackled your pests. They may also need re-applying depending on the lifecycle of your pest.

Copper rings, wool pellets and beer traps

These are three effective ways to protect plants from being much by slugs and snails.

Slugs and snails dislike copper as it can cause a reaction for them that feels a bit like an electric shock. This is enough to make them re-consider your plants. Before careful to ensure you don’t have overhanging leaves though as they can crawl on to these and dodge the copper ring completely!

Wool slug pellets do not kill slugs and snails, but when they become wet they create a felt like texture which can be abrasive to the slug and snail which is enough to deter them.

Beer traps work in a slightly different way, they attract slugs and snails, encouraging them away from your plants. Using empty yogurt pots submerged into the soil, or buying specially designed beer traps can both work well.

They work by the snails and slugs enjoying the scent of the beer and they will fall into the liquid. These traps will need regular emptying!