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| Photo Credit: ©2005 Buglady Consulting |
| Know if you need to treat your plants or not. On the left is a pest mealybug you would want to kill. On the right is the pupa (immature life stage) of a type of good ladybug, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri. You don’t want to kill this one – it’s a good guy! |
It’s amazing how insects and mites always seem to find their way back to your garden. This constant pest pressure requires us have to become experts in controlling them. But how do you know what to use? And how do you select the right pesticide for the job?The first thing to do is to accurately identify your pest problem. Is the insect you see on your plant really a pest? Are there beneficial insects already present that are controlling the problem? Once you’ve decided that a pesticide treatment is needed, you need to do some label reading. Everything you need to know about a pesticide is on the label. (This is required by law.) The first thing to consider is what the product is going to be used on. Is it for vegetables? Shrubs? Turf ? Something else? Each plant type is considered a different “crop,” and the label on a pesticide will tell you on which plants you can apply that specific pesticide. Most products are labeled for vegetables, flowers and/or lawns. You certainly don’t want to apply a product to your veggies that’s only labeled for lawn use. This could lead to killing your plants – or even worse, exposing you and your family to toxic pesticides. Next, check the product label to make sure that the specific insect pest you’ve identified in your yard is listed on that label. Be sure to note if the product is a miticide or an insecticide. A mite is not an insect, so miticides control mites and insecticides control insects. Miticides won’t kill insects, and vice versa – unless a pesticide label states that the product controls both. Before you mix the product you’ve selected, again be sure to read the label thoroughly. If you purchase a concentrate, use the labeled rate! Also have a sprayer dedicated for pesticide use only, and make sure the container you use for mixing is marked clearly. If you’re mixing an herbicide (products that kill weeds), mark that clearly on the appropriate container, too – you don’t want to accidentally mix a pesticide in a container where herbicides have been previously mixed. You could end up killing your plants. An investment in separate sprayers and mixing containers is very inexpensive insurance compared with killing your entire garden!
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