Help Your Plants Beat Pests

Plant pests aren’t inherently bad, they just want to eat and reproduce like anyone else. Various chemicals can repel, deter, or kill pests, but many of them have nasty side effects. Luckily there are ways to help your plants beat pests by using your plants’ own defense systems. Here are five ways to help your plants win their next pest battle.

Outgrow the Problem

Depending on the scale of your pest problem, your plants may be able to outgrow their pests. If you notice the pest damage early on and deal with the problem quickly, a healthy plant can regrow leaves, roots, or fruits that were damaged by the pests. Catching a disease when it’s confined to a few branches or one part of the plant and removing those infected parts can allow the rest of the plant to recover and grow back.

The key to helping your plants outgrow the problem is to maximize your plants’ health. A healthy plant can take a moderate amount of pest damage without giving up. Keep your plants healthy by eliminating weeds that can steal nutrients and harbor pests and disease. Optimize your soil nutrition with organic matter or other soil amendments. Make sure your plants are getting enough sun and water and monitor their progress closely. Healthy plants can shake off a small pest problem and still thrive all the way to harvest time.

Slow Down Pests

Another way to help your plants beat pests is to slow down the attackers. Using natural sprays and deterrents may not eliminate all the pests attacking your plants, but it can reduce the pest pressure and allow your plants to survive. Some plants even have their own defense mechanisms when their leaves or roots come under attack. They may secrete chemicals that make them less tasty to pests. Hand picking pests off at the right stage can also help disrupt the pests’ reproductive cycle and protect your plants. Or using covers during the parts of the season when pest pressure is highest can help. You may not eliminate all the pest damage, but if you slow them down enough your plants can survive the initial attack and make it through.

Attract Beneficial Insects or Animals

Beneficial insects or animals are allies that can help your plants beat their pests as well. They are usually not interested in eating plants, but instead prey upon the pests attacking them. Some plants will secrete chemicals that actually attract these allies when they come under attack. You can help your plants by not spraying broad spectrum pesticides that kill both harmful and helpful insects. Or you can provide housing for the insects, birds, bats, toads or other beneficial predators. If you really want to call in the cavalry, you can purchase beneficial insects and release them in your garden.

The best way to encourage these beneficial predators to stick around is to maintain a healthy ecosystem in your garden. Grow a variety of plants and rotate where you plant them each year. Try different varieties that may encourage your beneficial allies to thrive. That way different natural predators can keep pest populations in check and make sure any damage to your garden is minimal.

Protect Unaffected Areas

Another way to help your plants beat pests is to limit the playing field. If you notice some pest damage in one area, act quickly to protect unaffected areas before the problem can spread. This may mean using row covers, spraying with repellents, or setting up traps. If the problem is local to a few plants, it may be worth destroying those plants and any pests on them. It’s better to lose a plant or two than to have the whole garden affected.

Make sure when you are moving around in your garden you aren’t accidentally spreading pests from one plant to another. Don’t touch wet plant leaves if possible. Avoid splashing soil up onto the plants when watering. Try to keep mulch or grass clippings from pushing up against your plant stems. Keep your tools clean so you don’t spread pests or disease between different plants or different garden beds. These are always good practices in your garden, but if you know you have a pest or disease problem, you should be even more vigilant.

Build Resistance

If you’re willing to play the long game, you can help your plants build up resistance to certain pests and diseases. Choosing varieties that are less susceptible to pest damage is a great start. If you are growing open-pollinated plants, you can save the seeds of plants that perform the best and build up a “landrace” that is particularly suited to your garden conditions. Some plants will react to pests or disease by producing chemicals that can help them fight off bacteria, fungi, or plant viruses. Keeping the plants that have the best response can maximize the benefit for future growing seasons. Maintaining good garden records is key to knowing which plants to save and when it may be time to try a new variety. Keep those records and choose your champions!

If you need a good way to keep your garden information organized, try my Ultimate Garden Workbook. Its customizable, printable format is a great way to put all your garden information at your fingertips.

If you’re looking for more ways to attract beneficial bugs, check out my blog post on the topic!