Effective DIY Pest Prevention Methods For The Home Garden

Preventative pest control methods implemented early in the season can greatly decrease pest pressure in the coming seasons! With permaculture practices, you can grow more robust, healthier plants at home that are less susceptible to harmful pests and diseases.

A good prevention method will require less work in the long run and less need for unnatural or costly products to combat pest pressure. Plus, if you wait until after the pests have infested your plants, you may be too late!

Here are my favorite DIY pest prevention methods so you can grow bigger!

The Best Offense Is a Good Defense

I encourage you to be proactive in defending your garden, as I shared in my series on animal pests in the garden, by implementing effective strategies for deer management, methods to rabbit-proof a garden, tips to prevent bird damage, and defenses to keep squirrels out of the garden.

I also want to help you defend your garden against problem insects that can decimate crops. Use these pest-specific guides to stay on the offensive:

• Preventing & Controlling Tomato Hornworms

• Get Rid of Slugs and Snails in the Garden

• Prevent Squash Vine Borer Effectively

• Strategies to Prevent & Control Squash Bugs

• How to Get Rid of Spider Mites: Prevention & Control

• What Are Soil Mites & How Do You Get Rid of Them

• How to Prevent & Get Rid of Fungus Gnats

• Avoid Attracting Wasps & Hornets to Your Garden

Preventative Pest Control From The Ground Up

Unhealthy plants are more susceptible to diseases and pests. When a plant is stressed, it releases a chemical scent that will attract pests, while a healthy plant gives off very few stress pheromones.

Healthy soil is the first step to keeping your plants healthy and stress-free! Review the following list of methods for improving soil health. If you are neglecting any of these in your garden chores, now is the time to start!

• Soil Testing - Soil testing will reveal your growing medium’s chemical makeup and give you a blueprint for your prevention strategy. The Rapitest Soil Tester is a great place to start. With it, you can test for nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and soil pH.

• Increase Soil Mycology - A fungally dominated soil improves plant health and disease resistance! Read this blog post to learn how to increase the soil mycology in your garden.

• Mulching - If you are not mulching your soil in some way, you are doing your soil a disservice and soil microbes and bacteria in the rhizosphere may die! Mulching provides vital insulation to protect living soil during winter freezes and summer heat alike!

• Amend Soil - Soil rich in organic matter will create the perfect environment for beneficial insects and microorganisms. Use soil amendments to remineralize each growing season. Fertilize regularly and add compost or vermicompost for a nutrient boost.

• Add Walkways - Designated paths will decrease the disturbance to your soil structure. It may seem like an elementary thing, but adding designated walkways will help protect your soil.

• Maintain Adequate Soil Moisture - Good watering practices can help your plants stay healthy and reduce stress. Make sure your plants are getting the right amount of water, especially in high heat and peak summer conditions. Consider using shade cloth to protect plants from intense sun or an emergency heat wave.

DIY Pest Prevention Using Planting Strategies

Another thing that might require updating is your planting strategy. Use these planting strategies to decrease pest pressure in your garden:

• Intercropping - As I explained in MIgardener’s Guide to Organic Pesticides, intercropping is a remarkable technique for preventing pests naturally. Intercropping confuses pests by flooding the garden with biodiversity. When many different kinds and varieties of plants are grown intermixed, their chemical scents are intermingled, creating a cocktail that disorients pests. When you are planning your garden this spring, consider masking your precious food crop with fragrant varieties.

• Plant Trap Crops - Another helpful technique is planting trap crops to lure pests away from valuable crops. These plants draw pests in and distract them from harming other surrounding plants. Useful trap plants include nasturtiums, dill, and radishes. If these plants become overrun with pests, remove them and add them to the burn pile.

• Remove Stressed Plants - You can remove plants when they show signs of stress. That seems very unfortunate, but it only takes one plant to spoil it for the rest. That stressed plant will attract pests, and you risk it becoming a host plant.

Beneficial Insects To Keep Pests In Check

Beneficial insects can be purchased and released into the garden without causing any harm, except to pests! Knowing exactly what kind of pest you are dealing with will help you choose the beneficial insect that will work best.

Here are three beneficial insects that I recommend:

• Ladybugs - Ladybugs can be used in the garden for natural pest control. They primarily feed on other bugs like mites, scales, and aphids. This technique works best when there are enough pests to keep the ladybugs occupied for a while.

• Green Lacewings - One of my all-time favorite beneficial bugs in the garden is the green lacewing! Green lacewing larvae will eat spider mites, aphids, thrips, scales, and even small caterpillars. Watch this YouTube video to learn how to release green lacewings and raise them in the garden so they thrive.

• Beneficial Nematodes - Beneficial nematodes are incredibly valuable for controlling so many bad bugs and harmful pests in the garden. Whether you are targeting Japanese beetles and cucumber beetles or aphids, spider mites, and thrips, there are different applications for different pests. Check out NaturesGoodGuys to find the beneficial nematodes that best suit your needs.

If you find unknown pests, try to capture a few and identify them! If you can't identify the pest yourself, try asking your local extension office for help. You can also send a picture to MIgardener on Facebook for help identifying your foe.

Birds Are Our Allies

Birds are often mistaken for garden pests when they are often much more beneficial than detrimental. Birds in the garden will eat harmful insects like caterpillars (including tomato hornworms), beetles, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, earwigs, moths, and even aphids and whiteflies, reducing the need for pesticides.

Depending on the species, one bird can eat hundreds or thousands of insects each day! You can encourage birds to visit your garden by adding a birdbath, birdhouses, and bird feeders.

Using Physical Barriers For Pest Control

Applying a physical barrier to protect your plants, like insect netting, can provide significant help. This is by no means the most practical method, but if you can keep your plants from hosting pests, you can essentially cut those pests off from becoming localized to your garden.

What to Do If You Have Pests In Your Garden

Even if you use these DIY pest prevention methods as the first line of defense in the garden, you will likely still encounter pesky bugs in your organic garden one day. 

Thankfully, there are solutions you can use in that event. I recommend using organic pesticides extracted from natural sources that have little or no harmful residual effects.

Every issue we run into in the garden is a moment to learn. Take note of your experiences with pests to keep track of patterns in your garden. 

Understanding patterns of pest, weed, and disease invasions will strengthen your strategy for the season to come! If you have an invasion of pests, write it down in your garden journal to improve your plan for the following year.