Organic Pest Control

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APPROVED PRODUCTS

If you do decide it’s time to spray, Top Pest Control Products outlines your best options. Every product listed there poses minimal harm to organisms you don’t want to target, including humans. These products also are accepted under the National Organic Program Standards, which serves as a framework for certified-organic food production. But in a world where new “natural” products appear on store shelves every day, there needed to be a way to evaluate whether or not specific products comply with those standards. This is now the job of the nonprofit Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). OMRI uses a panel of experts that includes farmers, scientists, environmentalists and businesspeople to decide which products should be approved for use by organic growers. Approved products usually display the OMRI seal on their label, or you can check http://www.omri.org to see if a product is approved.

OMRI has two category codes for approved products: “A” for allowed and “R” for restricted. Allowed products may be used freely at the grower’s discretion; most of them are soil amendments and organic fertilizers. Many organic pesticides carry a restricted code because they can harm beneficial insects and other wildlife, and thus should be used sparingly. Although all of the products listed in Top Pest Control Products carry OMRI approval, many fall into the restricted category and should be used only when cultural controls have failed, and always according to label directions.

SMALL SPRAYERS AND LITTLE DUSTERS

A sprayer is useful for applying pest control products and liquid fertilizers, as well as for other garden tasks such as misting cuttings. Instead of struggling with a cheap pump-spray bottle or a big tank-sprayer, try one of the smaller pressurized sprayers. The Solo 2-liter sprayer shown above ($19.95) features a nifty nozzle that extends to 20 inches and swivels to direct the spray underneath leaves.

When applying dusts, such as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or diatomaceous earth, always wear a dust mask. For small jobs, the plastic squeeze-action Pest Pistol ($7.95; shown with red lid) works fine. For larger gardens, the yellow hand-crank Dustin-Mizer ($27.95) is the tool of choice.

The Solo sprayer and the dusters are available from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply.

TOP PEST CONTROL PRODUCTS

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all organic remedy for destructive insects. Instead, you should tailor your plan of attack to the pest itself, while also considering potential risks to beneficial insects and other wildlife. Or, you can choose to do nothing at all. In the vegetable garden, light insect feeding causes little or no loss of productivity, and having a few pest species present helps to support populations of beneficial insects. The pests below are grouped according to control measures that are known to work well.

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