Garden Insect Pest Prevention
Step 1 

The basic and most important strategy behind Organic Pest Management pest prevention - preventing insect populations from getting out of control.

Natural Balance

Your goal should be a natural balanced eco-system. Consider the whole garden: soil, water, plants, animals, and air when working towards a balanced insect population.

Four steps toward natural garden balance:

1. Create a healthy soil. Minimize insect damage by creating a healthy soil with compost and organic fertilizers. Most insects only attack unhealthy plants. Insect pest control really starts here. Make sure you know your soil... get a soil test. Soil testing takes a lot of the guesswork out of organic gardening, and it allows you "know" your soil. A healthy soil produces healthy plants. Healthy plants are more resistant to insect damage and disease.
2. Practice Crop rotation. When you grow the same plant season after season in the same location, the soil in that area loses fertility. Additionally, if you do not practice crop rotation, your crops may literally poison the soil, thus weakening the plant more making it more susceptible to insect attack. A good rule of thumb is not to plant the same crop genus in the same location two years in a row. Planting the same genus in the same location may accumulate insect pests and diseases in that area.
   
   For example. If you plant Patty Pan Squash in this year's garden, then the next year you should not plant another type of squash, such as Winter Squash, because they are of the same genus.
3. Encourage beneficial insects. Encourage predator and parasitic insects into your garden. This can be done by intercropping plants that provide other sources of food, such as flowers for nectar or shelter for the beneficial insects to overwinter.
   
4. Clear debris. Keep the garden and orchard clear of on none mulched debris.

Next Step - Step 2 - After pest prevention - identify the insect causing the damage

Return back to Seven Steps to Successful Organic Pest Management