First, we certainly understand that many gardeners become anxious when they see pests on their plants and want to react decisively when they see their plants damaged. Insects, even those that eat your plants, are a crucial part of our eco system. That caterpillar chewing your flowers just may turn into a beautiful butterfly if you refrain from blasting it with insecticide. Are there beneficial insects already there working to reduce the population of the problem insect? When you see insects in your garden, take some time to really watch what they're doing. Are they actually destroying the plant or just nibbling it a little? Most plants can outgrow damage very quickly. Plants and insects have been around for millions of years, insectecides have only been around for a couple of generations. In many cases, insect’s attack stressed out plants first. Do you have enough healthy plants to spare the sickly ones? (Did you buy some sickly ones at that Cheapo Discount Box Store?) Can you restore sickly plants to robust health so they can resist insect attack? The best defenses against insect attack are preventative measures. Grow plants suited to the site and they'll be less stressed out. Don't let them be too wet, too dry or too shaded. Work with a diverse garden, so that pests of a particular plant won't decimate an entire section of the garden.

Most importantly, encourage the natural predators of pest insects to hunt in your garden; beneficial insects (such as the ladybug), birds, frogs and lizards control pests by eating them. You can make your garden hospitable for your natural allies by keeping a water source (just a dish-full, if that's all you've got) nearby for them and by not wiping out the entire pest population with a pesticide, sending the beneficial insects elsewhere in search of food. Also, grow plants with small blossoms like sweet alyssum and dill, which attract predatory insects who feed on flowers' nectar between attacks on pests.

Barriers such as row covers, netting and plant collars very effectively protect crops from pests. Sticky traps and pheromone lures are another way to minimize your pest problems without harming other living things in your garden.
Finally, if you need to react quickly to an acute pest invasion, you have to identify the bug. Nothing works on every single kind of bug.  You can choose from several natural products that affect specific insects, won't harm humans, pets or wildlife, and that degrade quickly in the environment. Among the best of those products is Bacillus thuringiensis, a naturally occurring bacteria that you apply to your plants to disrupt the digestion of caterpillars and other leaf-eaters. Be sure to identify the pest positively before you buy this product because each strain of Bt affects specific kinds of insects. Horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps and garlic and/or hot pepper sprays also work well against many pests. Stop by Countrybrook Garden Center with your sample in a sealed bag, maybe we can help identify it for you. (preferably not during the busy spring weekends when we are running from customer to customer as fast as we can....)