Pesky insect and animal invaders can wreak havoc on what was once a beautiful, abundant garden.
Protecting your garden from animal and pest infestation is critical to maintaining its beauty and ensuring the maximum abundance to be harvested from it.
Without proper prevention and management, animals and pests can quickly take over your garden for their own purposes, at your detriment.
To make matters more complicated, some generic pesticides that kill the bad guys can actually end up harming GOOD bugs that would otherwise benefit your plants.
In today’s post, we’re going to cover some tips and tricks for maintaining the health of your garden, specifically preventing wildlife & pest infestation of your garden.
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Protecting From Big Animals
Some animals, such as skunks, like to eat little insects. In the case of skunks, they will dig little holes in your yard or garden in search of insects that they can eat.
This can damage your garden very quickly, uprooting plants and messing with the delicate ecosystem that is your garden.
A simple fence can go a long way to protecting your garden from the bigger animals that might step in such as skunks, raccoons, possums, deer, dogs, and cats - even domesticated ones.
While some of these creatures - such as raccoons - may not entirely be deterred by a small fence, it will at least create a barrier to prevent easy access.
Good Insects
Not all insects are bad for a garden! While some will eat up your beautiful plants, others will actually contribute to the health and protection of the garden.
Some good insects include ladybugs, praying mantis, hoverfly, lacewings, honeybee, and dragonflies.
Be sure to research which insects help and which insects harm your particular garden, as it may vary depending on the plants and variety that you have, as well as your location in the world.
Remove the Baddies
Research which animals and insects are bad for the particular plants that you intend to grow.
Furthermore, be sure to research which pesticides you can or can’t use, if you choose to use chemicals.
It’s important to consider the entire ecosystem. Using one solution to remove a particular type of insect may harm another insect. So be sure that you aren’t solving one problem but creating another one by doing so.
Toss The Bad Apples ASAP
If you have a plant in your garden getting ravaged by disease or insects, get rid of it as soon as you can and keep it as far away from your home as possible.
It’s important to cut out unwell plants in your garden so that the overall health of the garden is not negatively affected.
Letting one “bad apple” sit next to the “good apples” for too long could help the issue spread to the entire garden.
Crop Rotation
Depending on the kind of garden and crops you are growing, and to what extent, you may want to practice crop rotation.
If you grow plants in the same place year after year then pests will know where to go to quickly get the food they want. It also allows disease to grow in the soil.
Rotating the locations that particular crops are grown in your garden can prevent disease and contribute to a healthy variety within your garden.
Prevent Wildlife & Pests and Deal With Issues ASAP
If wildlife and pests are actively infesting your garden or home, then it’s time to call an expert to help handle the situation.
Wildlife & pest infestation problems can grow exponentially, with damages only growing as time goes on.
The quicker the problem like this is dealt with, then the less damage will be caused and so cost will be reduced. Procrastinating only increases the damages and thus cost to fix and prevent the situation.
If you think you have a wildlife or pest infestation, or would like to consult with a wildlife expert, please give us a call at 855-WILDLIFE or visit www.wildlifexteam.com for more information.
Thanks!
-Wildlife x Team International