(tncms-asset)24aea8c2-0f0d-11ef-b762-770bc33ae94b[0](/tncms-asset)Pollinator week is June 17 to 23. An annual celebration of the role of pollinators in our lives and world, the theme for this year is “Vision 2040: Thriving ecosystems, economies and agriculture.”
The food we eat and the beauty of the natural world we enjoy are due to the work of bees, butterflies, moths, bats, beetles and hummingbirds. With an eye to the future – one where pollinators not only survive but thrive – we can work together now to protect and preserve these essential creatures.
This column has featured plants for pollinators several times, so let’s focus on pesticides. A pesticide includes any substance used to control unwanted plants, plant disease, insects or rodents. Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and rodenticides all fall into this category.
Integrated pest management – or IPM – uses common sense to control pests, an approach that is both effective and sensitive to the environment. Whether the pest is a weed, rodent, insect, snail, nematode or fungus, IPM first looks at environmental factors affecting the pest and its ability to thrive.
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The best place to start is to choose disease- and pest-resistant plants. Native flowering plant species support pollinators and are naturally resistant to insect pests.
If the garden is nonnative, start by determining which pest is the problem and whether its population has reached a level that requires control. Consider encouraging beneficial insects. Most pests have enemies besides us. For example, ladybugs eat aphids, whiteflies and spider mites. The healthiest garden has a self-regulating insect community.
Should you choose to use a pesticide, be sure to read and follow the label directions – ALL the label directions. (I’m looking at you, person who doesn’t like to read instructions.) The label will indicate if the product should not be used on budding or blooming plants and whether it should only be used at dusk, when bees and other pollinators are not actively foraging. Don’t over apply; more is not better.
When in doubt, a good rule of thumb is to not spray.
Keep in mind, all butterflies begin life as caterpillars (larvae) feeding on plants. Identify the insect eating the plant before inadvertently killing butterflies or any other beneficial insects.
Manual removal is a legitimate pest management technique and my personal choice. Most summers, Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) wreak havoc on our shrub roses. Some folks who spray pesticides to control Japanese beetles assure me they only spray in the evening. I pick off beetles by hand then drown them, also in the evening. In doing this, I have found native bumblebees sleeping on partially hidden leaves. I prefer to risk beetles eating more foliage than risk harming a bumblebee with pesticide.
Choose wisely.
Since 2004, Mari Lane Gewecke has been a Master Gardener volunteer, affiliated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus program. She is a semi-retired consultant in philanthropy.