Garden Insects: Not part of your landscaping?

Garden Insects: Not part of your landscaping?
Do small animals dig up your lawn? It is entirely likely that if you have a lawn, you risk the chance of having pests, such as the gopher or a mole or a squirrel or rabbits. Even wasps bees ants and other insects can invade and set up home. The reason these these creatures and insects are attracted to your lawn is the seed of their downfall?

Most private home lawns are not big enough to attract enough pests so that major trouble will be caused, nevertheless, they can be a nuisance and damage areas of grass. Insects are too small to be easily spotted, but, their presence can be deduced by dead, brown patches of grass. Moles gophers rabbits and squirrels are a bit more obvious- mole hills on the top of your lawn, and, beneath the lawn, tunnels and caverns. If you can identify your pests, you can then have a go at dealing with the problem.

The first option, always, is to call an expert. Try your Yellow Pages local directory or a referral from someone you know that had a similar problem.
However most people today want to do it themselves. And, if you are a DIY'er, the first thing you need to do is size up your situation, and what you are up against. Let’s look at insects first.

There are many many thousands of species of garden insects, far too many to list here. Borrow a book on insects from your local library, or have a look at several entomology websites or even keep an eye on our blog to learn more about what their role is in the destruction of your garden. But please be careful, you don’t want to kill off any allies!

When dealing with insects, the number one rule is not all garden insects are bad guys. We've probably killed them at some point in our lives if they have annoyed stung or bitten us, but, most garden insects can actually act as assasins against othergarden insects. Its a dog eat dog world out there in the garden. You can subdivide the problem into two types of insects. Above and below ground.

Above ground, insects usually feed on your grass, and can be seen fairly easy. Some examples of these can be chinch bugs, green bugs and armyworms. The below ground teams are just that, they feed on your lawn through the root system, which means they can be the most destructive. They are also difficult to identify since they are er below ground and not easily seen.

There are five groups of weapons against garden insects: chemical insecticides, biological insecticides, botanical insecticides, insecticide soaps and predatory insects (The Assassins are our friends. In fact in this case any enemy of our enemy is our friend!). Keep an eye out for specific types for specific insects. Be prepared to be disappointed and have to make repeated attempts.

In the garden its the war we want to win not individual battles.

Moles and gopher are two of the most common animal pests. Both animals build tunnels under your lawns, but that does not mean they are the same. These two have many things that set them apart from one another. Moles are smaller than gophers, and have pointed snouts and large front claws. They do not feed on your lawn, but the insects that dwell within. Sounds like they are good guys? Perhaps, but the moles’ tunnels leave mounds of dirt on the ground above, and their shallow tunnels cause uneven ground. Gophers, the largest of the two, have buckteeth and small ears. These creatures love to eat your grass and plant roots. Gophers also leave mounds of dirt, but they do far more damage underground, causing sinkholes. Getting rids of gophers and moles leads to one solution kill them. There are less drastic methods, such as trapping or driving them away. Each to his or her own. If you have young children or grandchildren you may have to put up with the little charmers for a few years.

Philip Jubb
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