Posts Tagged ‘landscape pest prevention’

Pest Prevention in Home Landscape Design

September 10th, 2009

Landscape improvement and pest prevention

Improvements in your landscape can have a profound effect on the aesthetic quality of your experience as a homeowner, and can have a positive effect on the the monetary value of your home as well. How you handle these changes in your landscape will have an effect on the pest population in your landscape and your home. This article will give you some food for thought on this important aspect of home improvement!

So you are going to make some changes in your landscape, or completely renovate and reconstruct your outdoor habitat. Maybe you want to add an outbuilding, some raised beds, put in a few new plants, or replicate the garden at Versailles. Before you even put a line on the paper, or a shovel in the ground, let me offer you a few thoughts on how your home and garden interact, and how to avoid some common problems.

How your home and landscape interact

Your landscape design can have a profound effect in how all the parts of your property interact, and the pests that come to visit you. Using plants native to your area is a great landscaping idea, and a great place to start creating a landscape with fewer pest problems. In fact, I think this may be the most overlooked, and highest impact part of creating a minimum pest landscape. Below you will find some other ideas to consider in your landscape design and landscape maintenance. The list is not complete, but should be used as a starting place and a springboard for thinking your project through.

Vines are invasive by nature

Keep vines away from anything you don’t want damaged. Vines are invasive by nature. They probe and connect in order to get better position to get sunlight in the environment. When doing this, they will get into cracks and crevices, and as they grow, will spread the cracks wider. Wooden fences are particularly susceptible. Wooden and vinyl sidings are not immune, nor are brick and mortar joints.These plants provide highways for insects life such as ants, termites, spiders and a variety of others. Vines may sneak into your power and communication lines, and can cause many problems when they do. There is a stop sign about a block from my home that is invisible to unfamiliar travelers because it is engulfed by a rouge wisteria vine. Vines will climb trees and shrubs in the same manner. The inherent goal is to reach sunlight by climbing the tallest object available, and gaining access to the upper portion of the canopy, often preventing light from getting through to its victim.

Trees can break concrete

Keep trees, especially fast growing varieties away from structures that might be damaged by aggressive root growth. Concrete slabs and walkways can be gradually lifted and broken by these roots. These roots often become trip hazards in frequently traveled areas, so plan accordingly. When planting trees, know where your water and power lines are, and your sewer drains or septic systems. Watch where you plant them. It is easy to underestimate the full grown size of a tree, and the urge to plant them too close to each other in order to create a landscape that looks “full” is nearly insurmountable. Tree limbs which encroach on power lines will need to be trimmed on occasion, this should be kept in mind before planting, and while inspecting your landscape each season.

Trees can damage rooftops

Also tree limbs can take a toll on roof tops. Your inspection should include taking a close look at this aspect. A note on this: Before trimming those limbs, keep those power and communication lines in mind, and make sure you do it right so that you protect the health of your tree and your own health as well.

Backyard structures

Structures can provide heat and shade, as well as obstacles to water movement. Be sure that you do not put a structure in a place where the reflective heat from the structure might broil your delicate plants, or where it might be in the way of irrigation water, or cause water to back up and puddle. Make sure that it will not provide too much shade for your lawn or other plant life. Consider the placement of children’s play areas carefully, and make sure that they are not oriented in such a way that they will burn the children’s skin. Heat reflecting surfaces in unshaded areas also encourage fire ants to develop colonies nearby.

Plant native landscape plants

It is a good idea to understand what you are planting. Some species are better suited to some areas than others. Plants that are normally found in your area are better suited to your climate and terrain. There are three ways that a plant from outside your area could react when transplanted.

It could languish and possibly die.

It could accept the new situation and adapt to the changes, effectively becoming a part of the environment. It is possible for this to happen, and when a slight climatic change occurs, to either languish, or thrive without controls.

It could thrive and flourish, becoming aggressive and invasive, and a threat to it’s new environment.

The result of using non natives in your landscape are usually not very good, and some can be devastating. The economic damage done to our environment has reached into the billions, and is increasing at an alarming rate. Make sure that what you plant does not contribute to this problem. Some of these plants are illegal in some areas. Check with your local extension agent or educational and government websites dealing with these plants for more information.

I hope that this has been of some value to you in your quest for the perfect landscape, and provided a springboard to aid you in your creative thought. Happy landscaping!

This site contains information to help you prevent pests, save money, and do something good for the environment! To get started on our pest prevention program, go to Prevention Starts Outdoors, or to How To Use This Site.

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Landscape Plants For Pest Prevention

September 6th, 2009

Sometimes we suffer with insect and weed control problems simply because we use the wrong landscape plants. Luckily, there are plants that can be used for landscaping that look great, and still repel insects and weeds.

Native landscape plants

From the outset, let me say that the best place to start is with landscape plants that are native to your area. This will solve the majority of your landscaping pest problems, and many other problems as well.

Just replacing chemical, commercial insecticides or herbicides with “non commercial” substitutes is not enough to solve a bug or weed problem, in fact it goes back to the root of why they are needed in the first place. Often we use plants for landscaping without regard for the problems they will introduce, and then attempt to deal with them with less than practical methods.

Anything used with the intention of killing an unwanted pest is starting in the wrong place. We may have to use them, and in some cases they may be the most sound environmental solution to our pest problem at this time, but it is still starting in the wrong place.

What should we be doing instead? Well, prevention is the place to start.

Weeds should be removed, by whatever mean is necessary. In order to keep them from coming back if the area is a lawn, it should be mowed more often. This is the best practice for weed prevention.

Alternative plants for pest prevention

If the situation warrants, some sort of replacement plant may be added. Most weeds do not like competition. If you plant something that will compete in the conditions that the weed is growing in, you can often defeat it. If soil conditions are the problem, then these conditions should be changed to meet the new need.

In the case of sand-burrs, this is the best means of control. Sand burrs will not stand competition of any kind. If anything else can grow there, sand-burrs will not compete, but will fade away. Soil conditions such as waterlogged clay soils are the favorite home of sedges, changing the condition, and getting rid of the nut-lets, will usually relieve the problem.

Alternative plants like sweet potatoes are another avenue. The vines are attractive, most types are pest resistant, the foliage is thick and will shade out many weeds, and they have natural properties that help to discourage many other plants and insects.

Plants such as lantana do well in our area, and have many of the same properties. Lantana loves heat, can thrive with little water and discourages many pests.

The best cure for plants that attract insects, is to get rid of them and plant types that discourage pests. Your landscape is a magnet for pests, and it will either attract them or repel them. The plants you choose have a lot to do with this.