To eliminate pests on your lawn, you should consider knowing what is the manual method in controlling pests in lawn. Following proper cultural practices for pest control is the manual method for preventing pest damage on your lawn.
Importance Of Proper Lawn Care
It is important to provide your lawn with proper care and grow grass species appropriate for that particular climatic region. Take note that practices like fertilizing and irrigating can have a significant impact on lawn health.
One of the best ways to avoid damage from lawn pests is to keep the grass healthy and refrain from using pesticides too much. Some species of grass, such as turfgrass, stand a great chance of suffering from phytotoxic damage from pesticides.
If you want to know more information on how to keep the grass healthy, you may check out this article to know the tips on how to keep grass green and achieve a healthy lawn.
Inspect your lawn from time to time, look for weeds, and make sure to look for problem areas. A thick stand of healthy grass stops weed growth, so significant weed growth is a sign of an unhealthy lawn that can be susceptible to pests.
One indication that a lawn is infested with insects is when adult pests are drawn to lights during nighttime. If vertebrate predators like raccoons, skunks, and birds are digging on your lawn to look for insect pests, that can also be a sign of pest infestation.
The use of biological control agents like predators and parasites limits lawn pests. Most home lawns don’t need to be applied with pesticides if good cultural practices are followed.
How Does Biological Control Work?
Biological control involves the use of invertebrates, insects, and other microorganisms that can feed on lawn pests to prevent the pests from dwelling on your lawn. Some insects are beneficial for your lawn, and healthy lawns can overcome a few pests.
To make your lawn attractive for beneficial insects, you should increase the diversity of plants on your lawn. A diverse set of plants can attract many pests’ natural enemies.
Consider including a variety of flowering plants around your lawn. Pollinators like lady beetles need pollen and nectar to survive.
Want to get further information about biological control? Here’s an article, explaining what is a biological control for pest management.
Is It Okay To Use Pesticides On Your Lawn?
Remember that the use of pesticides should not be practiced unless the pest population is at damaging levels. If pesticide use is necessary, ensure that you’re choosing IPM-compatible materials that have minimal impacts on beneficial organisms.
Biological pesticides that contain live organisms such as entomopathogenic nematodes or biological metabolites are advisable for getting rid of lawn pests. These substances have minimal impacts on natural enemies of pests and other beneficial organisms like the earthworm.
If cultural practices can’t prevent pest damage, you may choose IPM-compatible products. Microbial insecticides with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and entomopathogenic nematodes have low negative impacts on non-target organisms.
Insecticides like pyrethrum (pyrethrins), azadirachtin, and spinosad also pose less danger for nontarget organisms.
Organic Pesticides And Insecticides You Can Use On Your Lawn
An organic pesticide refers to pesticides that come from natural sources. Natural sources include rotenone (botanical insecticides), pyrethrum (pyrethrins), or minerals such as cryolite, boric acid, or diatomaceous earth.
Shown below are examples of recommended organic pesticides for your lawn.
Azadirachtin
It derives from the seeds of the neem tree. It is used to control armyworms, cutworms, and the larvae of lawn moths.
Because azadirachtin acts primarily as an insect growth regulator which can prevent a caterpillar from reaching maturity, most caterpillars are not dead until several days after application.
Neonicotinoids
It helps in managing the population of lawn grubs, including white grubs and billbugs. It is advisable to apply this insecticide when the turf is growing and when insects are feeding on turf.
Take note that Neonicotinoids are not effective against white grubs if applied during springtime, which is before grubs hatch out. They can also be less effective when applied too late in the season which is the time when the grass is not growing rapidly and grubs are not eating a lot.
Pyrethrins
Pyrethrins are botanically-derived organic compounds made from flowers of certain chrysanthemums. This insecticide alters insects’ nerve functions, resulting in paralysis and death.
The effect of pyrethrins may carry on in the application area for several days or more. Ensure that you keep streams of water away from the pyrethrum’s application area as they can be highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates.
Pyrethroids
Pyrethroids eliminate insects and arthropods in the same manner as Pyrethrins but are designed to last longer in the environment, meaning spray residues may remain active for several weeks or more. They’re not as effective against soil-dwelling pests like white grubs, since they bind to soil particles and don’t move easily from the surface into the root zone.
Conclusion
If you find yourself asking the question “what is the manual method in controlling pests in lawn”, that method is the cultural control method. It is practiced in the early stages of pest control to reduce the possibility of insect pest infestation and damage.
Examples of cultural control methods in pest control are crop rotation and proper sanitation. Biological control is also a viable method of eliminating pests from your lawn because it uses the natural enemies of pests.
Organic pesticides and insecticides you can use on your lawn include azadirachtin, neonicotinoids, pyrethrins, and pyrethroids. You may check out this article here to know what is the right way to store pest control chemicals for additional safety.