Spring has sprung and babies are on the way!
While the upcoming spring season happily brings new growth of leaves, flowers, baby bunnies, and broods of birds there will inevitably be a flush of pests as well.
Working in the garden you may find all sorts of pests and it will be important to find your range of tolerance and plan accordingly to be proactive.
A full and healthy garden that provides food and shelter for beneficial insects is bound to host a few beneficial predators, thus the system should find equilibrium. Some pests are outside the range of tolerance either due to quantity or size - then we decide to take more aggressive action to control them. Just be sure to really do your homework.
Attending a recent workshop on gardening for bird habitat refreshed my memory to think about critters that may crawl through our gardens and receive poison carry that deep into the food chain.
For example you may be an avid gardener and birder, but not think about the rat poison in the back of the garage. The rat eats the poison, then wanders around the block for a day or so before dying, then an unsuspecting bird of prey eats the rat and almost certainly will die a very slow and painful death. This may have been the very bird you were hoping to attract to the yard.
A single barn owl can consume 1,500 rats or voles per year - how many of those may be poisoned?
One barn owl needs to eat about 79 pounds of mice a year. During its 10-year lifespan, that equals around 798 pounds of mice, which is about 12,775 individual mice!
There are many ways to minimize pests - think about some simple chores to make your space less inviting; keep pet food and garbage secured, remove old brush piles (small and refreshed ones are good for birds - stay tuned for more on that next month, cover vents and openings, cut overhanging branches and more!
In addition to rats and owls, the toxins in the food chain can be found to affect the smallest snail, house pets and even small children. Please reconsider using rodenticide in your gardens - there are alternatives!
Click the image below for alternatives and actions.
|
