How to Identify and Control Pests and Diseases Organically of course!

I quite often am asked what is happening to a favorite house plant or vegetable or rose or (fill in the blank). The process by which I determine what the problem is has evolved thru out the years and has settled down to a combination of experience and a systematic approach. There can be many effects of garden, flower, rose or perennial landscape plant problems, and many of these problems can appear to have the same symptoms on different plants.

A long time ago I stopped trying to name and identify pests and diseases because I realized what the true law of cause and effect was, and how that if this were controlled, the results would be to eliminate those pests and diseases!

In other words, to me, it is not important to know what pest or disease is attacking your plant, but it is more important to deal with the cause and not the effects, the effects being the pests and diseases.

Eliminate the cause and you eliminate its effects.

To identify the cause of the plant’s problem, it is necessary to look at the plant and the conditions it is living in; examine all parts of the plants: the flowers, leaves, stem; and do some detective work to determine causes. The process of elimination of possible causes can lead to the identification of the problem(s).   There can be more than one cause and therefore more than one effect. Once the cause(s) of pests and diseases are correctly identified, corrective cultural measures can be taken to control the problem.

All diseases are soil borne. The are already in the soil, just waiting for the proper conditions to appear. Yes, Insects spread diseases, but all insects have contact with the soil either in early formative stages or thru the lifespan. Diseases and Pests have evolved along with the microbial life in the soil.

In a recent article in the LA Times titled “Will microbes save agriculture?”,  Have scientists “discovered” (don’t ya just love scientists? (They could have saved millions of dollars and time just by asking me),  that beneficial bacteria and fungi could boast plants growth. Wow.

That is on one level kool that scientists are coming around to this, but on another hand, we good ole boys, the organic farmers have to know that for centuries. Not only scientists are studying this, but big business is researching and coming up with products that will increase resistance to pests and diseases, to drought; and reduce farmers reliance on fertilizers and pesticides.

Here is a quote from the article “Scientists have known since the 19th century that microbes could be beneficial to plants, not just causes diseases.”.

Some scientists are working on GEO research for various chemical companies like Monsanto. They are working on not just GEO but also GMO’s. I have already explained the difference between the two many times, so I won’t now. Let’s just say that scientists working for these companies have developed ways to incorporate soil microbes into the genes of plants thus making the plant healthier and more resistant to pests and therefore diseases. This is good and not bad. It has nothing to do with round-up,24-d, and other nasty GEO stuff but more to do with understanding the soil and how the plants, soil microbes and pests and diseases have evolved to work for or against each other.

Since I started my business in the 6th grade, I knew this. I knew that it starts in the soil. I noticed that everything, even humans, is connected to the soil in one way or another. Try growing without soil say 100 years ago or even 50,000 years ago. You knew that land to grow on. Animals need the land to eat the food that grows upon it and so forth.

I knew that it was somehow important to understand the soil and how it is “Alive” and how it affects all living things.

One of my very first customer called me about an ant problem she (they..the whole family ) had. When I went there, the first thing I noticed was that there was a sick tree right next to the house and that the ants were literally raining down upon their home!

So I said to myself (self, what’s up with the ants and this tree?). I knew that if I were to stop the ants from attacking the tree (actually ants do not attack trees, they instead herd various insects which attack the tree and produce nectar, which the ants then milk them, and take it back to their colony), that the ants would no longer be a problem to these folks. So I started to examine what were some of the possible causes of why this tree was “sick and not healthy.

So if you follow the effects, they will always lead you to their causes.

So I asked the folks what were they doing to the tree that is causing it to get sick. I found out that not only were they over watering the tree but they were over fertilizing with a high nitrogen fertilizer (a lawn surrounded the tree).

Trees do not like high nitrogen fertilizers and definitely do not like to be over-watered. City water kills off the beneficial microbes in the soil allowing bad microbes (diseases) to move it. So I showed them how to reduce their watering, how to use organic low nitrogen fertilizers and how to properly organically fertilize the tree.

Once they did this, the ants stopped coming to the tree. Problem solved. Please be aware that this will take a time to correct and that the tree should be foliar fed to allow for rapid absorption of nutrients (takes time for the trees roots to recover). In the meanwhile, I told them about Terro ant bait and how to use that to keep the ants controlled until the tree has recovered.

any questions send me an email at andylopez@invisiblegardener.com

andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener