Learn how physical and cultural controls can help you deal with pests

Squashing bugs with bare hands was probably the first form of pest control. Although this can still be a useful technique, there are also a few more sophisticated physical and mechanical methods.

Vacuuming. The vacuum is a pest control device disguised as a cleaning tool. Indoors, it can be used on pests such as fleas, ants, and cockroaches. Outdoors, it can be used to suck up adult whiteflies, squash bugs, and other unwanted plant feeders.

Caulking. Caulk has many uses around the house to prevent pests from entering our homes, but in the yard and garden, special cement crack filler can be used to eliminate spots where weeds are likely to grow.

Barriers. Sticky barriers (such as Tanglefoot^®, Tree Sticky Barrier^®) around the trunks of trees and shrubs can prevent ants from reaching aphids, scales, and mealybugs and protecting them from their natural enemies. Special horticultural fabric (such as Tufbel) made into row covers can be placed over seedlings in the garden to keep pests out while still allowing water and sunlight to reach the plants. Other kinds of horticultural fabric can be laid on the ground to prevent weed growth. Paper bags placed over young apples and pears will exclude codling moths.

Manual Weeding. Pulling weeds by hand or with the aid of various weeding tools is still the least-disruptive way to control weeds, especially when there are only a few.

Flame Weeding. Heat can kill unwanted plants. With a hand-held flamer (a propane torch) you can heat plants until the sap in their cells expands enough to break the cell walls and cause death. The plants need not be burned for this to happen; holding the flamer over the plant just long enough for the plant to change color or wilt is sufficient. This technique works best on young, broad-leaf annual weeds.

Changing the way you garden can have a great impact on your pest problems. Vigorous plants growing under the right conditions are less likely to suffer from attack by pests.

Choose the Right Plant for the Right Spot. When you try to grow a shade-loving plant in full sunlight, you're going to have problems keeping the plant healthy or even alive. Before you buy a plant at the nursery, find out as much about it as you can. What type of soil does it like? Moist, dry, well-drained, alkaline, acid, etc.? How much sun and water does it need? Learn about the requirements of the plants already in your garden too. If a plant is growing in the wrong place, consider moving it or replacing it.

Choose Resistant Plants. Many plants are naturally resistant to pests or have been bred to be so. Talk to knowledgeable nursery personnel or do your own research in gardening books. Look for the words "resistant to ...".

Diversify your Garden. Variety in your garden will help prevent a situation where a pest can rapidly devastate a large group of identical plants. Maintaining nectar and pollen-rich plants in your garden attracts the adult stages of many beneficial insects that feed on pests. Flowers attract honeybees to pollinate fruit and butterflies to add beauty. A few of these plants are sweet alyssum, cosmos, fleabane, and native buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.).

Use Mulch to Prevent Weeds. Many weedy plants are specifically adapted to grow best in bare or disturbed soil. Covering the soil with mulch eliminates their habitat.

Take Care of your Soil. A healthy soil, one which harbors abundant populations of earthworms, fungi, and bacteria, keeps your plants vigorous and resistant to attack by pests and diseases. You should be able to find 10 earthworms in a patch of soil 6 inches deep and 1 1/2 ft. square. If they aren't there, add organic matter (compost or mulch) to your soil.

Give Plants the Right Amount of Water. Both water-logged plants and drought-stressed plants will have a hard time growing and will suffer more if attacked by pests. Know the moisture requirements of the plants in your garden, as well as any new ones you buy, and group together plants with similar moisture requirements.

Fertilize Properly. Determine your fertilizer needs by learning about the signs of plant nutrient deficiencies and by having a soil analysis done by a soils laboratory. Using slow-release fertilizers such as compost, decomposed manures, encapsulated materials (such as Osmacote^®), and many of the organic fertilizers on the market will also help prevent certain insect and disease problems that thrive on leaves and buds with high nitrogen levels.

Prune Correctly. Learn about how and when to prune the woody plants in your garden. Your Certified Arborist or nurseryperson can provide assistance. Since all pruning of live tissue involves wounding your plants, do it carefully and conservatively. Cut just outside the swollen collar of tissue where the branch meets the trunk or another branch. Dead wood can be removed in any season; live branches can be minimally pruned in any season. Do not paint tree wounds; this can be detrimental to healing. For pest management, minimal pruning is best because it will stimulate the least amount of new growth (which attracts many insect species).