Finding bugs on your plants can be alarming. The last thing that you want to worry about is losing your landscaping to pests. But people don’t always realize that there are many beneficial insects in landscaping that don’t cause any harm.
In fact, some of the beneficial insects for trees and shrubs might actually be helping your plants. That’s because they’re helping reduce the population of harmful pests by preying on them.
While landscape pest management is important, the key is to strike the right balance. You want a program that leaves helpful insects alone. This is called “Integrated Pest Management” (or “IPM”).
In this article, we’ll dive into what integrated pest management for landscapes is all about and how it’s the best approach to caring for your trees and shrubs. We’ll also talk about the important ways that beneficial insects fit into the picture.
The focus should always be on what’s best for your North Mississippi property.
Integrated pest management (often called IPM) is a pest management strategy that combines multiple methods for controlling pest populations. Instead of just relying on pesticides, an IPM approach focuses on prevention, monitoring, and targeted control as needed.
Lawn & Pest Solutions uses an integrated pest management approach to pest control and educates our customers on the many options available to them.
An IPM approach starts with a thorough inspection, an important component of the entire strategy. This allows us to identify your insect problems and their possible sources.
Once we identify a problem, we can suggest targeted solutions for your specific issue. You are also part of the decision-making process because your preferences shape your desired outcome and the control strategies you feel comfortable using to reach it.
This differs from a blanket approach, like using a single product to treat multiple pests and applying it throughout the landscape. This is simply not the most proactive or safest approach.
In addition, a blanket approach fails to account for the many beneficial insects in landscaping that should be left alone because they’re already helping to naturally reduce harmful pest populations.
In general, integrated pest management is a more thoughtful approach to controlling pests in landscaping.
Some of the benefits include:
In summary, we believe IPM is the most effective and least intrusive approach. You might think of it as the best of all worlds.
Beneficial insects in landscaping are those that help your trees, shrubs, and other plants rather than harm them. That might be through pollination, or it could be because they act as natural pest control for shrubs and other plants by preying on them.
Some of the beneficial insects in areas like Tupelo, New Albany, and surrounding North MS communities include the Lady Beetle, the Green Lacewing, and, of course, all types of bees.
As we mentioned, beneficial insects are those that play a helpful role in the landscape. This might occur through the important process of pollination, or they might help reduce harmful pest populations by consuming them.
As examples, Lady Beetles and Green Lacewings eat plant pests such as aphids and scale. And bees are excellent pollinators.
The trouble is that many landscape pest management strategies kill harmful insects while also killing helpful ones. That’s why we prefer integrated pest management for landscapes in North Mississippi.
We’ve covered a lot and hopefully answered your questions, but before we wrap up, let’s answer a few more of the most commonly asked questions.
Yes, they can. A great example: Crape Myrtle Bark Scale is a devastating pest in our area, and one of our in-season control measures is to apply an insect growth regulator, which allows Lady Beetles to continue to feed on the scale. This improves the control of scale and keeps the Lady Beetles in place.
Beneficial insects in landscaping help to naturally reduce harmful pest populations by preying on them. An integrated pest management approach will target harmful pests by leaving the beneficial ones alone.
In areas like Tupelo, New Albany, Oxford and other surrounding North Mississippi communities, pests such as Aphids, Scale, Mites, Leafhoppers, Caterpillars, Lace Bugs, and Japanese Beetles are among the worst offenders in causing plant damage.
Yes, pesticides are still used with an IPM approach, but they’re used as needed and with a much more targeted strategy. This is the most effective and responsible way to use pesticides.
Of course! But keep in mind that even with a proactive approach, IPM calls for the right product at the right time at the right rate. It's not a single spray over everything. Too often, this is a DIY approach that harms beneficial insects.
Landscape pests can be incredibly destructive, and you need a solution that can effectively manage them. But it’s always best when that approach does not harm beneficial insects of trees and shrubs. That’s why Integrated Pest Management is a best practice.
That being said, many tree and shrub care services do not offer IPM. A key reason for this is that it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot easier for a company to just go out and do a blanket application than to be selective about what they’re treating.
IPM also requires much more expertise. Companies need trained people on staff who really understand how to diagnose and treat problems as they arise.
It can also take a little bit more time. IPM is more focused on long-term success and is not a “quick fix.”
Even so, if you can find a company that uses IPM, we believe you’ll truly get the best of all worlds. An integrated pest management approach to pest control can help you tackle your pest problems and keep them away with minimal impact to your surroundings and a major impact on the bug populations you don’t want hanging around.
At the end of the day, it boils down to doing what’s best for your landscape with a company that truly has your best interest at heart.
Here at Lawn & Pest Solutions, we care about our customers. That’s why we practice IPM. If you want to learn more about IPM, call Lawn & Pest Solutions and talk to one of our experts. We excel at effective pest management through IPM, and we can educate you on the benefits and overall success of this strategy.
We believe that you should be able to enjoy your North MS property to the fullest without having destructive pests in the way.
Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for pest control services in North Mississippi? We’re excited to learn more about you. Get started today with a free quote. We can prepare a customized plan that is perfect for you and your home.
Image Sources | Lady Beetle, Bee, Japanese Beetle