A beautiful and healthy garden is attractive not only to green thumbs but also to little creatures with a taste for the greens – pests. The most popular of pest control devices have been chemical in nature. However, modern research has found that chemical control of pests, unless strictly monitored, may pose health hazards to human beings and also to the environment. This has led many to look at the option of controlling garden pests using methods that are non-toxic.

Maintaining the health of the plants in your garden means that they can get their own defense systems to work when attacked by pests. Resistance, though, may not always work and so other devices such as introducing variety, physical traps, and natural predators have been necessary. Another interesting area is that of organic pest control. This includes soft soap in a solution that is natural in its content and can be used to counter small insects. Organic pest control needs to be applied with care as well, and one needs to read the labels and other documentation carefully.

For instance, liquid forms of bacillus thuringensis, which contain xylene, are prohibited, while boric acid cannot be used on edible plants. Insect extracts such as nematodes and pheromones, when they occur naturally, are allowed but, if not used carefully, could cause dermatitis. Summer oils could be used on woody plants, although carrot and weed oils are prohibited. Too much of bordeaux mixes could cause a buildup of copper in the soil and limit their continued use. Among those materials which are prohibited to be used in organic cultivation are abamectin or avermectin, chlorinated hydrocarbons, dimethyl sulfoxide, methyl sulfoxide and pyrethroids.

Some fertilizers that have been approved for use in organic cultivation are algae, biodynamic preparations, boron products, chelates, cocoa bean hulls, diatomaceous earth, enzymes, fish meal, greensand, gypsum, hoof and horn meal, limestone, mined material, peat moss, sugar beet lime, wood ashes, and zinc sulfate. Those prohibited from use as fertilizers include ammonia products, hydrated lime, leather meal or tankage, phosphoric acid, potassium nitrate, super phosphate, urea, and Vitamin B1.