Living With Pests—Part 1: The Problem

The closer I get to nature and the more I become aware of its qualities, the more I become in awe of it. But there’s a downside to rubbing shoulders with Ma Nature: dealing with pests. The natural world abounds with fierce competition between species. Only the fittest thrive and survive in this aggressive environment. And humans are the fiercest creatures of all; we have come to occupy and control virtually every corner of the globe. But our dominance is constantly being challenged by all kinds of pests. It’s a never-ending struggle. That’s evolution!

When we humans choose to live in secure urban enclaves, we are rarely face the challenge of directly competing with pests. The pest control folks usually take care of the job for us. They’ve either already swept the area clean or a quick call to them brings in their high-tech weapons. In rural environments, however, we usually face the confrontation on our own—especially when we are trying to garden and grow our own food. The problem is aggravated when you are a neophyte—as we were a couple of decades ago. When starting to garden, you can become overwhelmed by the pesky invaders.

Our move to the woods saw us inhabiting on a plot of land that had contained rather scrawny shrubs and trees. It was healthy, but no flourishing Garden of Eden. We cleared an area for a homesite and a garden, worked hard to enrich the soil, and planted vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and fruit trees. In a couple of years we were on the way towards transforming the sparse patch of land into our version of a luxuriant Eden. Was it any surprise that oodles of critters wanted to join us? I remember being amazed when cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and cabbage moths so quickly zeroed in on our garden. We thought we were so isolated. Where the hell did they come from?

Home-grown tomatoes, beans, corn, and other veggies have been our sustenance and joy over the years, but they are also favored by all sorts of pests—insects, worms, beetles, chewing mammals, molds & mildews, etc. We’ve contended with countless of these nuisances over the years. Some battles we’ve won, some we’ve surrendered, and some are ongoing—with periods of truce, followed by the critters launching and relaunching their assaults, just when we thought we’d prevailed.

We’ve experienced two general types of pests: the irritating and the sinister. The former might be insects that moderately harass a vegetable or may even devastate a less crucial vegetable, such as eggplants. The sinister pest might be deer, who can nibble off damned near the entire garden’s tender young plants, or the bugs that clean out all of the squash. You can afford to be flexible and a little forgivable when irritating pests do damage. But when the sinister invaders attack, your back is against the wall. You have to draw a line in the homestead sand or you may end up famished and fruitless.

The challenge to effective pest resistance is discerning how threatening the invader is and then selecting an appropriate response. Easy answers are rare—despite the ads that chemical companies and high-tech outfitters place in garden catalogs. We’ve found that the best long-term approach is to educate yourself as best you can on the vagaries of your varmint. That’s the topic next time.