Most Effective Ways To Remove Pests From Soil

It doesn’t matter whether you’re growing vegetables, flowers, or something else. It can be difficult to create the right conditions to encourage growth. That’s why it is so frustrating when you discover your hard work is for nothing as you are simply creating food for an array of insects.

It’s not surprising that you’ll want to eliminate the pests from your soil. The good news is there are several ways in which you can do this.

Get Professional Help

The most obvious starting point, especially if you have limited experience with growing plants and dealing with pests, is to get the commercial pest control experts involved. They can assess the issues you’re facing, deal with them for you, and offer advice on how to prevent the pests from returning.

In many cases, this is the fastest and simplest solution.

Use Pesticides

Another option is to purchase pesticides and spray either your plants or the soil around them. Pesticides are designed to kill pests and they are very effective.

However, if you’re growing plants to eat you’ll need to question whether using pesticides is the best idea. In addition, they can damage the soil and other plants, even preventing beneficial pests from staying.

It’s effective but may not be the best option.

Start With Clean Soil

You can do this when you create your soil beds or just before the growing season starts. You’ll need to find organic material that can be mixed into your soil. The natural elements in the composting material will help to keep pests away.

Alongside this, cover your beds in black plastic. This ensures heat is trapped between the soil and the plastic, effectively killing most pests and their eggs.

It’s best to keep the soil covered for six months, meaning it could affect your growing season.

Encourage Predators

Most pests have predators. What you need to do is talk to the specialists to understand which pests are most common in your area. You’ll then be able to work out which creatures prey on your pests.

Then, all you need to do is create a habitat that will attract these creatures to your garden. They will eliminate your soil pest problem for you.

Pest Resistant Seeds

If you’re planting from seed then you should consider paying a little more to get pest-resistant seeds. They have been genetically altered to make them invulnerable to common diseases and pests. All you have to do is purchase these seeds and plant them as you usually would. The rest takes care of itself.

Thin Your Plants

Another way to eliminate soil pests is to reduce the appeal of their environment. By aggressively removing and thinning out your existing plants you’ll eliminate any disease and make the gap between the plants too wide for plants to move safely through.

Water Early

Your plants need water to supply and it’s recommended you water them early in the morning or late at night to prevent sun damage.

If you opt for the morning you’ll find the leaves dry during the day and the plant has less appeal to pests.