Is there a place for pesticides on the plot?

[Tony Hague]

So he needs 100 lettuces. He does not like using pesticides but he knows that he has a lot of slugs so he plants 1000 lettuces knowing that the slugs will eat most of them but there will be enough left for him to have his lettuce.

Ahh, if only it worked like that. This notion of "planting enough for all" is wishful nonsense. Wildlife don't share - they take the lot, or none at all. Like when pidgeons get to your calabrese - they won't eat one or two plants, but will strut down the row, pecking the nice juicy growing point out of all of them !

Agreed with NB - if you must use slug pellets, use the less harmful types. On the other hand, you can really reduce slug and snail numbers by doing as much as possible to get rid of their damp lurking places near your veg plot. Really worked for me.

[Colin Miles]

If I were able to get rid of all the damp and lurking places near my veg plot I wouldn't have much of a garden/nature reserve.

Surely the solutions depend on the circumstances. If you can isolate your plants from infections and pests then you win. But the whole discussion strikes me as unreal given that noone will starve. All we have to do is pop down to the supermarket when our spuds are blighted or our brassicas decimated by cabbage white caterpillars.

Go back 100 years to a time when the veg plot might have been crucial to the survival of the family and then consider whether you would use pesticides.

[Elaine]

We use these products very rarely and sparingly on the allotment, last year not at all. We net the brassicas but a few intrepid Large White butterflies managed to get in anyway! I just hand picked the resulting caterpillars.

We have 70 tubs with strawberry plants in our garden at home and I do use an insecticide on them if the aphids start to become a big problem. I use it at night, when bees and other beneficial insects are safely tucked up in their beds.

As others have said, a bit of common sense and moderation is the key with this one. I do prefer not to use them but will if absolutely necassary.
Cheers.

[aob9]

Like many people have said here I believe there is a use for pesticides but only in the face of defeat. Having worked in commercial Horticulture in the 80's and 90's I think we have come a long way in improving our approach to growing food. The amount of pesticides applied to Brassicas for example was horrific and it would have been a giant leap of the imagination to suggest the Brussels Sprouts were good for you.

Fast forward to 2012 and we have the opposite problem.I think there are too many "purists" out there ready to condemn many of use for using pesticides even when the need is clearly required. I simply refuse to hand over my crop to greenfly when all organic methods have failed, the Deltamethrin comes out and that's all there is to it.

I do believe in the organic approach to gardening but for me I will never achieve organic status as I'm a firm believer in balance in all areas of life.

Finally, I think the real fear with pesticides is the lack of "understanding" amongst some people. I recently heard of a beginner trying to kill earthworms with an insecticide...........extreme I know but it just goes to show!!!!!!

[Shallot Man]

As for me, I am quiet happy to be organic, that is until the pest's get out of control, then it's out with the pesticide [evenings only]

[Nature's Babe]

if you don't use pesticides then the predators are safe too, eg this year loads of ladybirds are cleaning up the early greenfly on my strawberries etc, I admit you might have to grin and bear it for a year or two before nature strikes a balance, after that the predators take care of the pests for you.

[glallotments]

I admit you might have to grin and bear it for a year or two before nature strikes a balance, after that the predators take care of the pests for you.

Have you found that predators effectively deal with whitefly NB?

[peter]

Balance is a funny thing sometimes.

In some predator - prey relationships there are two slightly out of balance up and down population level cycles, where the predator curve is chasing the prey curve. Until the prey has a population explosion runs out of food and collapses, followed by an abrupt fall in the predator numbers. Then they start to recover.
Of course in our entirely artificial constructs of vegetable plots we continue to supply food suited to particular "herbivores" and their lifecycle, but not necessarily the environment for the predator lifecycle, hence the usefulness of wild patches or bug reserves.

[thetangoman]

No No No and No..only soapy water is required for the pests ..if we really care about our environment chemicals should not be used ..damage to soil structures and beneficial insects and organisms .
Much better to loose a few seedlings , share some cabbage with some pigeons, companion plant and work with nature ...

Now we wait for the comments to follow !!!!!

[glallotments]

, share some cabbage with some pigeons,

I can't think of a pesticide that would be used to control pigeons but if you use bird proof netting then you don't have to share your cabbages. If you use Insect proof netting - even better as it keeps most of the cabbage whites out too. Most as the odd one or two seem to find a way in!

[thetangoman]

Thats called sharing ..like above ..thats fine to share with nature or do things the natural way ..and let some pigeons have some cabbage okay !!

[aob9]

No, for the sake of netting cabbage I would rather not let the pigeons have some. I only have the space to grow a few heads and it's not worth the effort if I'm only doing it to feed pigeons. Besides, there is plenty foraging for pigeons where i live.