Organic Pest Controls in the Gardens

The Situation

We have numerous challenges from insect, rodent, and bird pests here at the Sanctuary. Because we are surrounded by wilderness where there are more animal life forms than the natural plant life can sustain, all the juicy, succulent things we are growing are highly attractive to the pests.

We are currently testing a number of pest controls

• Our mint and some other herbs were attacked by leafhoppers We tried a Neem oil solution and grasshopper control from Arbico Organics without success, so we dug up the plants and put them in a screened-in box. They are now thriving.
• We have been using the Neem oil solution from Arbico Organics on fruit trees, to control the leaf-cutting wasps, with some success. We are still monitoring the effectiveness.
• We are propagating Chinaberry seedlings, which are related to Neem, in hopes that the extracts from them will work as well as Neem itself, which we cannot grow here because Neem is a tropical plant.

We will provide updates on our progress with pest control, and let you know about any of our new findings.