How to Manage your Landscape Using Fewer Pesticides

Create cultural conditions that benefit your plants.

• Know plants you have in the yard
• Get a soil test
• Learn optimal conditions for your plants (pH, light, and water requirements)
• When planting choose the right plant for the right place
• Avoid insecticides to encourage beneficial predatory insects
• Encourage beneficial insects with small flowered native plants

Create cultural conditions that make it less desirable for pests

• Increase space between plants (especially trees and shrubs) for better air circulation
• In garden and perennial beds, improve soil with layers of compost each year
• In vegetable gardens, rotate plants so that plants in the same family are not planted in the same spot every year
• Vary planting and harvesting schedules for vegetables to take advantage of the time when the pest is less active
• Follow soil test recommendations; don’t over-fertilize
• Reduce the amount of monoculture, the cultivation of a single crop or organism (ex: Fescue grass lawn)
• Follow Virginia Tech lawn care recommendations

Practice good sanitation

• Clean up fallen leaves from diseased plants, bag and dispose of in a landfill
• Prune out diseased branches and dispose properly
• Sanitize tools after each cut with a bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water) or use alcohol (70% or greater)
• Wear disposable gloves and wash clothing when working around plants known to be infected with easily spread diseases such as boxwood blight.
• Remove dead plant material from vegetable gardens where insects can overwinter

Catch pest problems early before they become harder to control

• Scout yard regularly for plants that don’t look normal or healthy
• Examine plants for insects and disease when buying
• Identify problems and send photos or bring samples to the Hanover Cooperative Extension. You can reach us at 804-752-4306 or hanover.master.gardener@gmail.com
• Follow the recommendations in the Virginia Tech Pest Management Guide
• If necessary, choose pesticides that cause the least harm to other organisms

Tips provided by Master Gardener Emily Gianfortoni as part of a Home Gardening Series handout

Wildlife Pests

Snakes of Virginia
Relocation and Rehabilitation Contacts

It is illegal to kill snakes in Virginia. If you need to remove a snake you can call
one of the rehabilitators listed below.

Rehabber Listings: https://dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/injured/rehabilitators/  Or search for DWR Wildlife Rehab.  Please remember it’s illegal to keep or care for orphaned or injured wildlife
unless you are a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

More Information on Pests

• Spotted Lanternfly Identification and Reporting in Virginia
• Squash the Squash Bugs – best ways to deal with this pest
• Cross Striped Cabbageworm – dealing with this garden pest
• Relationship between Plants and Pollinators – Plants have a unique relationship with the insects that pollinate them.
• Tick Identification  – Learn more about how to identify ticks and what diseases they carry.
• Boxwood Blight Information – Series of videos addressing boxwood blight.
• Pest Management  – The appearance and control of pests can vary from month to month. See the charts for the months of April, May, June and July.
• Neem Oil  – Need oil can be an organics solution to pest management.