Sometimes garden pests are an occasional problem, most often caused by climate events, like a temporary drought or an unusually wet season. Although we generally don’t advise the use of pesticides, in this situation, when you think your plant might die from the infestation, you may choose to use one. Try natural remedies first. Pests that have been occasional pests for thousands of years might become structural pests as an effect of climate change. In that case pesticides will not be enough, and you should consider replacing the affected species in your yard.

Structural Pests

Structural pests are pests that return year after year and for which we have no real solutions. These pest mainly occur because there is an imbalance in our environment. Many landscapers offer seasonal pesticide applications for these types of pest. But these applications don’t solve anything. In fact they make the problem worse. As our climate changes, more resilient insects will survive the more vulnerable insects. Pesticides speed up this process, and help to weaken already weakened insect species. Insect numbers have almost dropped almost 80% in the past 75 years; meanwhile insect pests have become more common. The solution of this problem lays in the restoration of our environment and the fight against climate change. As a landscaper, the best way to mitigate these pests is by creating a healthy habitat with the right plants for that habitat, and by inviting predator insects and insect-eating birds into the yard.

Invasive Pests

With invasive pests we refer to exotic insects that were introduced into our environment and, because they have no evolutionary predators, have been able to spread without control. These invasive pests can cause whole tree species to become endangered, and whole harvests to be damaged. Invasive pests are a global problem that has international attention. For example, in the northeast we recently lost thousands of white oaks to Gypsy Moths in Connecticut, the Emerald Ash borer is devastating ash tree populations and now we are threatened with the Spotted Lanternfly, which is causing serious damage, particularly to fruit trees, in parts of Pennsylvania.

Deer

Although deer are native to North America, the absence of natural predators and the prevalence of fragmented habitat, especially woodland combined with open spaces, have increased their numbers such, that they have become one of the, literally, biggest pests in our environment. Particularly in the northeast, deer browsing has caused undergrowth to disappear from forests, and has given many exotic species an edge over the natives, simply because the deer didn’t develop a ‘taste’ for them. Deer are a serious issue in forest management, but they can also be very discouraging to gardeners. Nowadays most plants come with deer resistant information. Most effective methods to deal with deer are isolating, fencing, planting densely and planting deer proof plants around more vulnerable species. For deer proof plants, shrubs and trees please see the links below.