Disease and Insects

Moma Tree & Lawn Care Offers Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a program designed to reduce the severity and impact of chemicals used to control insects/mites and diseases of the landscape environment by seeking less toxic alternatives, such as preservation of beneficial insects, organic pesticides, localized systemics, etc.

Remember, Not All Insects Are Bad

Not all bugs are bad, or icky or yuck! Some insects perform the very important task of helping us get rid of ‘bad bugs’ naturally and safely without insecticides and other dangerous methods.

We all know about Ladybugs or “lady beetles” and praying mantis’, but what about ground beetles, hoverflies and parasitic wasps!

Ladybugs eat aphids, mite, mealy bugs among other things as well as the eggs of insects.

Ground Beetles will eat soil dwelling insects, other beetles, gypsy moth larvae and many kinds of caterpillars.

Hoverflies are also known as flower flies and they look like little yellow jackets but they can‘t sting. My grandmother used to call them sugar bees. The immature hoverfly can eat 400 aphids! They also eat mealybugs, scale, and leafhoppers amongst others.

Parasitic Wasps are awesomely carnivorous. You probably wouldn’t recognize them as a wasp if you saw one. Some of them look like houseflies. Some of them are no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. They lay their eggs on or in host insects and when the eggs hatch, the babies eat their way out of the host, killing it slowly.

How to Attract Beneficial Insects

Buy or Attract Them Naturally

You can buy many of these beneficial insects at your local greenhouse supplier but it is better to try to attract them naturally to your yard so that you know that they will stick around and thrive. You can achieve this by planting certain kinds of plants, shrubs and trees to attract them. That’s all part of our Integrated Pest Management maintenance.

Coriander / Cilantro, Dill, Fennel and Queen Anne’s Lace will attract hover flies and parasitic wasps to your yard or garden. Ladybugs and ground beetles are attracted to Sunflowers, Yarrow and Tansy among others. I grew tansy one year next to my patio, and it was covered with hundreds of ladybugs by August! It was awesome!

Beneficial insects are also attracted to many cover crops that are planted locally, such as alfalfa, fava and soy beans, vetches and ground clover.

Remember, just because they have wings and or 6 or 8 legs, don’t go for the can of bug spray right away, because they could be your gardens’ best friend!

Visit Our Photo Gallery

Please take a few minutes to view our photo gallery of landscape projects. You may get inspired and consider your own project! We also have a photo gallery of good/bad insect photos so that you can identify them if they appear on your property. Enjoy!