 Helping Pollinators in the GardenWorld wide we are loosing our pollinators – our birds, bees
and other insects, and our nocturnal animals such as possums and bats. And without pollinators we don’t
eat. It sounds bizarre but it is
true, that without bees and other pollinators we die. It is a pretty simple
equation; everything that goes onto our dinner table relies on bees or other
pollinators. Without pollinators
our forests will de-evolve back to ferns, without pollination the high yield,
high-energy plants (monocotyledons & dicotyledons) will wither and die. The decline of larger animals – birds, bats and possums, is
mainly due to loss of habitat through land clearing. The decline in pollinating insects is due to the use of
insecticides, and the main killer for these small pollinators are systemic
insecticides*. All insecticides they are like bombs, they are
non-selective. And if a contact
insecticide acts like a bomb then systemic insecticides act like a nucellar
bomb – the residue from its application lasts a long time. Because of the insular nature of the Australian population
the first time most Aussies will notice there is a problem is when the
Supermarket shelves start to get bare.
Australians lead by our politicians will rightly blame farming
practices. But what our farmers do
is only part of the problem; the predominance of the use of systemic sprays
around our houses, on our gardens and in public places is growing. And there is evidence from overseas
that home gardeners over use systemic insecticides (there have been higher
concentrations measured in tissue samples from gardens than from farms). So the general population is also the
problem … and can also be part of the solution as explained in the next
paragraph.  What gets me is that we don’t have to use them. When we are healthy we are less likely
to get sick. And like us a healthy
vigorous plant has resistances to both fungal and insect attack. We keep our health up by having a
healthy well rounded diet, similarly keep the health and vigore of your plants
up by using a well rounded mineral based fertiliser. A healthy environment has many checks and balances. Remember that insecticides are like
bombs; they don’t just target bad insects. Like a healthy environment a healthy garden that has never
or rarely had an insecticide used in it will have a good number of predatory
insects (good guys) and insect eating birds to keep the plant eating insects in
check. It is to easy, and to
simplistic, to reach for the can of insecticide every time we see an
insect. There is always an underlying problem or weakness when there
is damaging insect attack, and using insecticides will further weaken the
balance within the garden environment.
So instead of seeing insect attack as a problem, look at the damage as a
symptom; it is that the plants are under stress that has led to them being weak
enough to succumb to insect attack.
Instead of directly targeting the insects prune the damaged foliage off
and give the plant a feed of a well balanced mineral based fertiliser. I run a nursery that sells ornamental Australian native
plants. I can’t sell plants that
have damaged leaves or stems. Yet
it has been over six months (warm months at that) since we have used an
insecticide. I have been
controlling insect damage to my plants by keeping the vigore of my plants up
through creating and using a superior potting media, selecting and using the
correct amount of fertiliser and, if there are problem insects damaging my
plants, using vegetable oils**. In
my experience, vegetable oils work as a knockdown for all soft bodied insects
and as a deterrent for hard bodied insects. I also suspect that it acts as a barrier to fungal
infection. I know that I will have
to resort to insecticides at some stage but its use will be targeted and for a
very short period of time insuring that the numbers of predatory insects are
kept up. So help your environment, improve the health of your garden,
be a friend to a bee:
And year by year the bird a bee population will increase and
your fruit bearing plants will provide more food as the balance within your
garden and local environment improves. If enough of us turn away from our dependence on
insecticides and use products that improve the strength of the plants within
our gardens them Gardens Supply Centres will stop stocking them and promote
products that will help improve the garden environment. And by doing so lessen the use of
insecticides as more people become aware of better ways to protect their
gardens. And as more people become
aware of the potential problems of insecticide use the governments will respond
furthering the discussion … at lest that is my hope. Nick Hansa Fairhill Native Plants & Botanic Gardens * A systemic insecticide is a poison that is taken up by the
plants and distributed to every part of the plant, including the flowers and
fruit. Traditionally systemic
insecticides are sprayed onto the foliage of the plant but they come in forms
that are delivered via the root system.
Systemic sprays can be persistent within the plant for up to four weeks,
when applied via the soil it can be persistent for years. There are many different brands but it
is safe to assume that all for them have neonicotinoids as the active
ingredient which, in simplistic terms, is a nerve agent. **There are many recipes for vegetable oil sprays and you
can buy them pre-mixed. The recipe
that I use is: Canola Oil mixed
with enough dishwashing liquid to act as an emulsifier (approx. 1 cup of oil to
1 tablespoon of detergent). This
is mix at a rate of 10-15ml. to 1 litre of water. Bibliography |
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