Maintain a nice yard naturally

By Nicky Upson | For The Olympian • Published August 18, 2008

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines Integrated Pest Management as "an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices." Here in Thurston County, IPM is regarded as a collection of techniques that seeks to keep pest and vegetation problems low enough to reduce or eliminate the reliance on chemical control.

Since the 1980s, Thurston County departments that are responsible for pest or vegetation management activities, such as maintaining parks and rights-of-way, have used the methods of Integrated Pest Management. With years of practical experience in the effectiveness of IPM, Thurston County recently released 10 new IPM "prescriptions" designed to help homeowners combat some of the area's most common lawn and landscape pests.

The prescriptive approach accounts for site-specific conditions and uses cultural processes to improve the health of the site, such as controlling European crane fly larvae by improving the health of lawns. In another example, manual or mechanical methods, such as mowing, cutting and pulling Himalayan blackberry plants, can effectively offer control where there previously was none. Some of the biological means employed to help keep pests at bay include beneficial nematodes for crane fly, goats and chickens for blackberry, and ducks for slugs.

As a last resort, chemical controls may be used. Each pesticide product mentioned in the IPM prescriptions has passed a careful review, which identifies and accounts for personal and environmental risks of using the product. Each product has been evaluated based on how long it will remain in and how toxic a product is in the environment and its potential to harm humans. Products that are least toxic to both humans and the environment pass the review and are listed as a method of control.

As fall approaches, now is a good time to take control of pests that plague our area using IPM techniques. Some tips from the new IPM prescriptions include:

• Remove Scotch broom using manual or mechanical methods during periods of drought stress -- now through September -- for the greatest level of control.

• During early October, renovate lawns and correct problems that create ideal moss growing conditions.

• Seek out and destroy slug eggs during the fall for fewer of the pests next year.

• Removal of poison oak plants and root systems is easiest when the ground is very wet (late fall through early spring).

• Chemical control of field bindweed (morning glory) is most effective in late summer through fall.

IPM prescriptions for a variety of pests are available throughout the county at the following locations:

Home Depot stores, Bark and Garden Center, Ace Hardware (Southgate and Cooper Point locations), Ralph's Thriftway; K-Mart, Wal-Mart (Lacey and Yelm), Gordon's Garden Center, Top Food & Drug in Lacey, and the Lacey and Yelm libraries. If you can't find the prescription you're looking for, or would like an electronic copy of any of the prescriptions, please contact 360-754-4111.

Nicky Upson is an environmental educator with Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. She can be reached at 360-754-4111, ext. 4663, or Upsonn@co.thurston.wa.us.