No easy answer to problem of pest control
I WAS chatting to a friend the other day who was proudly sporting a colourful rosette, won at the local flower show where he had lifted top honours in the autumn fruit platter section.
As our own plum tree was alive with wasps eating the fruit, I asked my green-fingered pal for the secret of his success.
“Oh,” he replied, “I had some wasps’ bikes in the garden earlier in the year – but I bought a can of spray from the garden centre to get rid of them.”
He’d been worried it would be some of that “weak as dishwater” stuff – but it had been highly effective and had virtually melted the nests.
“Mind you,” he said, “I wouldn’t mention this to anyone in case I get the wasp protection league round.”
And that struck a chord, as farmers are taking stick from environmental groups which blame the industry for the decline in some wildlife species.
It might once have been common for farmers to look for “something a bit stronger” to get on top of weeds and insects but, on most farms, the approach has changed a lot in recent years.
Nowadays, before we spray a field we have to consider other methods of controlling the many pests and weeds which seem intent on either eating or out-competing the crops we try to grow.
Obliterating all the insects in a field is counter-productive as the good bugs which eat pest species would also be wiped out – and if these “guard dog” insects are killed off too, the field would be left wide open to reinvasion.
In fact, sections of fields are often left semi-wild to ensure that predator insects – such as ladybirds – can breed and are ready to attack pests such as aphids.
But, on the spray front, many farmers are finding that the boot is now on the other foot – and often “something a bit weaker” is the only choice available.
As older sprays are being taken off the market – with precious few new ones coming on – growers are also struggling to control many of the weeds, which can be a real problem in their crops. It makes harvest much more difficult and also reduces crop yields.
With the human population growing at an alarming rate and food shortages never far around the corner, we’ve got to make sure we get the balance right between protecting the environment and feeding theworld.