Gardeners Go Organic in
Their Fight Against Pests

Kathy Ryan wants to get into organic gardening. But she's had a hard time retaining good help.

Concerned that spraying pesticides on her garden might harm her dogs, Mrs. Ryan, an avid gardener in Potomac, Md., recently researched less-toxic alternatives. One suggestion: Get ladybugs to eat the aphids off her roses. "I bought a thousand of them," she says, "and they just flew away."

Organic gardening, once a niche, is going mainstream. Last year, for instance, Americans spent about $9 million on "good" bugs for their yards, a market that barely existed five years ago. But as more homeowners go natural, they're encountering dilemmas they never faced before -- runaway ladybugs, hot-pepper sprays that need to be squirted on every three days, and figuring out the proper way to mix up a batch of powdered worms.

Demand is up, suppliers say, particularly during summer's hottest months, when heat and humidity cause bug populations -- and gardeners' tempers -- to rise. Among the new products: cannibalistic snails that dine on their more-destructive cousins, "milky spore" bacteria that attack lawn grubs but leave humans alone, and pyrethrum, an aphid-killing spray made from crushed chrysanthemum flowers. Home remedies, such as using coarse salt to deter slugs, are back in favor, too.

Steve Hazard, of Los Angeles-based Organic Control Inc., says his business of selling "beneficial" bugs to gardeners once appealed only to the "hard-core fringe"; now it's growing at 20% a year. Sales of one of the leading "green" pesticides, "Safer," which is sold by such chains as Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s Orchard Supply Hardware, grew 25% to just below $10 million last year, says the manufacturer, Verdant Brands, of Bloomington, Minn. Overall, sales of organic and what the government calls "less toxic" products -- the ones that don't stay in the soil or water permanently -- accounted for about 45% of the $2 billion spent on home-and-garden pesticides last year, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

This is good news for the environment, since home gardeners tend to overdo it: A recent EPA report found that homeowners use 10 times the amount per acre of pesticides that farmers do -- and often use chemicals "indiscriminately" and "at inappropriate times."

Yet, "the bad news," says Mark Webb, an arborist in Midland, Texas, is that learning to use some organic methods correctly "requires knowledge across several disciplines. And that takes more time than the average gardener is willing to spend."

That's what Timothy Lindsay, superintendent of Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills, Calif., discovered when he tried to kill whitefly larvae on hibiscus trees by using horticultural oil. "It only worked temporarily," he said. Not wanting to use poisonous chemicals that might hurt the six-acre public garden's wildlife, including two prized owls. Mr. Lindsay experimented for weeks. He finally conquered the whitefly, he says, by using an insecticide containing Merit, a new low-toxicity product made by Bayer Corp.

Certainly, there are no guarantees that less-toxic alternatives will always work. In Nashville, Tenn., orchid lover Anne Connor tried an organic solution that her mother promised would allow the snails in her garden "to die a happy death." Next to the orchids, Ms. Connor set a bowl of warm beer that was supposed to attract the snails and then cause them to drown. "I changed that bowl of beer every week for a month or two. I never caught one snail," she says. "It made me feel like a fool."

Even experienced gardeners can make mistakes. In the greenhouse attached to his Burlington, Vt., home, farmer Bruce Butterfield set out several open containers of ladybugs, hoping they would eat the pests plaguing his plants. But when he left open the connecting door between the two buildings, hundreds of the ladybugs invaded his house like a swarm of locusts. The result: "We were vacuuming them up for weeks."

Home gardeners' increased interest in organics has roots in many places. In the past few years, less-toxic pesticides largely have replaced the harsh chemicals that keep Japanese beetles from chewing up golf courses and professional athletic fields. More public schools are using green pesticides, and some food companies, including cranberry-juice maker Ocean Spray and Gerber baby foods, are requiring their suppliers to use less-toxic growing methods. Even more "green gardening" products are expected to be introduced in the next few years. The EPA has shortened the time it takes to approve less-toxic garden chemicals to just one year, compared with its traditional three years.

"We've found an arsenal of alternatives," says Katy Moss Warner, horticultural director at Walt Disney World, which says it has reduced its use of toxic chemicals by 70% in the last decade. Disney World breeds its own tiny wasps to prey on the leaf-miner bugs that ruin prized marigolds, and the theme park's gardeners whip up their own organic compost.

Organics don't have to be complicated. "When professionals do it, they call it 'integrated pest management,' " says Kurt Hase, a San Francisco horticulturist. "But it's really just using common sense." Organics also don't have to be expensive. Ladybugs, for instance, cost about $10 per thousand.

Mr. Hase has taught other members of his 35-family community garden, in a residential neighborhood, to use methods that are easier on the environment -- if not the bugs. "We wash off bugs with insecticidal soap or smother them with horticultural oil," he says. (The soap, which is about as strong as dishwashing liquid, is mixed with water and sprayed on bugs; the oils, which also are mixed with water and sprayed on, smother the larvae or eggs of garden pests.)

They also rely on the old standbys. "The manure from the horses in Golden Gate Park gives us healthier plants than bagged fertilizer would," Mr. Hase says. He concedes there are compromises. "The stuff does stink, no question. But I know people who use 'Zoo Doo' from the San Francisco Zoo. I hear that smells even worse."

Still, going back to nature doesn't come naturally to most people. Paul Sachs, proprietor of North Country Organics in Bradford, Vt., says he fields as many as 50 calls a day from customers uncertain about how to handle strange preparations, such as nematodes -- microscopic worms that come in a powdered form. (Answer: Just add water). Another common query: Exactly when should one use certain products? Milky spore bacteria, for instance, work only when grub beetles are in their larval stage.

And then, of course, many homeowners are simply squeamish about bugs of any kind. "I don't usually tell them I'm putting wasps in their yard," says Walter Guina of the F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Co., a national landscaping chain based in Stamford, Conn. "I just say they are predatory insects that will eat the bad insects."

Indeed, embracing organics sometimes means acquiring a new appreciation of things creepy. Diane Antonvich, for example, has learned to like tarantulas. Since moving to Tucson's desert climate from the East three years ago, Ms. Antonvich has discovered dozens of pests that don't respond to any of the techniques she was used to -- such as sprinkling coarse salt on the ground to keep slugs away.

"We've learned to let the tarantulas alone," Ms. Antonvich says. "They eat the scorpions and the grasshoppers and the centipedes."

Worried about how to obliterate garden pests without nuking those friendly earthworms and butterflies? A botany degree would help, but not in time for this summer's bloom. Here are some relatively easy, environmentally friendly tips:

Nematodes

Organic Control Inc.
323-937-7444

What do grubs, fungus gnats, cucumber beetles, and weevils have in common? They're all on the menu of the Steinernema feltiae nematode, a microscopic worm. Nematodes are sold as a pint of dried powder that, when mixed with water, becomes up to seven million tiny critters that can be sprayed or poured on 2,000 square feet of soil. If they don't do the trick, Organic Control markets lots of other creepy crawlers -- an entomological alphabet of "good" bugs. Cost: $19

Ladybug Habitat

Plow & Hearth catalog
800-627-1712

Releasing ladybugs in the garden is the easy part. To keep them from flying away home, it takes a village -- actually a wooden Ladybug Village mounted on a four-foot metal pole. Add a pack of 4,500 ladybugs and a box of scented "lures" to keep them coming back, grab a magnifying glass and (if you have the stomach for it) watch the aphid banquet begin. Cost: $97

Soil-Monitoring Kit

Gempler's catalog
800-382-8473

Horticulturalists believe garden pests are attracted to plants placed under "stress" by poor soil conditions. Instead of hiring a laboratory to test soil quality, home gardeners are increasingly learning to be more self-sufficient. Gempler's sells kits from LaMotte, which has been in business for 75 years. Besides the "big three" nutrients-- nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium -- the basic kit lets gardeners gauge pH, a measure of acid and alkaline levels. Cost: $38

Slug and Snail Bait

Lawn & Garden Products Inc.
559-499-2100

Lots of dog owners put up with snails rather than use traditional baits containing toxic methaldehyde. The reason: dogs are attracted to the bait for the same reason snails are: It's coated in wheat gluten and tastes like spaghetti. Enter Sluggo, a pellet of wheat-coated iron phosphate that will kill snails but won't hurt pet pooches in small doses. When Sluggo decomposes, the iron phosphate fertilizes plants. Cost for 2 1/2 pounds: $18. Under another tough-guy moniker, Bug Buster, the Lawn & Garden markets pyrethrum, in a highly concentrated liquid distilled from ground chrysanthemum flowers that affects 170 insects. Cost: $30

Cayenne Pepper Insect Repellent

Gardener's Supply Co.
800-863-1700

Among the least-toxic pest-control products are juices derived from peppers, garlic and citrus fruits. What's good about them is they don't have lasting effects on the environment. What isn't so good about them is they don't have lasting effects on the bugs, either. Hot Pepper Wax repels spider mites, thrips, whiteflies and leafhoppers. However, it must be reapplied after three days. Cost for 22 fluid ounces: $12

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