Integrated Pest Management in the Forest Garden:

Pests have always been a major problem to farmers across the world. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a holistic approach that focuses first on prevention, monitoring, and sanitation procedures to keep pest populations to a minimum without the use of harmful chemicals like synthetic pesticides.

While pesticides may initially get the job done, they cause serious long-term damage to both the farm and the farmer. Pesticides don’t just kill unwanted pests when applied, they also kill many of the microorganisms living in the soil, a key factor in keeping soils healthy. Additionally, the application of pesticides, if not done with the utmost safety, can become hazardous through pollution of air and water sources.

As a much safer and more environmentally friendly solution, Forest Gardeners apply the principles of IPM. Instead of applying chemical pesticides, farmers use a variety of physical traps as well as organic solutions to control these pests.With frequent monitoring, spikes in pest populations can be observed early on and can be addressed before they get out of control.