9 Pollinator-Safe Pest Control Methods for Your Garden

I’ve always been wary of using chemicals in the vegetable garden to control nuisance insects. Feeding my family the cleanest, most chemical-free foods is always a priority. When I became a beekeeper years ago, it became even more of a necessity to find pest control methods that were both human and pollinator-safe.

For health’s sake, it’s a great idea to use non-chemical pest control methods on edibles. When you’re gardening for pollinators, the ornamental garden is just as important. Pests can move in and find food in the flower bed; then, before you know it, they are destroying your fruit trees. Sadly, the use of pesticides on your flowering plants is a quick way to get rid of pollinators. When that happens, you reduce the pollination of your ornamental and edible plants.

I’ve compiled some wonderfully effective pest control methods that won’t harm your local pollinators. It’s a great idea to use a holistic approach to controlling pests in the garden. By combining two or more of these pollinator-safe pest control methods, you should be able to keep the pests to a minimum and still reap all the benefits of an active pollinator population. 

Attract Beneficial Insects

One of the most effective ways to cut down on nuisance pests in the garden is with beneficial, predatory insects. Ladybugs, lacewings, wasps, spiders, hoverflies, predatory mites, beneficial nematodes, and mantids are all voracious predators. So are some of their larvae. Drawing these predators is a great way to eliminate pests. 

You can do this naturally by planting native plants and other nectar producers. Plants that flower early in the year are vital. They will bring the beneficial insects to the garden before many pest populations get out of hand. These insects will lay their eggs on plants where pests exist. The eggs hatch, and you have ready-made pest control that is safe for pollinators. Native plants and plants in the carrot family are great for attracting helpful bugs.

Add Plants That Repel

Another wonderful way to keep pests away from your precious plants is by planting things that repel them. There are many plants and flowers that nuisance insects don’t like. By adding these to your vegetable garden or mingling them in your flower beds, you can ward off harmful insects. 

Herbs are great at repelling bad insects, and they often provide food for pollinators. Bees, in particular, are attracted to blue and purple flowers of basils and hyssops. Many other herbs flower in these colors, drawing pollinators and warding off the bad guys. 

Other plants that perform this important task include marigolds, catmint, lavender, chrysanthemums, and alliums. Garlic and onions are great protectors in the vegetable patch. 

Use Essential Oils

While certain plants repel insects alone, their essential oils do a similar job. Some even perform double duty, protecting against mold, fungus, and mildew. By using these oils, you can deliver those benefits directly where you need them, whether the plants will grow there or not. This is a more precise method than companion planting, and it is often more effective. Some oils also repel insects that are harmful to pets and humans.

Interestingly, some essential oils are safe for bees and other pollinators, though they may repel some butterflies. It’s important to use high-quality oils. Thyme oil is even known to eliminate the most detrimental pest of honeybee hives, the varroa mite. This offers a double-whammy of pollinator-safe pest control; control honeybee mites and deter insects that attack your vegetables.

To use essential oils in the garden, you can make a spray from the oils of your choice with water or water and white vinegar. 10 to 15 drops of oil per gallon of carrier is sufficient. 

Share a Cup of Joe

Coffee grinds have more than one use in the garden. You’ve heard of its use as a fertilizing agent, and while that can be true, coffee grinds are best added to compost, where they can break down before being applied to plants. When applied appropriately directly to the garden soil, they also do a great job of repelling crawling insects. Not to mention, if you’re already a coffee drinker, they are free!

Sprinkle your leftover coffee grinds in small amounts around the base of vulnerable plants. Not only will this give them a nitrogen boost over time, but it will also help to protect against slugs and snails, ants, and beetles. Coffee contains compounds that are toxic to these insects, and the scent is also repellant. 

Use Common Household Items

In addition to coffee and essential oils, there are other items you will find around the house that fend off garden pests. Here are some items you may already have in your pantry that you can use for this purpose.

Vegetable oil and castille soap – make a solution of one cup of soap and one cup of oil. Mix a tablespoon of the concentrate with four cups of water in a spray bottle when needed. Spray directly on soft-bodied pests like aphids and mites to smother and suffocate them. Make sure to mix this solution fresh, or it can turn rancid and grow mold. Do not spray when pollinators are active.

Garlic Spray – Crush a few cloves of garlic in any type of cooking oil and allow it to infuse overnight, then strain out the garlic. Add this oil to a tablespoon of castille soap and then mix with three cups of water in a spray bottle. Spray the solution on your infested plants every few days until the pests are gone. 

Vinegar – A solution of one part white vinegar or ACV to three parts water and a teaspoon of castille soap in a spray bottle repels insects. This also makes a good, non-harmful weed killer. 

Cayenne – Cayenne pepper is a great repellent for many insects as well as other nuisances like rabbits, squirrels, and deer. You can make a spray by mixing two tablespoons of ground cayenne with three to four cups of water and a few drops of castille soap. You can also sprinkle it around the garden to keep the larger animals away. 

Diatomaceous Earth – You might not have this one lying around the house, but it’s widely available and makes a great, non-chemical pesticide. Sprinkle this powder on the ground around your plants and water it in to kill crawling insects in the soil. Always wear protective eye wear and a respiration mask to prevent getting this drying agent into your eyes or lungs.

Cover Your Valuables

Nuisance pests can be a huge hassle if you’re growing certain fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The first year I grew peaches, I recall how frustrating it was to come out one morning and find that squirrels had eaten every peach on the tree one day before they were ripe enough to pick. When I first grew dahlias, I was sad to learn that certain insects love to devour these tasty blooms. 

As a beekeeper, I cannot spray flowers with pesticides to keep the bad insects away. Spraying fruit trees and other flowering plants is a certain death for large numbers of pollinators. For these larger flowers, fruits, and vegetables, I find the best protection is a physical barrier. 

For fruit trees that are small to medium-sized,  I protect my fruit with large, mesh bags that keep out insects and make it very difficult for squirrels to get to them, as well. This is an economical way to keep your peaches safe. I’m happy to report that since using this method, I’ve had great fruit harvests. 

For my dahlias, I use small organza drawstring bags. The same bags that you might use for wrapping party favors work very well. As soon as the buds start to become prominent, pop a bag over the top and tie it snugly around the stem. You’ll have perfect blooms every time. 

The organza bag method also works for larger fruit trees and small to medium-sized vegetables. Make sure to wait until the bees pollinate the blooms before you bag them.

For larger vegetables that grow on the ground, critter cages are very effective against rabbits, squirrels, and deer. 

Bolster Reinforcements

You can also introduce helpful insects artificially, but there are numerous issues with this. One of these involves accidentally bringing in non-native and invasive species. Secondly, if you don’t have the habitat to support them, they’ll fly off in search of a better home.

If aphids are present, ladybugs will lay eggs there. But providing ladybugs with their preferred hosts is a great way to ensure they’ll stay for seasons to come. Provide dill, fennel, cosmos, sunflowers, and yarrow for all your favorite lacewings, hoverflies, and beetles that are pest-killing machines.

Along with providing habitat, it’s essential to avoid pesticides to build a population of beneficial insects. Pesticides upset the natural biodiversity of your garden. They don’t only kill the pests, they also kill the good insects, and these are the most natural ways to control the bad insects.

Rotate Your Crops

Crop rotation is an effective pollinator-safe control for certain types of pests. It can work in your flower garden, but it’s mostly effective in the vegetable garden. 

Crop rotation involves planting different types of crops every year or two in a single space. It serves several purposes, one of which is to prevent depleting the soil of specific nutrients. It also prevents certain pests from setting up camp and repeatedly completing their lifecycle in that space. 

Crop rotation is specifically effective for pests that overwinter in the soil, and feed on a particular type of plant. For insects that feed on a specific type of plant, like corn rootworms, crop rotation is a very effective method of management. 

Suppose you plant a crop of corn in a specific area. Adult cornworms may lay their eggs in the soil in that area in the hopes of feeding their young. The eggs overwinter in the soil, and in the spring, the larvae hatch and feed on the new crop of corn you’ve planted. 

However, if you’ve switched to a different crop that these insects don’t eat, you won’t have the same issues. The larvae won’t have their necessary food source, so they will starve and die. Crop rotation does no harm to pollinator populations.  

Use Low-Impact Pesticides as a Last Resort

If at all possible, it’s best to avoid using pesticides in the garden. These chemicals disrupt the natural ecosystem and interfere with the biodiversity of your yard. You can fall into a cycle of using these chemicals to kill nuisance pests, which in turn kills beneficial pests, which naturally manage the bad insects. 

Sadly, sometimes, an infestation can get away from you. If you find yourself fighting a losing battle, you may need to resort to some form of pesticide. There are pesticides that we consider to be low-impact, meaning that they eliminate the issue with a minimal amount of damage to other lifeforms. Even if you aren’t worried about pollinators, these pesticides are safer to use on the food you grow to consume.

Insecticidal soaps are effective in eradicating soft-bodied pests like aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and sawfly larvae. For non-flowering plants, you can use them at any time to eradicate pests. When dealing with flowering plants, use these products in the evening while pollinators are not active. By the time they dry, they are no longer harmful to pollinators. 

Horticultural oils – These oils are usually plant-based and control pests by suffocating them or interrupting their reproductive cycles. Neem oil falls into this category and is an effective way to treat infested plants. Some plants can be sensitive to very concentrated oils, so don’t use it at a concentration higher than two percent. Spray these at dawn or dusk when pollinators are not present, and avoid spraying directly on flowers. A light mist is enough.

Biopesticides – These vary in toxicity when it comes to pollinators. Beauvaria bassiana, for instance, is toxic to bees, so it’s best to avoid it. Bacillus thuringiensis galleriae, however, is effective in getting rid of beetles, but won’t harm bees and butterflies. Metarhizium is effective against thrips, weevils, mites, and whiteflies but doesn’t impact bees. 

Check out this article by the MSU Extension for pollinators and pollination for more information on low-impact pesticides.