• Blog
    • General Gardening
    • Gardening for Children
    • Gardening Videos
    • Insect Pests
    • Landscape Design
    • Trees
    • Vegetables & Fruits
    • Weeds
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Event Announcements
  • Gardening Videos
  • Resources
    • Western North Carolina Gardening Guide
    • Online Resources
      • Soil Testing Information for Home Gardeners
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Garden Helpline
    • Collecting Samples of Plants and Insects
  • The Learning Garden
  • About Us
    • About Us
      • How to Become an Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer
    • The Association
    • Contact Us
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Sponsors
      • Sponsors: 2019 WNC Gardening Symposium
    • Donate
Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County
Blog / Pest Management / Integrated Pest Management (IPM) / The Integrated Pest Management Approach to Vegetable Gardening, Part One

The Integrated Pest Management Approach to Vegetable Gardening, Part One

May 2, 2016

Learn pest control methods for vegetable gardening in this two-part blog series on IPM. Part One explains IPM and outlines a multi-step process. Part Two identifies practical nonchemical ways to control insects.

Vegetable GardenHere come the bugs!  

Rapid summer growth of your vegetable garden can lead to an invasion of pests. Although it is impossible—and inadvisable—to rid your garden of all insects, you can use a few different tactics to reduce damage from the six-legged critters. This combination of tactics is known as Integrated Pest Management or IPM.

What is Integrated Pest Management or IPM?

IPM combines the use of pesticides, cultural practices, and nonchemical methods to control pests. Beginning in the 1940s, increasing dependence on pesticide use for insect control caused problems such as pesticide-resistant insects, resurging insect populations, destruction of the pests’ natural enemies, damage to wildlife and water, and potential risks to humans. IPM can reduce or avoid some of these problems by combining insect-control methods instead of using pesticides alone.

Adopt a multi-step IPM plan.

  • Make an assessment. Survey your property, monitor insects, consider past pest control practices, and make a priority list of concerns.
  • Create a good offense. Denying pests the environment they need to prosper interrupts their growth and reproduction cycle. For example, plant placement is important. Sun-loving vegetables need full sun. Avoid shady or damp areas where some insects might thrive.
  • Keep your vegetable garden healthy through wise plant selection, placement, and care. Strong plants are less susceptible to insect invasion.
  • Encourage beneficial insect predators in your vegetable garden. Some harmful insects have natural enemies that can provide partial control.
  • Check vegetable plants often for infestation. Monitoring can help you catch insects as eggs or larvae before extensive damage takes place.
  • Tolerate some plant injury. Minor insect damage will not prevent vegetable plants from producing a harvest.
  • Evaluate your IPM approach as vegetables mature. Make changes as necessary.
HornwormCaterpillar_onTomatoPlant
Parasitic wasp larvae attack hornworm caterpillar on tomato plant.

Use pesticides as a last resort.

Following the above IPM steps will help minimize pesticide use. If you do use pesticides, effective insect management requires identifying products that are suitable for food plants. Read the label to be sure the pesticide is effective for the insects you have identified. Use only the recommended concentration and timing specified. Wear protective clothing and be aware of potential environmental or personal dangers. Store pesticides properly and wash your hands after use.

The payoff—good for you; good for the environment.

Tomatoes on VineGrowing healthy plants that produce a beautiful and bountiful harvest is a vegetable gardener’s dream. Using IPM to encourage beneficial insects, discourage pests, and preserve human health and the environment can help realize that dream!

(Learn more about Integrated Pest Management for vegetables at https://ipm.ces.ncsu.edu/ipm-vegetable-crops.)

Written by Mary Alice Ramsey, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Vegetables & Fruits Tags insects, IPM, vegetable gardens

NC Cooperative Extension; Empowering People, Providing Solutions

Blog posts written and published by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers in Buncombe County.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,716 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Saturday Seminar: Pruning Tools Workshop—Tool Selection and Sharpening, February 18
  • Online Seminar: Fruit Trees for Home Gardens February 16
  • Dramatic Winter Damage? What Should I Do?
  • What’s THAT Evergreen? Can I grow it?
  • A Gardening Guide for Our Mountains: The Perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer

Categories

  • Events
    • Extension in Buncombe County
    • Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic
    • Lectures & Seminars
    • Plant Sales
    • School Garden Grants
  • Flowers
    • Bulbs
    • Perennials & Biennials
    • Roses
    • Wildflowers
  • Gardening for Children
  • Gardening Videos
  • General Gardening
    • Installation & Planting
    • Mulch
    • Native Plants
    • Propagation
    • Seasonal Chores
    • Soils & Fertilizers
  • Houseplants
  • Landscaping
    • Firewise Landscaping
    • Landscape Design
    • Site Conditions
    • Water Management
  • Lawns
  • Pest Management
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Invasive Plants
    • Pesticides
    • Weeds
  • Plant Diseases
  • Plant Insects
    • Beneficial Insects
    • Insect Pests
    • Invasive Insects
  • Shrubs
  • Special Gardens
    • Container Gardens
    • Herb Gardens
    • Pollinator Gardens
    • Rain Gardens
    • Shade Gardens
  • Trees
  • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Wildlife

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

Events

Keep up with our events by subscribing to the blog or checking our Events Calendar.

Explore the Archives

Back to Top

Copyright © 2023 Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County. Privacy Policy.