Home & Garden IPM

IPM is not a practice limited to commercial and agricultural situations; it can also be used by the general public throughout our community. Home, lawn and garden IPM is a part of our Community IPM program, which also includes School IPM and Public Health.

We all want our homes, lawns and gardens to be attractive, safe and pest-free environments. But because all living things seek food, water and shelter, sometimes we find unwanted "guests" in our midst, also known as "pests". A pest can be anything from ants in the kitchen, weeds in the lawn, a fungus on the trees to a deer in the garden.

An IPM approach to pest management provides the most effective way of suppressing pests for good, while assuring the safety of pets, kids and yourself. While pesticides (bug sprays, weed killers, etc.) can be used as part of an IPM program, it is a good idea to limit their use and thereby, your exposure. Pesticides should be used only as a last resort and carefully chosen, carefully used, carefully stored and carefully disposed of.

Resorting to pesticides without full knowledge of your target pests and/or the chemical properties of the pesticide can lead to unnecessary, ineffective or downright dangerous use of chemicals. Be especially careful indoors! If you feel you must use a chemical as part of the solution for a pest problem, seek information on the least-toxic, most effective alternatives from your County Cooperative Extension office, Master Gardeners or other trusted sources.
NOTE: Sales clerks at stores are generally not able to provide accurate, unbiased information on pests or pesticide products.

Why not just use pesticides?

The short answer:
Pesticides are toxic, we use lots of them, we are exposed to many different kinds and we do not know much about their long-term health effects, especially in combination with each other and other chemical exposures. We should minimize our use of pesticides to err on the side of caution. Home and garden applications account for more pesticide use on a per acre basis than agriculture. In the United States, non-farmers use over 163 million pounds of pesticide active ingredient, spending over $2.1 billion per year ($7.50 for every woman, man and child). Ask yourself, do I really need a chemical to solve this pest problem? If so, which is the least-toxic choice?

The long answer:
Pesticides are, by design, toxic to living organisms and by their very use, are spread into the environment by people. In so doing, people are unavoidably exposed, pesticide residues get into the food chain, leach into groundwater and run off into our streams and rivers.

There are roughly 900 different kinds of chemicals that are used as "active ingredients" (toxic component) in virtually thousands of commercial products. As a nation, we disperse about 1.2 billion pounds of pesticide active ingredient into the environment each year. This is over 4 pounds of active ingredient for every man, woman and child. The active ingredient is usually a small part (1-5%) of the entire pesticide formulation, which includes other chemicals such as synergists, propellants and so-called "inert ingredients". Many inerts also have toxic characteristics, but the identity of inerts in a given product is considered "proprietary information" and so not listed on the pesticide label.

Home and garden applications account for more pesticide use on a per acre basis than agriculture. In the United States, non-farmers use over 163 million pounds of pesticide active ingredient, spending over $2.1 billion per year ($7.50 for every woman, man and child). Ask yourself, do I really need a chemical to solve this pest problem? If so, which is the least-toxic choice?

Pesticide sales and usage data can be found at http:/www.epa.gov/oppbead1/pestsales/index.htm