Fighting Pests Without Use of Chemicals

QUESTION: Is there some natural way to fight garden pests without resorting to chemicals? We love our fruits and flowers, but we hate watching them be destroyed by insects.

ANSWER: Many gardeners and homeowners share your concern regarding the control of garden pests while at the same time protecting their own health and that of the environment.

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply (Box 2209, Grass Valley, Calif. 95945) offers a wide assortment of beneficial organisms for controlling pet and garden pests biologically. This supplier offers tiny predator wasps for whitefly, parasites for flies, and predatory midges for aphids. A mealybug destroyer ( Cryptolaemus ) is said to search out mealybugs on plants and devour them.

But these good guys are not cheap, and they are not usually as convenient as a chemical spray. Moreover, they do not always act immediately. For more information, order a catalogue or call 916-272-GROW. Some garden centers order bulk quantities and package them in smaller quantities for their customers.