5 Steps to Create a Pollinator Paradise in Your Own Back Yard

There are simple steps anybody can take to make their own backyard more friendly to pollinators.

Why should you create a pollinator’s paradise?

In short, some pollinator populations are currently under threat, especially bees. Pollination is vital to our food supply and ecosystem. We can all be part of the solution with a few simple steps!

One: Thoughtfully plant a variety of native flowers and plants.

Planting native and non-invasive plants is key. There are many species of invasive plants which have a negative effect on our ecosystems. When possible, invasive species should be identified quickly and removed. Always check your labels and ask for scientific names of plants to be sure you have native varieties. Invasive species out compete and overgrow native plants, and are often introduced to landscapes as ornamentals. Some examples of invasive species to watch out for in Idaho might be purple loose-strife or salt cedar. Learn more about invasive plants here.

When it comes to flowers, it is also best avoid wild flower mixes.

Tip: Look for flat faced flowers, rather than ruffled, double layer petals, as these are more approachable to bees and butterflies.

Your thoughtful planting should consider visual impact on pollinators. It might be good idea to choose an area specific to your pollinators, and plant a swath of plants there. Or, paint the whole yard in flowers and native plants! As long as bees, birds, moths or butterflies can see your blooms easily, they’ll stop by. Be sure to plant a variety of plants, so that your flowers do not bloom all at once. This provides pollen to bees and butterflies for a longer period of time, ensuring they have food for the duration of their lifespan.

Tip: Variety can apply to color, species, shape, height, and more! The more options pollinators have, the more likely they are able to find something they like, at any stage of life.

Two: Provide water for pollinators.

Birdbaths and water features (in every season) are great for birds, bees and butterflies. It’s important to monitor standing water, especially during the warm mosquito breeding season. Be sure to change out water in birdbaths 2-3 times a week. More details here.

Three: Create spaces for shelter.

Bees need spaces to create their homes, whether it be up high or down low! Be sure to leave ground space as native bees are solitary and dwell near the ground. Nesting sites might include dead wood or even messes of twigs and grass on the ground. These can serve as habitable spaces for bees, and even provide overwintering protection. Another consideration is mulching. If there is too much mulch, bees are unable to penetrate the surface for shelter on the ground. Tip:Leaving bare ground or using leaf cuttings or compost in a lighter layer will provide access and protection.

Four: Feed the birds, bees and everything in between.

Provide seed for birds by leaving seed heads and stalks intact for habitat and food to birds and overwintering insects.

When planting, include a few plants which support larvae and adult insect pollinators. It is always best to consider the lifespan of insects and other pollinators, as they may have a food source for one stage of life, but not another. For example: monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. Without this food source, there is no butterfly to become a pollinator! Here's how to optimize your yard.

Five: Maintain your pollinator garden.

Weed your garden by hand often. Limit your use of pesticides. Pesticides and herbicides can end up killing off beneficial pollinators or insects that are vital pest controllers themselves. In the end, it is best to use as little pesticides or herbicides as possible. Instead, work toward maintaining your soil, and creating a healthy landscape overall, as this is the best way to keep pests or weeds at bay.

Tip: Add compost in the spring, but remember to leave room for ground dwelling bees. Plant species which require less water together. If plants require more water, group them together so they can be watered efficiently.

There are so many approaches you can take to make your backyard pollinator preferred. Here's some links:

Bee Habitat - UIdaho Extension
Idaho Pollinator Protection Plan

 Choose one, and get started today!

Unconventional Beneficial Garden Insects

We all enjoy being outside and, in our gardens, whether it be a vegetable or flower garden. Insects are a necessary part of those gardens,  through pollination or predatory instincts. But all too often we are quick to lump a majority of insects into the “harmful” insect category without really knowing the full story behind their roles in the garden.

Insects like the lady beetle and bees are well known for their benefits to the garden landscape. But did you know wasps are also beneficial to our gardens? Certain wasp species have been proven to hunt down pesky insects and remove them, thus helping the overall health of the garden. 

Mantids are also a great predator for your garden. With over 2,000 species found worldwide, these great hunters are also non-discriminate hunters and have been seen killing many pests like grasshoppers, moths, and flies. 

Another beneficial insect is the European earwig. While some people consider the earwig a pest in their garden, they can actually be beneficial to the overall balance of the garden.They are omnivore, eat leaves or petals from plants,and will eat lots of insects as well. The earwig is nocturnal, so it eats at night.

We have all experienced spiders in the gardens. There are many kind of spiders that are extremely beneficial such as the harvestman spider, also known as a daddy-long-legs. These helpful hunters help keep down the overall populations of a myriad of harmful pests in and around your garden. Pests such as aphids, slugs and other spiders have been shown to be controlled via the harvestman spider.

So maybe next time you’re out in your garden, don’t be quick to judge these pests and allow them to do the dirty work for you.

Codling Moth Control for the Small-Scale Fruit Grower

Of all of the fruit I have grown in Idaho, my favorite is the apple - not just any apple, a 'Criterion' apple picked fresh off the tree. Biting into one of these juicy, bursting with flavor apples is an orchardist’s delight.

Ironically, for any orchardist, commercial or small- scale operations in which this blog is dedicated to comes with a cost. And for many of those seasoned apple growers, significant cost of time, energy and resource is essential for the perfect marketable fruit. Ideal size (Goldilocks proportions), right color, superb taste and no blemishes. Now if we were living in the Garden of Eden, no problem, but we do not, so comes the consequences of a need for disease management, climate control, soil balance, branch and trunk care, and the dreaded pest control. 

For this article, I am only going to address pest control: one pest in particular that stands head and shoulders of all the other apple pests, the Codling Moth. This moth is a member of the Lepidopteran family Tortricidae. Interestingly, codling means “an unripe, half-grown apple”.  Now add a small worm to this scenario and you have the perfect storm of total destruction of a normal apple. And, just as one perfect apple can bring delight to the dedicated orchardist, it can also bring a grown man to tears when he discovers as he bites into that prospective delicious apple that a black headed cream-colored worm has riddled his sweet meal with several blackened distasteful tunnels…worthless to the core! 
For the untrained eye an outward examination of the suspect apple may puzzle the human consumer for even though many apples may bare the evidence of the unwanted worm that stings and eventually penetrates the skin of the apple many worms find it more convenient to enter through the “calyx end” of an apple. 
Because these worms have such a voracious appetite for apples, the small-scale fruit grower may become discouraged and find it not worth the effort to put up with these pests and so depend on the fruit stand or grocer to be their provider of these sweet worm-less treats. But for the fruit grower who holds to the tenants of religiosity, tenacity and creativity… and who has a plan in place (while these moths are in hibernation) there can be hope and there can be success! One educational source that has done extensive research on the control of the codling moth is Washington State University Research and Extension Services. 
  
 Several practical approaches starting with a better understanding of the life cycle of the codling moth can be helpful in winning the battle of the worm. WSU’s website has numerous charts ranging from life history of the moth to the pesticide spray schedule when the moth is most active throughout the year.  I have in the past used my own method of monitoring moth activity through the use of a molasses-based milk jug traps. I found at a local organic nursery  who recommends this method along with some other valuable advice using a more “organic approach”.
                                  
This is a key component of worm control in your apples. The idea is to know exactly or at least within a couple of days when the moths are on the move and are ready to lay their eggs on strategic apple tree locations to raise their offspring. 
What I like about this website is they take on more of a biological approach in controlling this moth by using pheromone traps and parasitoids I have had little success with these methods but have found a product named Spinosad to be fairly effective if used appropriately with the spray schedule for this area. I have just recently signed up online for the Pacific Northwest Pest Alert Bulletin. I highly recommend this site if you are really committed to being timely with your spray routine which could be several times throughout the life season of the moth.  As mentioned, Spinosad is my pesticide of choice and has some interesting history. In 1982, a distinctive soil dwelling bacterium called Spinosad was discovered on this Caribbean island. Spinosad has become a unique pesticide used in organic gardening.  This year I will be adding another product that meets OMRI standards, an all seasons horticulture oil with Spinosad. This product is considered an excellent fungicide, miticide and pesticide that can be used within 24 hours of harvest. 
            
The above links have some excellent additional advice on how best to control this nasty moth’s offspring appetite so we gardeners and orchardists can better reap the benefits of our fruit tree husbandry. 

Here is wishing you a juicy worm-free apple of your choice this summer. (even though Criterions are the best!)