How To Control Garden Pests While Supporting Pollinators

By Catherine Coverdale on 9. January 2025

Catherine Coverdale

Spring is just around the corner! While you may already be flipping through seed catalogs and dreaming of warm days, now is also the time to brainstorm strategies for managing pests and attracting beneficial insects. Set yourself up for success by considering integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM) as a strategy for both enhancing the health of your food plants and fostering an abundant population of beneficial insects

A wide row of flowering plants on a farm. — Perennials are great habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects. The fall blooming plants at this farm include black-eyed susan (*Rudbeckia hirta*), purple coneflower (*Echinacea purpurea*), and goldenrod (*Solidago* spp.). (Photo: Catherine Coverdale).

What is IPPM?

Integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM) is a similar strategy to integrated pest management (IPM), but, as the name suggests, IPPM puts more of an emphasis on conservation and creating a resilient partnership between agriculture and the local ecosystem.

This style of pest control aims to manage pests and support beneficial species like pollinators, predatory insects or arachnids, and parasitoids. It still uses chemical-free IPM strategies, like crop rotation and pruning, to disrupt pest’s life cycles and make crops less attractive to them. In addition, IPPM is also designed to support healthy populations of pollinators and native pest predators. This means providing a diversity of nectar, pollen, and shelter resources, and protecting them from pesticides and frequent disturbances.

A triangle split into tiers. From the largest at the base, to the smallest at the top, the first reads “Landscape and Agroecosystem Diversity. Pollen, nectar, and shelter resources that are protected from pesticides. Crop, habitat, and landscape diversity”. The second reads “Agronomic Decisions. Selecting pest resistant varieties, reduced tillage, scouting and monitoring, action thresholds.” The third reads “Cultural Controls. Intercropping, crop rotation, cover crops, mulching, pruning, sanitation, and more!”. The fourth reads “Biocontrol. Conservation and augmentative.” The fifth, at the top, reads “Chemical Control.” — The IPPM pyramid (adapted from Egan et al., 2020) ranks the strategy’s practices from preventative (landscape and agricultural ecosystem diversity) to curative (chemical control). At the base of the triangle are practices that have the most benefits for both pest control and beneficial insects. Practices at the top of the triangle should be used more sparingly and may be in conflict with the more systems-level tactics.

Identify your farm or garden pests

The first step in any plan is understanding what pests you have. This is key for ensuring your management techniques are effective. Guides like the Northeast Vegetable and Strawberry Pest ID Guide and New England Vegetable Management Guide can help, or connect with your local university’s extension program to find similar resources.
Once you know your pests, do a little digging (pun intended) into the pest biology. Where do different phases of their lifecycle occur? Where do they hunker down for the winter? What time are they emerging in the spring? This will help you decide what tools to use, and when, to keep them out of your crops!
Spend some time considering what level of damage you are comfortable with. Commercial growers may have a stricter threshold, but for many home gardeners, a small amount of aphids or a few nibbled leaves won’t change the enjoyment of their plants.

A row of short crops, covered by a lightly translucent material. Next to it is a row of flowering plants. — At this farm, a row cover protects pests from reaching growing crops, and the row of perennial plants (called an “insectary strip”) provides habitat for pollinators and beneficial predators. (Photo: Catherine Coverdale).

Reduce pests with good habits during the growing season

Use weather prediction tools to help determine when pests will likely be emerging and targeting your plants, like the Network for Environment and Weather Applications.
Apply physical barriers, like spun-bonded row cover or insect exclusion netting, to prevent pests from reaching your crops before they show up.
Regularly inspect your plants for damage and pest pressure, even those under row covers. Traps, like yellow sticky cards, are great tools for monitoring pest pressure.
Squish those pests! If you see some pests while you’re scouting, don’t be afraid to hand squish or pick them off your plants. You could also use a mini hand-held vacuum to suck them up!
Water wisely. Overwatering can stress out your plants, making them more susceptible to fungal disease and pest infestations.
Rotate your crops to break up pest and disease cycles. Many pest insects and diseases have soil-dwelling life stages, moving your crops can ensure that they don’t get a head start next season.
Plant a diversity of crops, so your garden or farm is more resilient against any one pest or disease.
Use organic solutions with care. Many of the pesticides that are available in your local garden center are toxic to beneficial insects, even if they are branded as “natural” or “organic.”

A bright yellow square sticky trap, mounted on a wooden dowel so that it sits just above the upper leaves of the nearby growing potted plants inside a greenhouse. — Traps, like these yellow sticky traps, are a great tool for monitoring pest populations. Regularly checking traps can help you see when pest numbers are rising to the point that you need to take more direct action. (Photo: Emily May).

Support beneficial insects (aka natural enemies) for pest control

Assess your farm or garden for existing habitat and prioritize filling gaps in foraging, nesting, and overwintering resources. For example, if there is a lack of early season flowers, consider planting shrubs that bloom in spring! You can use the Pollinator Habitat Assessment Guide for Yards, Gardens, and Parks and/or Xerces Beneficial Insect Habitat Assessment Guide to better understand your current habitat.
Provide habitat that has food resources (pollen and nectar), shelter, and protection from pesticides throughout the season. A diversity of native plants with blooms from early spring to late fall is ideal.
Can’t harvest everything you planted? Let them bolt! Beneficial insects love the small flowers from bolted crops like cilantro, broccoli, and basil.