BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

In the last century many chemicals (biocides) were developed to kill insect and other invertebrate pests of agriculture and horticulture and also to kill vectors of diseases.  Few of these have been perfectly successful and they have many harmful side effects as well as being very expensive to produce and apply.

They are often cumulative toxins, building up in biological systems: insects containing the pesticides are eaten by small mammals which are eaten by predatory birds - the whole biological web is poisoned. The biocides may accumulate in the soil and on plants. They tend to kill all insects including beneficial ones such as ladybirds. Furthermore resistance may develop in the pest species: aphids (for instance) may develop that are resistant to pesticides, since their natural enemies may have been eliminated, the situation becomes worse than before.

A better alternative is to use biological control.   This entails the encouragement of natural  enemies. There are several strategies in biological control.
1  Encourage species which occur naturally in the garden or field.
2  Introduce large numbers of native predators either collected from elsewhere or bred in a laboratory (inundative release).
3  Introduce 'new' predators, parasites or pathogens.
4  Combinations of these along with use of "least toxic" biocides only where essential ...... integrated pest management

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

LINKS
Biological Control - the journal
University of Edinburgh work on various pests
British supplier
Biological Control - academic appraisal
RHS - lists suppliers &c
HDRA - general advice



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CREATED 20ix2003
LAST MODIFIED 24iz2005