Key stage 4 - Pests

Pests and pest control

Pests ď‚´A pest is a destructive insect or other animal that attacks crops, food and/or livestock.

Identifying friends and enemies in your garden.

There are many insects and creatures that live amongst the plants in our garden.

Some are very beneficial to them like bees, which pollinate our plants, but some can have a negative impact and can cause unhealthy plant growth or can some times result in the plants dying.

Therefore it is best to know which are friends and which a foe.

Friends

Bees  Bees are our main pollinators, pollinating a third of the food we eat and 80% of flowering plants. Pollination is crucial because many of our vegetables, fruits and the crops that feed our livestock rely on it to be fertilised, so without it, we could go hungry.  We should to try to encourage bees into our gardens as they play such an important role that affects us all.  There are some flowers in particular that Bees love such as Lavender. Not only does lavender have many uses it also smells great so is always a great addition to the garden.

Lady Birds Despite their pretty appearance Ladybirds are ruthless killers of pests that negatively affect plant growth. They eat their prey as well as the eggs and larvae. This is an extremely organic method of pest control and on some farms they are used as the main method. They are that effective that if you can even buy packs of them on Amazon.com if you wanted to try and control the pest population in your greenhouse or garden.

Green lacewing Like the Ladybird the Green lacewing is a ferocious predator that will feast on insects and bugs that you don’t want in your garden. It too eats the eggs and larvae of all the enemies to your plants and vegetables.

Enemies

Aphids An aphid is a small bug which feeds by sucking sap from plants; a blackfly or greenfly. Aphids reproduce rapidly, sometimes producing live young without mating, and large numbers can cause extensive damage to plants

Slugs and snails Slugs are very damaging garden pests that can be found throughout the country, most likely in moist and humid climates. Your garden is likely to have more slugs during a particularly rainy season.

Slugs and snails will eat any kind of vegetation but prefer tender leaves. This means that particularly tender-leaved plants or seedlings are very vulnerable to slug damage. Slugs will also eat vegetables and fruits.

Vine Weevil A Vine weevil is an insect that can feed on a wide range of ornamental plants and fruits, especially those grown in containers. Adult vine weevils eat leaves and the grubs eat roots

Tortrix moth caterpillars ď‚´ Tortrix moth caterpillars are small, green caterpillars that roll themselves snugly in plant leaves and feed inside the rolled leaves. The pests affect a variety of ornamental and edible plants, both outdoors and indoors. Tortrix moth damage to greenhouse plants can be considerable

Which is the odd one out?

Which is the odd one out?

There are many methods of pest control.

Some are organic and others are not (non organic). The use of Ladybirds is organic method of pest control using a biological method.

When talking about farming organic means: produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals. Therefore non organic is the use of the above chemicals to reduce or destroy pests that may affect healthy growth.

Pesticides – chemicals that are used to kill pests harmful to crop growth

Bio-accumulation of Pesticides in the Food Chain

A Tomato plant is sprayed with insecticide

1 aphid receives 5 molecules of insecticide

1 lacewing eats 100 aphids and receives 500 molecules of insecticide.

1 blue tit eats Peregrine falcon 10 lacewings east 5 blue tits and receives and receives 5000 molecules 25000 molecules of insecticide. of insecticide.

Bio-accumulation is the build up of poisons along a food chain

Biological Pest Control Biological pest control uses Predators to get rid of pests instead of using chemical pesticides

Both the Ladybird and Lacewing feed off a variety of pests that affect plant health and growth.

Evaluating the use of Pesticides Advantages

Disadvantages

Higher yield of crops = Expensive to buy more money equipment and pesticide Fast acting Non-selective Acts against a wide range of pests Less manual labour

Harmful to the environment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrIyEu6h_E

Your next tasks ď‚´ Complete the table on the word document identifying both organic and non-organic methods of pest control as well briefly outlining one advantage and one disadvantage of the use of pesticides.