Keeping pests away naturally

Sometimes looking after your garden is just a matter of harnessing the power of Mother Nature. Biological controls do away with damaging artificial pesticides by fighting garden pests with their natural predators, keeping your plants protected the way Nature intended.

They're surprisingly easy to use: some, such as the slug nematode Phasmarhabditis, mix with water to sprinkle on the ground; others, like the whitefly control Encarsia formosa arrive on cards to hang in the greenhouse.

Follow three main rules to make your biological control programme a success:

apply at the right time: greenhouse biological controls need at least 10°C at night to work, while outdoor controls such as slug nematodes are active above 5°C.

choose the right control: we have biological controls available for all sorts of pests in our garden centre, but each one only attacks one type of pest - so be sure what you're tackling first.

be patient: predators take several weeks to build up numbers before they start making a dent in your pest problem, so introduce them as soon as you notice the first signs of infestation. .

Please ask the staff in our garden centre in Athlone for more information and advice about biological controls to use in your garden.