Butterfly Poisons

OK. You may have to use them. Pesticides. The word means things than will kill pests. Guess what a chemical designed to kill insect pests will likely do to your butterflies? So, how does one deal with this? There are a number of ways.

I'll start with the one that you may think makes no sense - let the caterpillars eat your vegetables and flowers. OK, so you think I'm out of my gourd! Well, at least let some types of caterpillars eat your vegetables and flowers. Not necessarily that big, green, pesky tomato hornworm that will eat you out of house and home (although it makes a good photograph). However, there are caterpillars belonging to species you may wish to have in your yard that you can share the veggies with, especially if they don't eat too much. Many butterflies will only lay one or a few eggs on any plant. Although they are eating machines, many will only remove a number of leaves before they pupate.

How about trying some alternatives to pesticides, like soaps and other natural pest control measures. This will help, but it does take more effort than using pesticides. Soaps will wash off your plants in the rain and, therefore, must be re-applied afterwards. Some insects such as ladybugs and praying mantis love to eat insect pests. I gather some praying mantis caccoons in the fall as I come across them outdoors and put them in my yard in a shrub so I'll have more of these voracious predators next year. If I see a caccoon in my yard I take care not to disturb it. The internet has information available on alternatives to pesticides. Click here to see one site that has practical advice for a number of problems.

We already talked about using native plants because they are healthier and have less problems. One reason is they have been fighting insect pests for eons. So, the more local native plants you use in you landscaping the less problems you will have with pests and the less pesticide you will need. Also, certain plants (like roses) are susceptable to a number of pests or diseases. If planted, you will end up having to take special care of them. Some of those fungicides you have to spray on the leaf spots and other diseases are as bad as the insecticides when it comes to butterflies. Minimize use of all pesticides, including herbicides (kill "weeds"), insecticides (kill insects), and fungicides (kill fungal diseases).

Another way to minimize damage to the butterflies is to physically separate the area you are managing for these winged jewels from other plants, like your veggies, that you may have to treat with a pesticide. Although not ideal because it is likely some adults and/or caterpillars will die, it is better than having to spray next to the butterfly garden. In addition, small droplets of pesticides that you spray can carry a long distance in the wind. Either do not spray on windy days, which is good advice for a number of reasons, or make sure the wind is blowing away from your butterfy garden (and areas you are managing for other wildlife, if possible) when you spray.
Finally, you can choose safer pesticides. I saw a recommendation by the head gardner of a botanical garden in a newspaper that suggested using a chemical that contains 22% arsenic to kill weedy grasses in bermuda grass. You may have heard that arsenic is a deadly poison. What if Puss in Boots (your cat) walks across that newly sprayed lawn and then licks its feet to clean its fur. I don't think the arsenic will do it much good either. What if it walks across the lawn and into your house? Wouldn't it be nice to pick up your cat and cuddle! So, how do you choose a safer pesticide. There is something called an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for just about any chemical you use. It provides toxicity information for not only the environment but also lab animals, the ones they test things on instead of testing them on you. So, you can get information about not only what is safe for the wildlife in your yard but also what is safe for you. Not a bad idea, hey? Click here for a site where you can get an MSDS sheet for many pesticides (you have to click on "Services" in the upper left hand corner and then "Labels/MSDS"). You will have to put in the name of the chemical to get the information and then click on the MSDS sheet. Click here for a web site that has a number of links to tutorials about understanding MSDS sheets. You might find out that you are using a number of pesticides that are very dangerous to you as well as wildlife. Please follow the label for any pesticides that you do use and be sure not to apply too much. These chemicals have been studied for the rate that is effective and safe. You start creating unsafe situations for you and/or wildlife when you apply more than you need.

Not all pesticies are totally bad. Some contain poisons, like arsenic. Ignorance is bliss, but it'll cause you to poison yourself as well as wildlife.

I'll talk briefly about one other way to encourage butterflies to to use your yard in the next posting.