Page 12 2026 Spring Home and Garden LINCOLN DAILY NEWS April 2026 Manage pests without pesticides with Integrated Pest Management Pests tend to come with the territory when cultivating any garden, but some gardeners may not know that there are many effective options for managing pests before reaching for a bottle of poison. The strategy is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and is a comprehensive approach to controlling pests with environmentally and economically sound practices. According to the University of Illinois Extension Good Growing blog, “IPM is an approach to reducing insect pest, weed, and disease populations to an acceptable level (we don’t typically ‘wipe out’ the pest) using a variety of different techniques. There are four techniques used with IPM: cultural, physical/ mechanical, biological, and chemical.” Ken Johnson, horticulture educator with the U of I Extension, presented an introduction to IPM at the 2026 Russel Allen Garden Day hosted by the Logan County Master Gardeners. Johnson first asked, what is a pest? He defined a pest as any organism that is seen as harmful or annoying and may affect humans, animals, property, or the environment. It can include bugs, infectious and non-infectious diseases, and wildlife. Johnson explained that IPM is a structure. The foundation is to understand what a plant should be and what it needs, what the life cycle is, as well as common pests and diseases. It is also important to understand the basic life cycles of pests and diseases. IPM starts with knowledge of biology, ecology, and timing. With this knowledge base, the next step in IPM is scouting. Scouting is basically observing your garden and can be as simple as a daily wander among the plants while enjoying your morning tea or coffee. While wandering, note any changes to leaves, stems, or growing culture. Scouting includes pest monitoring and identification with visual inspection and then efforts to determine the cause of the problem. For example, frost damage can resemble downy mildew on squash leaves, so determining the source of the problem is important. When an issue is observed, take these steps to diagnose the problem. 1. Identify the plant. 2. Identify the problem. 3. Inspect the whole plant. 4. Inspect the site. 5. Look for patterns. 6. Check the environment. If a gardener is still stumped after close inspection and research,
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