Pests and Problems in Your Garden

Every bird paradise has its problems and challenges. Here are a few, along with my suggestions for dealing with them.

Exotics

Some exotic plants have great wildlife value. Russian olive, multiflora rose, and Japanese honeysuckle will flower heavily in the spring and then put forth a multitude of fruits that birds readily eat. Unfortunately, the seeds pass through their system and start new plants all over again. This initially sounds like a great deal; the plants that are reproducing in your yard at a quick rate are the ones the birds already like. The problem is that when these plants came here from other continents, through accident or intent, they did not bring with them any built-in controls, such as disease or insects that would check their range expansion. Without controls, any exotic plant that provides a food source in your backyard could eventually be the only plant in your backyard. This would force out the native plants that the birds have adapted to over thousands of years. Native plants play a crucial role in any ecosystem.

When choosing your bird garden plant species, always ask whether they are natives or exotics, and whether they tend to be invasive.

Deer

In many parts of the continent, deer are considered nothing more than furry, four-legged scenery chewers. It is really hard, short of fencing your property, to discourage deer from eating most of your best bird-attracting plants. Cayenne pepper, coyote urine, deodorant soap, human hair, noisemakers, clanging pie plates hung from strings - all have been used, with varying degrees of success, to discourage browsing by deer. Electric fencing can be an effective last resort.

Plant Diseases

A monoculture landscape is susceptible to being wiped out by disease. If you shelled out $500 last year for new dogwoods, and a blight killed them all this spring, you are not a happy camper.

Variety decreases the chances that disease will decimate your bird garden. Your first goal should be to maximize the types of plants you use in your landscape. Mix things up with the species you choose. Instead of using one type of ground cover in front of three shrubs of the same species, plant three types of ground cover in from of three shrubs of varying species.

If your plants are constantly under attack from disease, consult a garden center expert or landscaper about what you can do to improve the health of your bird garden.

Pest Control

When an insect finds the fruits or flowers of our gardens as enjoyable as you do, don't react too quickly. Sometimes the best approach is to do nothing. Keep an eye on the area and watch how nature reacts to it. Also keep in mind that birds are nature's best pest controllers. Remember, countless insects play important, unseen roles in the cycle of nature, even in the smallest backyard.

The problem is that pesticides don't know when to stop killing. Naturally occurring, beneficial insects may be destroyed, which may give rise to a more difficult pest problem, especially if you just sprayed and killed the pest's natural insect predators.

You will never get all of the pest problem out of the environment. A spray of a chemical nostrum may make the problem disappear for a while. If once-sprayed pests return, however, they may be more resistant to chemical treatments.

Bug Zappers

Insects play an important role in the food chain in your backyard. Some people have wrongly decided that all insects are bad. Actually, 95 percent of the insect population is either beneficial or innocuous to human beings.

A bug zapper attracts insects to a light source and then electrocutes them on a charged grid. These devices attract and kill insects that use light to find a mate or for navigational purposes. Unfortunately, mosquitoes, the intended target of backyard zappers, find their nightly meal of blood from mammals (including you and me) by smelling the carbon monoxide that all mammals exhale. They are not attracted to light, and so are not killed by these devices.

Some people like the all-night "snap, crackle, and pop" sound emitted by the bug zapper. The next morning in the bottom of the zapper are craneflies, insects that would otherwise be bird food. Here's the crazy part: Craneflies eat mosquitoes! Zapper manufacturers have recently added an attractant to their zappers to attract and kill mosquitoes. I still believe that, in a bird-attracting backyard, there is no place for a bug zapper. Let the birds control your bugs. Put up a bat house to welcome insect-eating bats into your bird garden.

Use What You've Got

Don't get discouraged if your yard seems as if it will never be a bird paradise. Use what you've got to your advantage. If you have a huge lawn, consider creating a meadow. If you have a few trees, aim for creating a woodland. If you have low, wet areas, turn them into a wetland for wildlife, or sculpt the ground to create natural bird pools. If it seems like a daunting task, consult a local landscaper.