Pests & Pesticides

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world by commercial gardeners. It is found to be highly toxic and can cause many short-term and long-term health effects. Not to mention, it can be harmful to important pollinators such as honey bees.

Below are links to two comprehensive guides designed to provide you with important information about this product. One covers things like what it is used for, symptoms, and side effects. The second guide discusses glyphosate in depth.

https://www.consumernotice.org/environmental/pesticides/roundup/

https://www.consumernotice.org/environmental/pesticides/roundup/glyphosate/

These resources are here to help inform everyone about the potential risks when using Roundup.

Keeping unwanted pests under control in a greenhouse can be a challenge. I have had my fair share of pest issues since I built our greenhouse. Each year, I get something a little different.

The first troublesome pests I have encountered in our greenhouse are whiteflies. They were a problem because they are small, multiply fast, suck the life out of certain plants, and aggravate your allergies. Another issue with whiteflies is they secrete a sticky substance called honeydew. Honeydew makes the plants very tacky. It also attracts my second troublesome pest, ants.

Ants are attracted to and collect the sweet honeydew that the whiteflies create. The fascinating thing about this is that they form a close relationship. The whiteflies produce the honeydew, and the ants protect the whiteflies in exchange for the honeydew. This relationship made this situation difficult because I had to deal with two pests instead of…