In Physical Law, Sir Isaac Newton postulated that every action was followed by an equal and opposite reaction. In Natural Law, for every pest problem there is an equal and opposite natural counterpart - an equal and opposite reaction to that problem.Sometimes there is more than one reaction.We call these natural counterparts "biological controls" or "bio-controls."
Corollaries to this Natural Law are
- With few exceptions, the use of bio-controls means discontinuing the use of pesticides. This is because, again with few exceptions, most pesticides, whether organic or synthetic, will kill both biological controls and their targeted pests with equal zeal.
- The use of bio-controls also means the gardener must define his or her level of tolerance for pests in the garden and damage to the plant. Biological controls will not eliminate pest damage completely, since mankind is the only species that will obliterate another species, even a food source, to the point of extinction. Therefore, some tolerance of pests and their damage must be tolerated in the garden. That level is a personal point, and beyond which intolerance begins.
- True bio-controls do just what their name suggests - they "control" their target organism to within an "acceptable" level of existence. As their target populations decrease, their own populations decrease until such times as their target populations increase again. For this reason, true bio-controls will not eliminate one pest problem only to become another pest problem themselves.
Determining which biological controls are the most effective in the suburban garden has been a personal quest of this author for almost a decade. Guided by previous research conducted by the Bio-Integral Research Center in Berkeley, California, an organization devoting most of the last quarter-century to exploring biological controls in the agri-business industry, I have set about determining which of these controls effectively work in the suburban garden. When I began this effort, few controls were available to the suburban gardener. Over the past five years, however, more and more have become available. Even more are on the way.
Below is a table of common rose pests and diseases followed by their biological controls. Generally, these controls are divided into three groups - microbials (which include fungi, bacilli, viruses, bacteria, protozoans), parasitoids (those controls that parasitize their target), and predators (those controls that prey on their target). Species names are given to assist the reader in identifying bio-controls should he or she wish to try them in their own garden. All can be mailordered, and some can be purchased in "living" containers at various home improvement centers, farm and ranch stores, feed stores, and many nurseries.
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