How to Deal with Pests

There are many creative ways to deal with pests, but most of the time I feel like it depends on the scale of what you're trying to pull off. If you're trying to do a large scale industrial system, the way you approach it is going to be very different than from a small home approach.

We should be careful of taking on too much. We should take on what we can properly manage.

Sometimes it can be as simple as picking the insects off with your hands, and only growing enough plants in your garden that you have the time to pick the insects off with your hands.

Sometimes it can be as creative as introducing species, or helping beneficial insects thrive, by creating environments for their prey to thrive in appropriate spots. Predator needs prey as well as prey needs predator.

Ways that We can be Creative and Managing the Balance

There are larger pests, like raccoons, deer, fox… that might want to get into your compost and in these cases you can use gates and lids.

But even with gates, lids and creative strategies, when it comes to flies getting into your compost or other things that we don't want to allow to breed in our area, management is the key strategy. Making sure that your lids are kept tight if need be and that you have not left food out to have flies lay eggs on. But even if these pests get in, a healthy compost pile can incorporate even those creatures into the system.

Fruit flies are other things that you don't want to get inside of your living compost pile or worm bin. Sometimes you have to be diligent about lids with screens, or being careful about what you add into the pile or bin, or how long you leave it open. Keep it consistent.

In a small apartment it's much easier to keep pests out of your compost bin. Simply having a proper lid will keep unwanted pests out.