Ecological Pest Management

We have been wondering out loud how the number of Japanese Beetles as well as Grape Flea Beetles have really diminished since we saw them in large numbers when we initially planted our vineyard in 2013 all the way through 2018. During those years, we didn't use a pesticide to kill them but picked them off and put them into soapy water in order to kill them. Since 2019 we still have a few grape flea beetles and Japanese beetles, but not in the numbers that having a full vineyard might have portended. Instead, thankfully, we saw fewer beetles each year.
So in order to make sense of this phenomenon, I decided to re-read a SARE online publicaltion called Manage Insects on Your Farm. This publication is not only about insects, but also about soil health and crop health. It is 135 pages long and is subtitled "A Guide to Ecological Strategies".
In the next few blogposts, I'll be taking small bites of the information and summarizing it here. Ecologically based pest management or simply ecological pest management, treats the whole farm as a complex system by mimicking nature’s relationships among different species of plants and animals.
The pillars of ecological pest management can be summarized in this schematic:

The schematic effectively divides the ecological pest management into below ground and above ground principles and practices. The stress is placed on managing instead of controlling pests.
How to increase above ground biodiversity:

• Diversify enterprises by including more species of crops and livestock
• Use legume-based crop rotations and mixed pastures
• Intercrop or strip-crop annual crops where feasible
• Mix varieties of the same crop
• Use varieties that carry many genes rather than just one or two, for tolerating a particular insect or disease
• Emphasize open-pollinated crops over hybrids for their adaptability to local environments and greater genetic diversity
• Grow cover crops in orchards, vineyards and crop fields
• Leave strips of wild vegetation at field edges
• Provide corridors for wildlife and beneficial insects
• Practice agroforestry: where possible, combine trees or shrubs with crops or livestock to improve habitat continuity for natural enemies
• Plant microclimate-modifying trees and native plants as windbreaks or hedgerows
• Provide a source of water for birds and insects
• Leave areas of the farm untouched as habitat for plant and animal diversity

How to increase below ground biodiversity:

• Soil organic matter management
• Soil nutrient management
• Tillage (little or no tillage)
• Efforts to reduce erosion and compaction

References:
1. Miguel A. Altieri, Clara I. Nicholls with Marlene A. Fritz, Manage Insects on Your Farm, Published by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), College Park, MD.