This page has illustrations of beneficial insects and information on the integrated pest control of pests in the home garden. At the heart of IPM is the understanding that many crops can tolerate a certain amount of pest damage. As a result, a rescue treatment is not needed until the pest population reaches a critical level usually referred to as a threshold. In the home vegetable garden, this threshold may be economic, but is more likely to be aesthetic. A commercial grower s produce must be blemish free or nearly so for fresh market. If a cabbage is found to have holes in the leaves from insect feeding, it will probably be culled or sold at a lower price, making the threshold economic. On the other hand, the threshold for home grown vegetables is often dependent on an individual gardeners tolerance to the damage.

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Website: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2205.html