Hire a pest management professional

Environmentally competent pest management service providers must be well trained to effectively manage pests. They need to know about life cycles for weeds, insects and diseases, alternatives to pesticides and how to keep plants healthy so they resist pests.

Ensure your contractor is qualified—regardless of whether organic, alternative or low-toxicity pesticides are used.

Some questions to ask:

• What are your company’s environmental practices: equipment use, landscape design, pest control, ecological sensitivity?
• How will you prevent or manage pests rather than controlling them with chemicals? (Use disease resistant plants, pull weeds, know which pests are good or bad, ensure healthy soil, put the right plants in the right place, etc.)
• What pest management qualifications do your staff have? Is your company PlantHealthBC pest management accredited? If not, will you join the program as a condition of being hired?

50+ questions to ask before hiring a garden professional

• Do you have a BC Pesticide Applicator’s Licence if you ever use registered products, even “natural” products such as vinegar-based weed controls?