What can you do to protect water quality?

• Limit pesticide use. Use nonchemical methods or least-toxic pesticides wherever possible. Ask a UC Master Gardener for help with pest problems.
• Avoid using pyrethroid insecticides. These products, including bifenthrin, cypermethrin, and permethrin, are among the most toxic to aquatic animals.
• Control ants by reducing food sources, excluding them from homes, and using baits in containers, instead of spraying.
• Cut back on fertilizer. More is not better. Actively-growing turf, flowering shrubs, and some annuals and fruit trees require regular feeding, but ornamental trees do not.
• Use slow-release fertilizers, including composted organic fertilizers, which are less likely to move into water. Measure and apply them according to label directions.
• Don’t let fertilizer or pesticides get onto hard surfaces such as sidewalks or driveways. Sweep any material that accidentally lands on hard surfaces back onto lawn.
• Dispose of garden chemicals correctly. Never sweep, hose off, or pour leftover pesticides or fertilizers into drains or gutters.
• Reduce your landscape’s need for water. Choose water-efficient plants and garden designs.
• Minimize runoff by using mulches in beds and permeable materials for walkways and driveways. Aerate and add organic matter such as compost to heavy or compacted soils.
• Check and maintain your irrigation system so water does not run off your landscape onto hard surfaces and into gutters.
• Improve watering efficiency and distribution by using equipment such as drip irrigation, soaker hoses, and “smart” irrigation controllers and rotor heads.

Find a pest by plant

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  Flowers
• 
  Vegetables & Melons
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  Trees & Shrubs (includes roses)
• 
  Lawns & Turf
• 
  Fruit, Nuts, & Berries

Find a pest by category

• 
  Birds, Mammals & Reptiles
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  Insects, Mites & Mollusks
• 
  Plant diseases
• 
  Weeds
• 
  Household

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