Environmentally friendly pest control is not new. It is where pest control began. Ancient man tried to control pests even before agriculture. After agriculture began the fight escalated. Remember that there were no pesticides to rely on thousands of years ago. Back then motivation was not a problem as a single crop failure could sometimes bring starvation.

Early farmers had little knowledge but were quick to observe nature and duplicate what they saw. Sometimes their experiments worked, sometimes they did not. Evidence of pest control efforts appear in Rome, China, Sumaria and Egypt. Some techniques had no scientific basis but found their roots in religion. Those techniques that worked were passed on the next generation.

Pest control techniques used by early farmers included: Using other critters such as frogs, birds and even other bugs help control pests Using sanitation and rotating crops to help control pests Using traps, baits and even fire to burn crops after harvest Using pest resistant plants

Ancient cultures learned they could control pests or stop them from breeding by burning the fields after harvest. This pest control technique was used over 3 thousand years ago in China, and borrowed by the Roman 1000 years later. Fire is still used today in a limited way.

Another pest control method of disrupting the lifecycle of pest is crop rotation, which proved very effective for the ancient farmers. This method is still widely used today to prevent the rapid reproduction of pests. An example of interrupting the lifecycle of pests occurred in the 6th Century in Greece. Pythagoras recommended that swamps in the outlying areas be drained to stop the spread of malaria.

The Chinese especially became adept at pest control using beneficial species. For example, 3200 years ago ancient Chinese texts note the use of predatory ants to protect citrus groves from caterpillars and wood boring beetles. Later on officials prohibited the removal of eggs and the hunting of both frogs and birds as these species consume vast numbers of insects. Praying mantis was released in gardens among the chrysanthemums to devour leaf-eating insects.

The first mechanical pest control traps were not created until the early 1700s. A German physician named Franz Bruckmann designed fly traps made from a wooden box. They included a spring loaded lid and were baited with a sweet attractant. Bruckmann also created flea traps worn around the neck. They became quite popular with the aristocracy of Western Europe at that time.

Green pest control techniques have been around for a long time. They have been proven and refined over thousands of years. They fell out of favor when chemical pesticides were introduced, but are again gaining popularity. The appeal of these techniques is they are effective, relatively inexpensive, and have a reduced environmental impact. Today these green pest control techniques are collectively called Integrated Pest Management.