Toad is your friend

Do you try to garden with a minimum of pesticides and chemicals? Do you follow the principles of IPM (Integrated Pest Management), choosing the least toxic means of controlling garden pests? If this describes your garden style, toads are your friends. Biological control, an aspect of IPM, relies on natural predators, parasitoids, and pathogens for pest control. Toads fall into the predator category. Their diet consists of anything that moves and fits in their mouth—including slugs, cutworms, grubs, earwigs, caterpillars, and termites. A healthy toad is estimated to eat about 10,000 bugs per summer. Spoiler alert: some of a toad's diet will consist of beneficial insects. For instance, a toad will eat beetles and their larvae. It cannot discriminate between Colorado Potato Beetles and predatory ground beetles. It has been estimated that about 20% of a toad's diet may be beneficial insects. (And, no, you won't get warts from them. They may, however, pee on you if you pick them up.) What is a toad and how do you "hire" them to work in your garden? Toads are amphibians, like frogs. The Eastern American Toad, the common species in our area, only lives in water during the tadpole stage. Other than when they are breeding, toads live in damp, protected areas with vegetation to hide in. Toads are considered an indicator species. If a toad volunteers to come to your garden and stay there, it is a sign of a healthy environment. The key to providing housing for your new pest control manager is to have shallow water sources and shady spots for hot summer afternoons. Toads absorb moisture (and toxins) through their skin, so be very cautious about using any chemicals that might harm them. An attractive garden feature (to a toad) would be a shallow depression filled with mulch and covered by a log or rock pile for shade. Shallow water for drinking/absorbing can be provided by putting a large plant saucer into the soil and keeping it full of water. Locating this "drinking" area under the leaves of a shade plant—maybe a hosta?—or in tall grasses would provide added benefit. Avoid cultivating the soil in spots where a toad might be sleeping; it is easy to impale them on digging tools. A large, moist compost pile with coarse vegetative material next to some sort of overturned container would also be acceptable to a toad. You are trying to imitate an underground burrow. What should you plant in your garden to attract a toad? Well, the same biodiversity that attracts beneficial insects and pollinators would attract a toad. Native plants selected to provide a season-long bloom period for insect attraction, ferns for shade and humidity, and plants that provide a host for caterpillars will help feed a toad. Small flowered herbs and wildflowers are attractive to many beneficial insect species. Mixing flowering plants with vegetables or ornamentals will attract the toad's dinner while providing a comfortable place to dine. If you like the idea of inviting toads to your garden and want to take it a step further, check out this pdf titled "Create a Garden Pond for Wildlife" at extension/oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/ec-1548-wildlife-garden-create-garden-pond-wildlife. This would add a breeding site to keep your new friend happy in your garden all year.