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Article Source: angelfire.com
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SPRING IS NEARLY HERE- AND PLANTING TIME IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! DO A BIT OF EXTRA RESEARCH NOW, AND SKIP THE COMMERCIAL, HARMFUL PESTICIDES.
Your own home made bug controls are safer for you, the environment, for honeybees and fish, and easier on your pocketbook. An all around win!
Time to order seeds and vegetables? Order your bug killing ingredients, too, so those can be growing also. Many are at the grocery store, in the food section.
#1 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:24 AM ESTGood morning Gloria,
Fine article, very informative. We can help ourselves so much by growing herbs and picking the bugs and making our own sprays. Best to spray in the late afternoon/early evening out of the hot sun to avoid leaf burn.
Advice to all : get rid of all your aluminum cookware.
Hi, ambivalent, glad you snooped here..., why get rid of the aluminum pans? I still have a few, mostly saucepans.
I bookmarked that article. I plan on doing some experimental gardening this year and do not want to poison everything out there, like pets and the food I will be eating.
Great seed. This is the way to save the planet.................thank you.
#2 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:54 AM ESTOne I have found that works well for ants coming into your home.
Take about a third cup of jelly and mix about a half teaspoon of borax in it. Put some in bottle caps and set them around near where you saw the ants, but where no kids or pets will get into them. Not only will some ants be dying by where they are eating this, some will be carrying some of the special jelly back to their nests and ants will die there as well.
I helped my mom get rid of an ant problem at her house last year using this method. It worked quite well.
#4 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:28 AM ESTI stomp on them. That works too, and is completely organic in nature.
At my moms house the ants literally moved in. It would have been impossible to stomp them all. LOL
Excellent tip, McSpocky.............it also doubles as a termite blaster...........wow now there's one you can carry to the bank!! It sure saves on hiring out the termite service. Just go under the house, and set these baits. Make sure, as you say, that no children or pets can get to them, by making sure that all of the vents to the bottom of the house are covered up, or "all meshed in".
Pennies on the dollar. Oh, and at least the termites prefer specifically GRAPE jelly, don't know about the ants. Ants are a bit dodgier to deal with for me, as pets and children frequently are running around above ground. I suppose the traps could be put into child/pet proof cupboards, but I'm still a bit uncomfortable using it there. Both are pretty smart and could get into those (sigh).
That is much better than my solution for ants, McSpocky! One house we were in had them coming into the house, and I just put cupcake papers with honey in them outside- they stayed outside all year! But, it didn't eradicate them- yours is much better!
Hey, Kara, that is a very good tip about termites!! It would be a good preventative measure, it would seem- and living in Arkansas, I have heard of termites walking off with houses... Anyone know if it will work on those big, wood ants- Hmmmm .. carpenter ants?
Arkansas,
Carpenter ants go hand in hand with a termite infestation. If you see carpenter ants, then you have termintes. Most people do, eventually.
I'm just not into tenting my house with poison and moving everyone out for 3 days and then feeling "safe" to move back in.
Hope things work out for you.
Kara
I haven't seen my house full of carpenter ants, but there have been some in the firewood, and the thought of them eating the house apart makes me nervous! Preventative thoughts, here!
Also, do you have any trees on your property? Termites love to invade your home using the trees root systems.
Gloria, this is a very timely article.
The caterpillar problem around here is terrible. I will try your recommendations.
Thank you.
#5 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:14 PM ESTHi, my friend, Al- hope any of these ideas aid with your caterpillar situation!
I have been making and trying several home 'bug deflector' potions- last year, I worked hard at a mosquito and tick repellent, but never achieved over ...75% effectiveness. Will be trying again this spring- looking for 98%, in a natural spray. The spray I made seemed to do better for ticks than for mosquitos, so will change it and try again.
I have catepillars which defoliate some of the trees in my yard. I spotted a couple of possible solutions in your article which I will try.
Kara, could you pull out a kitchen drawer completely, and set your bait down behind there, then put the drawer back in? I have one cat that gets about everywhere, too, and that would be the only safe place in the house- except the other one... pull out the bottom drawer of the range, and set a trap back there. Most ranges( not all) are kinda 'locked' in by cabinets, and the closeness to the wall, and the very weight of the thing. It is one place my pets can't get to.
#6 - Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:48 AM ESTWell, right about that. Look for the places unexplored. Unfortunately, I have a tortie who can outsmart us. She can open drawers, and we have to lock all cabinets. Sometimes, we forget. She could end up dead, as in, curiousity killed the cat.........
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