Buh Bye Pests

[TiggerToo]

Let's use this thread on the best way to get rid of pests.

We have a lot of gardeners here and there have been discussions on how to get rid of the insect kinds of pest as well as the lil furry critters (keeping them out of the garden).

I am not one for killing so if you do talk about this in this thread, please remember to be as aware of other's feelings and beliefs as possible.

[chitownmelli]

YAY!!! Now about my alien zombie rabbit colony.....

[CW&M Mom]

Well sulfer pellets can keep out insects. Especially chiggers and mites and flea's. Put it on the lawn and the garden. It is non toxic..but stinky..and the buggers don't like them.

I'm all for bug zappers too. I know we shouldn't talk about killing..but I have no mercy for mosquitoes.....

[TiggerToo]

Well sulfer pellets can keep out insects. Especially chiggers and mites and flea's. Put it on the lawn and the garden. It is non toxic..but stinky..and the buggers don't like them.

I'm all for bug zappers too. I know we shouldn't talk about killing..but I have no mercy for mosquitoes.....

Ha! Mosquitoes are a different story!!

[meofcourse80]

I still can't figure out why (aren't they colorblind?) but I've discovered that if I plant yellow/orange tomatoes in my garden instead of red, the birds and the squirrels pretty much leave them alone. What I was just doing red ones, they were ALL getting pecked apart and/or eaten before I got a chance to pick them.

[chitownmelli]

oh my goodness, I planted some things, all different things in my garden, went inside, came back an hour later and the plants were all chomped off down to the dirt! I've totally given up on gardening for the past two years.

[Amalgamate]

The deer ate my lima bean plants last year before they were ever able to grow pods. DH's grandpa set up an electric wire after that, but that's not exactly the ideal solution. The garden is too big for the small amount of wire, and I forget it's there sometimes...plus the beans burn when they touch it, too. I'd love to hear any other suggestions to keep deer out.

I used diatamaceous earth (food grade) to get rid of ants. I'm usually opposed to killing, but the ants kept biting me and killed a lot of the plants. There were thousands of the little boogers! Even killing a bunch didn't help though, because they multiplied and stayed in the garden until winter. I didn't think about it until after the fact that DE stays in the soil for years and years, deterring beneficial worms. Oops

One woman said she likes to dig up a hill of ants and drop it on another hill so they can fight it out themselves. Apparently they're very protective of their area, but the winning colony would still be left. I'm thinking I'll try this first next time though, just to see what happens.

I'm going to try a bit of companion planting this year rather than everything in straight rows. Maybe it'll confuse at least one of the pests.

[Gardencook]

I grow a lot of Asian greens and have to make sure I cover them with milk jugs until they are quite large or the squirrels treat them like a salad bar. Put some pots of tiny seedlings on the front porch once to harden them off and came back to nothing but stubble.

[motherofmolly]

The deer ate my lima bean plants last year before they were ever able to grow pods. DH's grandpa set up an electric wire after that, but that's not exactly the ideal solution. The garden is too big for the small amount of wire, and I forget it's there sometimes...plus the beans burn when they touch it, too. I'd love to hear any other suggestions to keep deer out.

I used diatamaceous earth (food grade) to get rid of ants. I'm usually opposed to killing, but the ants kept biting me and killed a lot of the plants. There were thousands of the little boogers! Even killing a bunch didn't help though, because they multiplied and stayed in the garden until winter. I didn't think about it until after the fact that DE stays in the soil for years and years, deterring beneficial worms. Oops

One woman said she likes to dig up a hill of ants and drop it on another hill so they can fight it out themselves. Apparently they're very protective of their area, but the winning colony would still be left. I'm thinking I'll try this first next time though, just to see what happens.

I'm going to try a bit of companion planting this year rather than everything in straight rows. Maybe it'll confuse at least one of the pests.

rice. i had (key word here) a large ant hill in my front yard...put some uncooked rice on that ant hill...and no more ants.....i read some where that the rice expands inside of the ants and they die. not the nicest way, but no chemicals involved...and those little ant killer bait things did nothing for me.

[Nascar88]

I use a simple trick to keep birds out of my garden....

I took old Cd's, drilled a small hole near the edge, strung some fishing line through them and hung them in 3 different places in my 12 x 12 garden. They swing and spin around and the sun glaring off of them and all over keep the birds away...

My neighbor feeds birds in his yard and he has like 500 birds comming and going and not 1 bird in my garden yet....