a ladybug on my argyrathemum
Natural Remedies for Garden Pests
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Catherine Boeckmann
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I have worms eating all of my herbs! I've been spraying dish soap with water, but every morning I go out and find more green worms to pull off and my herbs almost all gone from being eaten! Help!
You will need to handpick the caterpillars daily. If this is not appealing, you could spray with Neem Oil as an organic option. Or, ask your garden store about B.t. which is sold as Dipel, Thuricide, and several other brand names. Spinosad is another option for controlling caterpillars organically.
i have had bouts of bed bug and cockroach cohabitants for the past few years living in urban rental apartments .. at times i have been overwhelmed and had to endure countless fumigations with pesticides from store-bought to landlord professional routine services ... all to no avail ...however, i have found a bizarre home remedy that surprised me as much as it surprised the colonies that hatch ... isopropyl alcohol ... in a spray bottle .. kills them dead and it is quasi healthy ... to inhale as fumes .. compared to pesticides ... i dunno how i figured this out but nonetheless ... upon contact with a splash of rubbing alcohol, the bed bug immediately goes into rigor mortis ... and with the rare cockroaches .. they seem to scurry not to far from the contact of the spray .. and then go into their rigor mortis ... it is baffling ... because if rubbing alcohol is good for wounds and infections ... could these vermin be an extension of infections that nest alongside of us like fleas ? .. i don't have a kitten or puppy so for flea removal .. i am not too sure if the rubbing alcohol trick works for fleas ... i am scared to post this comment because i fear the pesticide people over on wall street may hunt me down for providing a more economical route to killing these kinda pests with vapours .. and that isn't so stinky .. or bad for inhaling
If you have ants and don't want to use a spray you can distract them with old melon rinds. place them a couple feet away from your veggies and the ants will flock. just pick up the rind full of ants and toss it. Whenever I cut a melon, I freeze the rind for this reason and when I need a new one I grab it from the freezer and set it outside. The same tactic works for pill bugs but use dry dog food instead of rinds.
Last night I had an invasion of tiny sugar ants on my sink. There must have been something sweet under the metal rim. There were hundreds of them lined up like cows at a feed trough. I sprinkled crushed bay leaf along the line of ants and the cracks around the sink. Within 15 minutes the ants were GONE!
Baking soda kills indoor pesky bugs! Everything from spiders, centipedes, roll-poly bus. It will kill mice too. Spread it on floors. Sweep in into corners and crevices. The pests track in on their legs and it kills them. It's cheap, effective and environmentally friendly.
What about squash bugs and fire ants. And what's the attraction fire ants have for okra??? They eat our baby pods.
Fireants eat other insects and also plants. Their favorite plants are: eggplant, okra, cabbage and broccoli, but they'll eat anything. Here's a good link with treatment options: http://fireants.utk.edu/management/treatment/homegarden.html
A lot of lady bugs means there is a lot of food, meaning aphids!
What a wonderful idea, I will try that. My nephew also suggests using expandable foam insulation in the entrance to the nest, also do this at night when they are less active. Remember not to use a light around the nest entrance at night, the yellow jackets will attact as if it is daytime.
