Herbs: Herbs to repel rodents & cats?, 1 by thethorinator

thethorinator wrote:
Ooops, Neil,
Turns out, that what would possibly have worked is NOW ILLEGAL TO PURCHASE...POSSESS...USE..OR SELL in England and in the US, I believe the active ingredient has been outlawed for over 2 decades, though I totally give you credit for such an ingenious idea (shotgun shell...who'd have thought of that except a Brit for the Badgers which I hear are a real terror over there in the UK!! Thank you for presenting what would have been, if not now banned, would have worked against rodents and cats) I checked and there are no similar substances available in the US and although being tested against Red Foxes in Ontario and against captive species elsewhere (in the UK), that they are not really effected in the long term because, although something may taste bitter or foul, if they are hungry, the need to eat will supercede that initial bad taste or urge to avoid it...even against badgers...which surprised the heck out of me, Neil. None of the active ingredients are available here because of the toxicity of the main ingredients: "The substance is bone tar oil dissolved in kerosene." (cited from Endangered Species Update, July-August, 2001)http:www.deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39361/1/als9527.0018.004.pdf ) I hope that helps flesh that out and solve confusion as well as protect you from unwanted trouble, Neil as I guess there are criminal penalties associated with violating the ban (gulp!)

That out of the way, I have had dreams of visitng Merry Old England's gorgeous formal gardens and casual "kitchen gardens! Some day, if (this) disease and God graces me with some additional time to do so, that is on my short list of places I would love to visit. So, cheers to you as well Neil!

Sincerely Grateful for the Idea,
Thor

(Here is a picture of a few of my cherry tomatoes which are NOW starting to turn orange as they are of the Sungold cultivar and just as wonderful the 2nd year around--in other words--what the Plant Files purports about how this variety:

Seed Collecting:
N/A: plant does not set seed, flowers are sterile, or plants will not come true from seed

seems to be untrue as mine certainly did come true the second year and were not sterile whatsoever. Every saved seed from last year that was planted and labeled, "Sungold" germinated and I have two of the four, a fried has one, and the other is at another friends garden. Anyway, here's a rather interesting picture while these ones were still green.