This last summer is the first garden I've planted since I have moved into this building and I planted it up in the woods. After trying some of the traditional ways of pest control I decided to change it a bit because I didn't like the idea of liquid seven on the crop that we were going to eat. So heres the way I went about it, I sprayed the outer perimeter of the garden with liquid seven in the grasshopper dosage but we also have a lot of monarch butterflies and even though they are pretty the larva eat tomatoes to the ground in short order. I notice that they don't lay their eggs directly in the garden at least not here, but I knew that contact with the seven would kill them so I tried to figure out how to keep them out of the garden and out of the seven. Being in the woods I also have a serious mosquito problem as well as flies, this is where it gets strange. I bought a product some years back called skeeter defeeter that had citronella in it and I still had some around in a hose spray applicator, it was old and I did not know how effective it would be. The product label said it would keep mosquito's, flies and gnats away for up to a month, since its all organic I gave it a try on the garden and the woods with what I had left to see how it worked, proved to be very effective, there were no invasions of any insects into the area including butterflies, they still hung around outside of the sprayed area but they did not enter into it. One problem skeeter defeeter is no longer available, after much phone calling and interneting I had to give up on finding anything like it any where so I got daring and bought a bottle of citronella torch oil I filled the original sprayer with the oil put it on my hose and sprayed the woods and metal lawn chairs with it to see if it harmed the plant growth or left an oily residue on the chairs, there was no residue at all I could not even tell that I had sprayed the chairs. The plant life was unaffected as well so I went ahead and sprayed the garden no bugs and no ill effects on the garden that I could tell. Fire ants I'll leave for another post as this is getting long winded but I found a solution for them too.
PS: I would first try my solution in a small out of the way area to make sure that it will work for you as well as it did for me.
Don
Garden pest control
Interesting approach. Since the monarchs are so threatened, many gardeners have set up "way stations" to help them survive during their migrations. I didn't know there were so many varieties of milkweed! If they had their preferred food located away from your garden area, perhaps they could pass you by quickly.
A good tip for the next garden and to plant in the woods. I have given thought to building a butterfly garden up there outside of the barrier zone.
Thanks!
Don
Great idea. Please post your fireant solution.
The fire ant solution was born out of desperation. I had the little buggers moving in and stripping the garden I didn't want any pesticides and nothing seemed to move them not even citronella. I bought some stuff from green light called lawn and garden spray (organic repellent) which is supposed to be safe to use on the garden up to the day of harvest. I tried it on the garden and it burned everything, almost ruined the garden. I had some left over and having tried everything else on the fire ants I poured some diluted solution on the mounds I had in the garden, I was amazed to see almost instant results with a complete disappearance of the ants in the garden altogether in 2 hours with no return visitors. I tried more of the solution on a well established mound that I had been trying to get rid of for some time and again I got the same results. The only thing I can figure is that the stuff burns the ants up and they don't seem to be able to escape.
I want to do more testing this spring as this seems to be an effective way to get rid of the ants and not their just moving to another location.
Don
Well, the boiling water method has worked well for me. This year only two mounds appeared which were quickly dispatched.
Boiling water? Whod a thunk.
And it it leaves no toxic residue!
Just boil it in your kettle and pour it directly into the entrance hole. For a large mound pour in a second kettleful. They don't move anywhere - KO'd instantly and the mound collapses.
A kettle you mean like a tea kettle or a campfire kettle you being from Texas and all know what I mean.
Just an ordinary kitchen teakettle. Mine is a large stainless steel one. You can use anything that will hold water to boil, - pan - bucket - but you need a way to carry it to the garden without scalding yourself. The teakettle with the water enclosed and its carrying handle does the job.
Thanks I was just trying to get a idea as to the quantity of water required.
Don
Just guessing - the kettle probably holds between 2 & 3 quarts - that's why I heat a second one for the really large mounds.