Bug Babble!

In this thread, let's discuss insects that are obnoxious or harmful to our plants, animals, home, or selves. Let's discuss possible treatments for getting rid of these "pests". Let's also discuss the possibilties of living with these "pests". I know that many of you allow caterpillars to feed on your plants so that they can morph into butterflies which are very beneficial to the blooms that we all adore. I never even considered allowing something to eat my plants until I was educated by DGer's. Many of us use an organic regimen when gardening, and one of the keys to organic gardening is to not harm the life in the soil. We can learn from each other how best to deal with these insects..........TEXAS STYLE!!

I have a TON of Gulf Frittilary caterpillars on my passifloras, but since joining DG I consider that a triumph rather than a failure, despite the rather raggedy vines. I've only seen 3 or 4 GF butterflies this summer, but I'll bet next year I'll be swarming with them, and worth it.

I had a wasp nest on a rose bush, but just left it alone as no little kids here and the luffas needed pollinating. Finally knocked it off when no one was home...

But can we take on FIREANTS!?!?!?!?!!! They build little roads up into the weepholes before you can shake a stick at them. Grrrrrrrrrrrr... I've had some success with a white powder called "results" and also have done a few in with vinegar (bye-bye grass, though) but I'd LOVE to really wage war on the buggers. Yeah, they aerate the soil some, but I can aerate my own soil!

I'm told orange oil works on fire ants, but I haven't tried it myself yet.

The guys in the pic on my previous post are what I call yellowjackets. If you know the proper name for them let me know. I have never allowed any wasps to nest around my home until this year after I read somewhere that they eat other harmful bugs and they pollinate flowers. The wasps have not attacked anyone at my house even when I spray the live oak that they're in.

As far as fire ants go, this has been a really bad year for fire ants. We were being overtaken about a month ago but after several treatments of beneficial nematodes and compost tea outside and the use of vinegar and orange oil inside, we have finally gotten the upper hand. There is still a mound here and there but that's way better than one huge mound on our whole place.

Results is a natural poison that disappears quickly, so it has to be used carefully,
but doesn't leave long lasting residues.

For fireants there is a compound, I don't remember its name, which interfers with their ability to breed. I can find out if needed. It is broadcast over an area, and eventually you are supposed to be rid of fireants. I don't mind using chemicals at all, so long as it targets what I want targeted. I used Amdro on fireants in Louisiana and assume it will work here as well. Other than than, however, I don't intend to use insecticides. I like the butterflies and hummingbirds too. I wish I could get the big red ants from my childhood back; then maybe I could play with horny toads again.

I used round-up on unwanted plants in my yard this year, but I didn't have anything in my yard I wanted to save (brand new home). I'll probably use MSMA in the future, or my hoe., or whatever.

I have a very large black ant that is evading all efforts of control. Stings just like a fireant and leaves the purple bruises for months. Everytime I treat a mound, they just move over.
Treated 4 mounds on Sunday.....today I found the new one where they moved. Using one of the Amdro products that claims to kil 150 kinds of ants. I must have #151. Help.

One thing they can not survive is boiling water, one or two good size pots of it will diminish them greatly.

I have those big red ants everywhere!! How do you get rid if those? They make HUGE beds out near the street and nothing grows there. I have found 4 beds so far, but I bet there are more.

Well drsaul, when I was a kid I used to kill them by focusing the sun on them with a magnifying grass. Of course, it takes a long time to get rid of a whole colony of them that way. Have your tried importing a colony of fire ants to kill them? Then use Amdro to get rid of the fire ants. LOL

We have had the best results controlling many ants, fleas, roaches, june bugs, and grubs by applying beneficial nematodes periodically to our yard. We started in mid-March and applied monthly until about June when it started to heat up. We'll apply again this month, October, and then in November. I can't believe what a difference this has made!!

We do have ants in a narrow strip of ground between our house and driveway that we need to treat. I think we're going to drench it with an orange oil/molasses mixture.

Stephanie

We use something called Antie-Fuego on fire ants. It has molasses, orange oil, vinegar and compost tea. It gets rid of the ants and fertilizes your dirt at the same time. We have almost gotten rid of fire completely and they used to be everywhere. Once you get rid of them, the native ants should move in and help keep fire ants out. We also use beneficial nematodes. I think that's why our cats don't have many fleas. Antie-Fuego is a Gardenville product from San Antonio, but the local nurseries and feed stores around carry it. So you could try there and if they don't have it, ask for it.

I have used Amdro before, but all that happens, is they move to another spot. I'll have to try and find some of the other products that ya'll have mentioned.

Yes, moving them around is the best we can hope for. It will be impossible to erradicate unless the neighbors all do the same. Areas where all have gotten together and treated accordingly have been successful.

I really try to live and let live. Don't remember the last time I sprayed or put out poison for anything (except Fire Ants and even that doesn't happen very often), but I do want to caution people about yellow jackets.

Must just be their time of year. Last week, I was taking some dirt around back. I noticed that there were some building a nest on the side of our house. I didn't think too much about it. I went and got another load of dirt and was just walking by and one came out and stung me. Then the next day, I was clearing out some weeds in another area and got stung two more times. Didn't even know that nest was there.

Guess all I am trying to say is that sometimes they are tolerate and sometimes not. In my case, I don't let them nest in my yard if I know they are there. They can come to visit and I have no problem, but don't want them staying. We have small children and dogs, not to mention myself.

I just got this important info in my email!


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Dirt Doctor Weekly Newsletter – NutraSweet (Aspartame) – Fire Ant Killer and Much More.




Several people have reported to me that the artificial sweetener in the blue bags will kill out fire ant mounds. I have always joked that’s the only way the stuff should be used, but it is not a joke, and it is time for me to comment a little stronger on this dangerous product. There’s a huge amount of disturbing information about aspartame, and I do not understand why it is still on the market. Use it for ant killing, but please don’t add it to your tea or coffee. Also read the labels and do not buy products that contain it. It is a neurotoxin.

According to the book, “Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills” by Russell L. Blaylock, aspartame’s deadliness comes from its ability to destroy brain cells by over stimulating them. The term “excitotoxin” basically means that cells get excited to death.

Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death. A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss and joint pain.

According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame: brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia and diabetes.


Aspartame consists of three chemicals held together very weakly. They are:

phenylalanine (50% of aspartame)
aspartic acid (40% of aspartame)
methanol (10% of aspartame)
Breaking the weak chemical bonds can be as simple as extended storage as with candy or diet soda or exposure to heat in excess of 86°F or 30°C. The problem with aspartame poisoning is that each of the three above parts causes the body to react differently. Aspartame can affect people and animals in different ways.

What are the alternatives? I don’t sweeten with anything but honey. I use honey in teas, in oatmeal, on toast, etc. But here are some alternatives if honey doesn’t calm your sweet tooth.




Established brands like SweetLeaf have stevia in easy to carry packets and even stevia tabs.



The Miracle of Stevia by James A. May is one of the best books on the subject. Herbs for Texas tells you how to grow it - it’s very easy.

The Mayo Clinic website states - aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) is NOT okay for cooking! Why? It turns out that aspartame partially breaks down to methanol when it is heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

When you drink a diet soda, the aspartame is broken down to methanol in your small intestine. Heating aspartame to above 86°F creates free methanol which is absorbed faster by your body! Free methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin - another reason it shouldn’t be added to hot coffee or tea.

Naturally yours,


Howard Garrett
The Dirt Doctor






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Thanks Bronc. I will investigate further. I don't sweeten at all but my children and grandchildren do. BTW....just a footnote......children under 2 should never have Honey.
It often has botulism that adults can through off but can be fatal to babies.

bronc, I'm totally in your corner on this one!!! I react very badly to aspartame, and not only is it deadly, it is addictive. A lot of people are diagnosed with conditions such as MS (as mentioned) and if they'd just drop the diet sodas the symptoms would go away. But this is the only way we can have our cake and eat it, too. People don't WANT to know the effects -- they want to drink soda while they diet. Plus it's a multi-billion dollar industry... need I say more...

Stevia is a real blessing if you like sweet. Unfortunately, it doesn't give one that sugar rush (which is another addiction) but it will sweeten tea like nothing else.

So If I have equal.....just mix with water and pour on the ants and it will kill them??

I guess. I've never tried it.

There is another sweetener that's natural and very safe. I'm surprised Howard Garrett doesn't talk about it. It's called zylitol. Google it, you'll get lots of info I'm sure.

Well I was coming in to see what all I could find out about fire ants and ask about scorpions and I see Bronc you heard about artificial sweeteners and posted.
brigidlily you are correct also

I can know if you "drink" and use diet pop in a mixed drink you will get drunk faster due to the diet drink going through your body faster. (easy way to say it)
But I also know from doing net research a couple years ago that if you are diabetic you should not drink stuff with the artificial sweeteners ...you may also notice that you have head aches on a regular basis thinking maybe it is due to lack of caffeine ...but stop drinking the diet drink and go to regular or something else not with artificial stuff in it and see if the headaches go away.
One of my friends back in Illinois complained of headaches and when we did th e"test" sure enough it was her diet drink.
Now could someone explain beneficial nematodes and compost tea..I know compost tea is made from a compost pile which I have to start one

My diet soda headaches (I'm diabetic and can't drink regular sodas.) turned out to be due to the caffeine. To be fair, I though I'd include some links on what aspartame is and how it is metabolized because it is very easy to make all sorts of claims. We bash the FDA if it appears to be dragging its feet on the release of a new miracle drug. Then accuse it of being in another company's back pocket for releasing something else too soon if it is later found to cause problems.

One thing we must realize is that not everyone reacts to drugs and other chemicals in the same way. We have free will and can avoid eating or drinking what's available out there. If I were used as the standard for what is released or not, there would be hundreds of useful drugs off the market. I suffer from a rare (here in the US) genetic disorder and must be very careful to avoid taking drugs that are helpful to most people, but potentially fatal to me.

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/aspartame/aspartameh.html
http://tc.engr.wisc.edu/UER/uer98/author2/content.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/24/earlyshow/health/main2721195.shtml
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/76203.php

Thank you, Betty. The list of things that are good for us....bad for us....changes sides of the list everyday. At one time in my life I was naive enough to believe anything that was printed in a book was gospel. One day there was ....."the lightbulb".....what are the credentials of the author.....anyone can pay to publish a book. When it comes to our diet the older I get the less I believe there is such a thing as experts. BTW. 8 year old definition of an "expert".........has-been under pressure.

Not meaning to be know it all because that is just the problem.....NO one knows it all. Thank goodness for that.

Betty and Lou I agree with both of you things do act different for everyone.
Hey Lou are you sure no one knows it all????? I thought Teenagers did ...hahaha

what I said came from people that actually did have problems and when I was doing the research I was helping a girlfriend who's mom is diabetic and her doctor told her no artificial sweeteners so seh wanteed to see jsut hwat all the issues were.
My dh's oldest son is physically and mentally challenged and there is a big difference for him with his meds. and diet drinks.
Of course if they would switch him over to something like iced tea instead of the soda it would be better for him weight wise too ...hehehe...you have to hide the soda when he is around or he will drink everything he finds, he went through 2 cases once at his mothers she learned why we hide and ration it when he visits us.

could someone explain beneficial nematodes and compost tea..I know compost tea is made from a compost pile which I have to start one

Here is an article about compost tea, I hope it helps.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/manage/viewstory.php?rid=46
Josephine.

THANKS!

Red oak caterpillars ~ what do they become? Where do they come from and what the heck good are they!

Hate 'em! Every fall, they strip a large red oak that my patio encircles. They steal all the leafs I wanted to mulch and compost, they mess all over the patio and furniture. When you are out there, you can hear it raining cat mess. Don't look up! If it does rain, it turns to green yucky @#&*.

So, what do I do? A friend suggested trying his home remedy this winter. He circles his pecan trees thickly with wood ashes. He has virtually no problems with the web worms (?) that affect pecans. Is it worth a try or will it just add more nasty mess to the patio.

Help! This bug makes me want to babble!

I am so delighted that there are others concerned over the artificial sweetners carelessly dumped on the public. Our food and drug, as well as our health and safety laws of this nation are totally out of whack and politically driven by big business. The depth of the pockets of big business, especially the large drug/chemical companies, funding massively successful lobbying in Congress is despicable. We have drugs that could save and/or benefit lives that are mired down in bureaucratic red tape and things like Searle's Aspartame that got pushed through. Due do our hysterically irresponsible news media and our band of politicians in Washington Cyclomates were removed at that time because they were reported to cause cancer. In actual fact, when the studies came in later for Sodium Saccharin, data showed it to be more causative for cancer than Cyclomates! Cyclomates were banned only due to the fact that their data came in first. If all the data had been properly evaluated Saccharine would have been banned, NOT Cyclomates. If you go to Canada you will not find any Saccharine on their shelves, but rather Cyclomates. It had nothing to do with science and our well being, but manic media, money and politics.

Then comes Searle looking for a "safe" alternative to Saccharine. They pushed the FDA to approve it with very inadequate research, hearlding its safety. The food and beverage companies then stuck it in just about every place they could, giving the public very little choice. I regret my attitude, but I just don't trust big business and big government these days. I am a retired dentist and thank G-d did not jump on some of the new drug band wagons that some of my collegues did, finding themselves in law suits over untoward reactions. I also never thought that I would live to see prescription drugs actually advertised in the media. That use to be that sort of boring crap you would find in professional journals.

Anyway, I have done a fairly extensive search for non-nutritive sweetners for purely selfish reasons. I have had to be quite sedintary for several years that allowed me to gain weight I didn't need with my spinal issues. Some of the meds I take also have weight gaining issues. Several postings in this thread have mentioned one very good alternative that the South American indians have been using to sweetent their Yerba Mate for millenia, Stevia. The leaves of this holly-like tropical shrub have a sweetness about 300 times as sweet as sugar that are called, Steviosides. I have used the ground natural leaves as well as numerous brands of Stevia extracts. The real issue here is the saccharine-like bitter after taste if you use too much. I think the best brand of Stevia extract is by KAL. It is the least bitter of almost 6 brands I have tasted and I found it the cheapest online at: www.vitanetonline.com.

This company also sells another really great natural non-nutritive sweetner made from the gourd-like fruit of the Lo Han vine. China has been using this gelatinous material for sweetening for years. Matter of fact, if you Google Lo Han, you will find that Proctor and Gamble actually looked into developing this material. It goes by the name SlimSweet. I buy it in the 1 lb. jars, as it is much less expensive in bulk. It is sweeter than sugar so even though it looks a bit pricey, you use less.

The last area of non-nutitive sweetners are the sugar alcohols. Most of us have seen these if you read labels. Examples of these are: Mannitol, Sorbitol, Glycerol, etc. One person mentioned "Zylitol". Actually, it is spelled Xylitol and is a great product that is used in some chewing gums etc. The only problem with Xylitol is that in some individuals it is not tolerated by their digestive system and will have some degree of diarrhea. The answer here is yet another sugar alcohol called, Erythritol. Most of these sugar alcohols are not actually as sweet as sugar. Erythritol, for instance is only about 70% as sweet, but if you buy in bulk, you can get the cost down. I bought mine online from Emerald Forest Sugar, but it appears that they are not listing it right now. I did a brief search and found the best buy right now online is: http://www.xylitolnow.com/erythritol.html?gclid=CKW9stv5244CFR4-IgodwD9G8w. I have never used them but it looks like a good site. I have found that most of the folks that have these companies are as dedicated as we are to improving our quality of living.

It is scary these days just what many of us are ingesting, especially in this day of processed foods and pre-prepared foods. I have always been teased about making most everything I can from scratch, but at least I know what went into what I and my friends and family were eating.

This is a pic of the products I had menitoned above:

Pod, we are starting on our second round with the nasty things. For a couple weeks going into the yard was disgusting. I don't think they actually bother the nut of the pecan but they are particularly fond of the leaves. I read in the Dallas News that they become small white moths with no point other than more catephillars. We even had them in the house. It was so bad here that the paper did a big article on them. You might go to Dallasnews.com and look in the archives.

I have the solution for cat control! Next year, right before the trees break buds, go get some trichogramma wasps from your local feedstore. Pin the card of eggs to the tree and as the eggs hatch the wasps will go up into the tree and devour the larvae.
Also, you can apply Bt spray to the foliage and when the cats eat just a little bit they will die within 24 hours. Bt is an all natural bacteria that is also used to control mosquitos.

Are the pecan cats the same as the red oak cats?

Just came in from outdoors and am amazed... they are everywhere!

Broncbuster this is one huge red oak. It would be difficult to treat all the foliage but you indicate that the cat larvae lives in the tree so treating the base would have not effect?

Hmmmm.... makes me want to hear dueling chainsaws!

Pod, I use a hose-end sprayer to apply the Bt. If you'll just spray the foliage toward the bottom, it should be enough to take care of the worms. It's best to spray at the first sign of the cats.Treating the base would be pointless because the worms have to ingest the Bt.
As far as the Pecan trees are concerned, are they being eaten by bagworms?

I don't have pecans but yes, I think that is what he had corrected with the wood ash treatment.

BTW, do the cats (red oak) become anything worthwhile?

I don't know. Ask Frostweed.

Pod, Wood ash is basic enough that it was used as a lye replacement to make soap when lye was not available. If your red oak is Quercus rubra, it needs acidic to neutral soil. Quercus texana is adapted to the basic soils of west Texas, but no soil in Texas is as basic as wood ash. It is not the recommended thing to use. Your best bet would be to use Bt. If gypsy moths are found in your area, the caterpillars do attack red oaks.

http://www.texasento.net/rearing.htm
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/texas_caterpillarshttp://www.whatsthatbug.com/caterpillar.html

That must be them... Thank you Bettydee. Thank you for the links too, I will check them out.

This year is not as bad as some have been. Some years there have been no leaves to rake up at all from this tree.

Wow Bettydee, that was a lot of good information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Podster, I am sorry they are giving you so much trouble,I guess we have never had them quite so bad.
Josephine.

Ya'll have any feedback on the use of Splenda? I use it in everything except tea. For some strange reason, I think it reacts with the tanins in the tea and the tast is awful. Just curious, because I've been diagnosed with Meniere's Syndrome and wondered about what might affect the vertigo and nausea. I know sodium plays a huge role, and am getting this under control. I take Meclizine for the nausea and dizziness.

Thanks, in advance.

Linda