Liteshoe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> On Jun 10, 9:41 pm, wdu...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>> On 2008-06-10, doctoroe <docto...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>> I really have not seen ticks this thick even in lawn grass before.
>>> Anyone know if there is a lawn treatment that will get them, but won't
>>> kill earthworms?
>> I don't think spraying with Malathion will harm the earth worms much.
>> It would be pretty diuted by the time water washed it to earthworm
>> depth and would have broken down from being exposed to air.
>>
>> The pyrethrin stuff would probably be safer. And with either you have
>> to remember to respray because you have several generations of ticks
out
>> there.
>> --
>> Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
) Swap the . and the @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
to email me please.
>
> Probably so. Ticks are a bad deal, and I fully understand the desire
> to reduce their numbers. I live on the edge of deer-and-tick heaven,
> and I'm out daily in my market garden.
>
> However, don't forget, even spraying "safe" insecticides will knock
> things out of balance. Pyrethins are toxic to many beneficials,
> including honeybees. as gardeners, we need honeybees and other
> poolinators.
> Just using honeybees as one example, the beneficials are under
> enormous pressures these days, and in declining numbers. Same with
> amphibians, etc. At some point, we have to research alternatives to
> laying waste to the environment. These are the canaries in the coal
> mine.
>
> If we must use a "safe organic" such as Pyganic, at least consider
> spray in the evening when the beneficials are less active (bees
> returning to the hive, for instance). Same with, say, the common Sevin
> dust, which bees mistake for pollen and return to the hive with it in
> their rear-leg pollen baskets. They will feed it to the hive, and then
> the beekeeper comes out to see his colony in piles, twitching on the
> ground and landing board. It can wipe out a hive. It's heart-breaking
> to those of us who keep hives to ensure pollination (it takes at least
> 11 visits to make a fully-formed cuke, for example).
>
> One direction we - who are in the front lines having our hands in the
> dirt daily - can do is to start researching personal alternatives
> rather than broad-brush approaches, which can subsequently create tick
> "hot spots," beyond the environmental issues. I mean personal beyond
> the long-pants-tucked-into socks routine, which I can tell you IS
> useful.
>
> Here are two quick RESEARCH-BACKED alternatives a quick Google turned
> up:
>
> http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070126.htm
> beauty berry, which many of us already grow,
>
> and
> this product, developed at our own NCSU from wild tomatoes - ticks
> actually preferred to stand in DEET than it:
> http://www.bioud.com/
> Can be sprayed on pants legs, etc.
>
> I also have used catnip oil as a DEET alternative for mosquitoes, in
> the New Jersey swamps on the Appalachian Trail. If it worked then, it
> will work anywhere.
> Again, this is research-based:
>
> Catnip Repels Mosquitoes More Effectively Than DEET
> Why catnip repels mosquitoes is still a mystery, says Peterson. ...
> repellents was submitted last year by the Iowa State University
> Research Foundation. ...
> www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm
>
> Nature has had to deal with these bests long before humans invented
> agricultural chemicals.
>
> In any case, I believe gardeners can be among those in the forefront
> to lead us out of our mess. It sure ain't gonna come from Wa****ngton,
> no matter who wins the election.
> ;-)
>
> Happy, safe gardening!
Thank you for the links. These are great!
My garden is all organic and I use natural cleansers and products for
everything. In my home I notice when I use peppermint oil mixed with a
little vegetable based soap to clean my surfaces, the bugs stay away. :)
It is nice to see more green methods about!
Jo
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