Here's the cure for ants MALTO MEAL or corn meal when the buggars eat the stuff and then drink water they explode. Non-toxic safe for kids and pets and works as long as it stays dry much like boric acid for roaches.
What Are Your Garden Tricks?
- Thread starter Goat Herder
- Start date
Ants may have been eating part of the pedals on the flowers after they opened. More important I have found casings for young flies and a picture of one of the flies and leaf damage probably due to the flies, not the ants. It is possible that the flies were eating the pedals on the flowers and all I saw were the ants and the flies are small.
I sprayed water and knocked the ants off and realized that they would be back soon. I'm looking online to see about this mixture you can make yourself from water with dishwashing soap and some vinegar. I am trying to go the route without pesticides.
I think I’ll do the water thing again and then follow up with the concoction that I suspect I’ll have to repeat quite a few times. The plain water spray did not do any harm to the flowers, but I did this early on a warmer day as I don’t want to stress the tree.
MT
I sprayed water and knocked the ants off and realized that they would be back soon. I'm looking online to see about this mixture you can make yourself from water with dishwashing soap and some vinegar. I am trying to go the route without pesticides.
I think I’ll do the water thing again and then follow up with the concoction that I suspect I’ll have to repeat quite a few times. The plain water spray did not do any harm to the flowers, but I did this early on a warmer day as I don’t want to stress the tree.
MT
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Didja fix those ant yet M.T?
Got pepper plants sprouted yet Rusty? Man sprouting those hot chili seeds is a brutal long wait
Mine are finally popping out of the planter/seed starter Dixie cups I have here daily now! Got's two Bhut Jolokias out now! Really feels like a unique and exiting miracle after waiting so darned long lol. Should have the Chiltepine's soon enough and the Chimayo heirlooms up!
I gave everyone some of the baccy's
Got pepper plants sprouted yet Rusty? Man sprouting those hot chili seeds is a brutal long wait
Mine are finally popping out of the planter/seed starter Dixie cups I have here daily now! Got's two Bhut Jolokias out now! Really feels like a unique and exiting miracle after waiting so darned long lol. Should have the Chiltepine's soon enough and the Chimayo heirlooms up! I gave everyone some of the baccy's
Attached picture from an OSH store poster for what the buggers look like. I think maybe the Psyllid and there is also a potato Psyllid, but the regular look like a zoom in of the things I took pics on the leaves of the Valencia dwarf orange tree I have.
The poster directed to one of four of the insecticides that they have for the buggers shown. I did not see those being organic ones and kept looking.
I decided to go with this edible fish oil stuff I sprayed on the tree leaves, but my sprayer does not give a good mist. The underside of the leaves is where you have to try to get and heavy water droplets are hard to get on the underside of the leaves. The stuff is organic so not yet have I gone with the other kind of stuff. I got a better sprayer I hope or will return it. The picture on the sprayer box show a very fine mist, it’s made by Ortho (just the sprayer), but the other organic stuff I am going to use the better sprayer attached to garden hose is Organicide Brand 3 in 1. The stuff does remind me of the fish emulsion fertilizer stuff I still have left a bunch of, but this 3 in 1 is used to be diluted sprayed on the leaves to annoy the insects, not for fertilizer. It is not suppose to harm bees or lady bugs, but I’m sure it still is not great for them. It is supposed to be just a way of making it hard for their muscles when they try to move. A few weeks between spraying and they are supposed to get the idea and leave the leaves of my tree alone and find another easier tree to bother. So in reality it does not really kill them, only gets them to go away.
I did get the Insecticidal Soap made by Safer that uses Potassium Salts of Fatty Acids which I may use if the fish oil Organicide does not work. This Insecticidal Soap must be along the same lines as the fish oil as the way it rid the insects and say it does not harm the bees, but I still don’t want to spray when they are there. You have to wait the prescribed time after last spray to harvest, so this stuff can’t really be that good for people. I’d also spray water over the tree and wash good the harvest.
The ants are still there and I decided on ant traps as they may be making it such that the flies stay around too. Don’t want them getting in the door also, so held off for 20 years and this is the first I’ve placed the traps.
Lots of flower blossoms on the orange tree made the tiny fruit and that will be for next summer. Still have 4 oranges ripening for this summer.
MT
The poster directed to one of four of the insecticides that they have for the buggers shown. I did not see those being organic ones and kept looking.
I decided to go with this edible fish oil stuff I sprayed on the tree leaves, but my sprayer does not give a good mist. The underside of the leaves is where you have to try to get and heavy water droplets are hard to get on the underside of the leaves. The stuff is organic so not yet have I gone with the other kind of stuff. I got a better sprayer I hope or will return it. The picture on the sprayer box show a very fine mist, it’s made by Ortho (just the sprayer), but the other organic stuff I am going to use the better sprayer attached to garden hose is Organicide Brand 3 in 1. The stuff does remind me of the fish emulsion fertilizer stuff I still have left a bunch of, but this 3 in 1 is used to be diluted sprayed on the leaves to annoy the insects, not for fertilizer. It is not suppose to harm bees or lady bugs, but I’m sure it still is not great for them. It is supposed to be just a way of making it hard for their muscles when they try to move. A few weeks between spraying and they are supposed to get the idea and leave the leaves of my tree alone and find another easier tree to bother. So in reality it does not really kill them, only gets them to go away.
I did get the Insecticidal Soap made by Safer that uses Potassium Salts of Fatty Acids which I may use if the fish oil Organicide does not work. This Insecticidal Soap must be along the same lines as the fish oil as the way it rid the insects and say it does not harm the bees, but I still don’t want to spray when they are there. You have to wait the prescribed time after last spray to harvest, so this stuff can’t really be that good for people. I’d also spray water over the tree and wash good the harvest.
The ants are still there and I decided on ant traps as they may be making it such that the flies stay around too. Don’t want them getting in the door also, so held off for 20 years and this is the first I’ve placed the traps.
Lots of flower blossoms on the orange tree made the tiny fruit and that will be for next summer. Still have 4 oranges ripening for this summer.
MT
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To the dirt gardeners:
Now that the buds turned to flowers and the fruit is formed small pea or larger size oranges for next year the flies and ants are gone. Well the ants not actually gone that far away, there under the lawn and make ant hills, but that is the apt mgr problem and not mine. My plants are in planters. The biggest is the half wine barrel planter and it has four oranges that are of size an ripening for just a few more months till there soft and ready to pick and eat. All the other plants are doing great lots of blueberries.
I had thought that the fragrance of the flowers attracted the ants that unlike what I had been reading is that they ate the excrement of the flies that ate the leaves. The stuff is supposed to be sweet. The symbiotic relationship is supposed to be established between the flies and the ants. The ants were supposed to squeeze the flies to get a drink faster. If anything were to knock the flies off the tree, the ants would carry them back on it so the symbiotic relationship works. I never saw this one bit, they are all gone and I think they all just liked the plant when in bloom for some odd reason, so no biggie.
The orange little pea size fruit I saw so many that I thought it best to pull some off before they all compete for nourishment and not enough of it to go around on a less than 5 year old tree. I’d only had it for 3 years and came in a 2 gallon bucket. Not sure how old it was then, but would assume less than 2 years old at purchase time.
Here is the kicker. So many small fruit fell off the tree, but way more were on it anyway that it amounts to less than maybe 15 percent. There are hundreds of little pea size oranges formed and now they do not fall off with a shake of the tree. It seems the tree maybe self limited the fruit to form as a way of getting good ones best nourished. I would have a better idea if prior years I had hundreds of fruit that started and left 85 percent of them still hanging on, but it was like 20 and left with 4, so yea I have 4 large oranges for this season and hundreds likely for next season. Go figure, maybe that I fertilized more often and probably need to get out there again soon an add some more!
As far as the stuff I tried to have the ants and flies go away, none really did any good. It all stopped when the flowers were gone. I used only spray of water. Then fish oil diluted in the sprayer that is not bad for flies or ants really, just makes them want to leave as it is a more viscous stuff than thin air. Their muscles tire and they want to leave. They didn’t get but just one application of the stuff, but didn’t really phase them one bit.
I bought some chemical type of not so bad stuff as they say on the package. It does the controlling the same way, but is not exactly natural. It is that stuff called Safer Insect Killing Soap. It has active ingredient potassium salts of fatty acids. I never got to trying it, but a long time ago I tried the stuff and same results as doing nothing at all as I remember. Made my soap solution from dish washing detergent and tried that a long time ago as well and that is when I tried stuff of a different brand but using the same chemical that is supposed to be least harmful to people or other stuff. Rinse and not applying it for so many weeks before picking fruit is said on the stuff and I can bet it is not the best to have in you.
I’m not stead fast for going the organic route, but seems it is on the right path without the use of chemical insecticides. I have chemical fertilizer and you might even think of the fish oil as an organic fertilizer as it was touted as coming from edible fish oil. I even have some stuff left of fish emulsion fertilizer, but it stink quite a bit and the granular chemical fertilizer for citrus is working real well. Also used Miracle Grow powdered stuff for some of the other plants.
That’s the update!
MT
Now that the buds turned to flowers and the fruit is formed small pea or larger size oranges for next year the flies and ants are gone. Well the ants not actually gone that far away, there under the lawn and make ant hills, but that is the apt mgr problem and not mine. My plants are in planters. The biggest is the half wine barrel planter and it has four oranges that are of size an ripening for just a few more months till there soft and ready to pick and eat. All the other plants are doing great lots of blueberries.
I had thought that the fragrance of the flowers attracted the ants that unlike what I had been reading is that they ate the excrement of the flies that ate the leaves. The stuff is supposed to be sweet. The symbiotic relationship is supposed to be established between the flies and the ants. The ants were supposed to squeeze the flies to get a drink faster. If anything were to knock the flies off the tree, the ants would carry them back on it so the symbiotic relationship works. I never saw this one bit, they are all gone and I think they all just liked the plant when in bloom for some odd reason, so no biggie.
The orange little pea size fruit I saw so many that I thought it best to pull some off before they all compete for nourishment and not enough of it to go around on a less than 5 year old tree. I’d only had it for 3 years and came in a 2 gallon bucket. Not sure how old it was then, but would assume less than 2 years old at purchase time.
Here is the kicker. So many small fruit fell off the tree, but way more were on it anyway that it amounts to less than maybe 15 percent. There are hundreds of little pea size oranges formed and now they do not fall off with a shake of the tree. It seems the tree maybe self limited the fruit to form as a way of getting good ones best nourished. I would have a better idea if prior years I had hundreds of fruit that started and left 85 percent of them still hanging on, but it was like 20 and left with 4, so yea I have 4 large oranges for this season and hundreds likely for next season. Go figure, maybe that I fertilized more often and probably need to get out there again soon an add some more!
As far as the stuff I tried to have the ants and flies go away, none really did any good. It all stopped when the flowers were gone. I used only spray of water. Then fish oil diluted in the sprayer that is not bad for flies or ants really, just makes them want to leave as it is a more viscous stuff than thin air. Their muscles tire and they want to leave. They didn’t get but just one application of the stuff, but didn’t really phase them one bit.
I bought some chemical type of not so bad stuff as they say on the package. It does the controlling the same way, but is not exactly natural. It is that stuff called Safer Insect Killing Soap. It has active ingredient potassium salts of fatty acids. I never got to trying it, but a long time ago I tried the stuff and same results as doing nothing at all as I remember. Made my soap solution from dish washing detergent and tried that a long time ago as well and that is when I tried stuff of a different brand but using the same chemical that is supposed to be least harmful to people or other stuff. Rinse and not applying it for so many weeks before picking fruit is said on the stuff and I can bet it is not the best to have in you.
I’m not stead fast for going the organic route, but seems it is on the right path without the use of chemical insecticides. I have chemical fertilizer and you might even think of the fish oil as an organic fertilizer as it was touted as coming from edible fish oil. I even have some stuff left of fish emulsion fertilizer, but it stink quite a bit and the granular chemical fertilizer for citrus is working real well. Also used Miracle Grow powdered stuff for some of the other plants.
That’s the update!
MT
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double post some how, removing as I can w/o help from guru
Oh, might add the organic lime also didn't stop the ants one bit. It caused some mold to grow on top of the soil at the base of the orange tree. I scooped all the granualar lime out as best I could and will probable add some feritilizer now and mix it in the soil at the near surface.
Mother nature took care of the buggers and only had a few damaged leaves not much to complain about. Will see if the little pea size fruit gets to maturity for next year, then I really know.
MT
Oh, might add the organic lime also didn't stop the ants one bit. It caused some mold to grow on top of the soil at the base of the orange tree. I scooped all the granualar lime out as best I could and will probable add some feritilizer now and mix it in the soil at the near surface.
Mother nature took care of the buggers and only had a few damaged leaves not much to complain about. Will see if the little pea size fruit gets to maturity for next year, then I really know.
MT
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Hey GH,
Got any tips for killing gophers that doesn't include a firearm?
I might have my earwig problem under control now... maybe...
but now I got a gopher or two right in the middle of my patch!
I tried some castor bean oil pellets, but all they did was move over a bit.
I wanna kill 'em!
tnx
rc
Got any tips for killing gophers that doesn't include a firearm?
I might have my earwig problem under control now... maybe...
but now I got a gopher or two right in the middle of my patch!
I tried some castor bean oil pellets, but all they did was move over a bit.
I wanna kill 'em!
tnx
rc
Undiluted Antifreeze in a bowl RC. It smells sweet, and tastes sweet. But it causes solid crystals to form in kidneys for hemorrhage time. Takes less than a week to kill off varmits.
Don't let your pets near it!!
Or good 'ol rat poison in tuna or catfood.
Problem solved, no shots fired.
Don't let your pets near it!!
Or good 'ol rat poison in tuna or catfood.
Problem solved, no shots fired.
Thanks, Killer!
I'll do that.
AND take special care that the neighborhood pets don't get at it.
Tnx!
rc
I'll do that.
AND take special care that the neighborhood pets don't get at it.
Tnx!
rc
I was picking blueberries and found two oranges had fallen of the tree. They had not rotted and they are in the pictures both whole and sliced. The frig picture with blueberries almost a quart in the boot shaped glass.
The bugs have not harm anything and those flies were just when the sweet flowers for the orange tree were in bloom.
I was waiting for the oranges to soften as that is how I know there ripe and not the orange color. I guess I had not checked soon enough since last month so they had dropped a few off the tree. Only two more ready still on the tree, but next year probably 100 or more as the young tree has just taken off exponentially.
MT
The bugs have not harm anything and those flies were just when the sweet flowers for the orange tree were in bloom.
I was waiting for the oranges to soften as that is how I know there ripe and not the orange color. I guess I had not checked soon enough since last month so they had dropped a few off the tree. Only two more ready still on the tree, but next year probably 100 or more as the young tree has just taken off exponentially.
MT
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M.T.
Your some kind of lucky.
It's still friggen freezing here.
Coldest june on record.
I think we've only seen 65F highest.
Average 55F
Right now it's 10C
My peas are 2 inches tall.
My corn is about 1 inch.
The rest just did not come up yet.
No sun!
Enjoy.
POP'S
Your some kind of lucky.
It's still friggen freezing here.
Coldest june on record.
I think we've only seen 65F highest.
Average 55F
Right now it's 10C
My peas are 2 inches tall.
My corn is about 1 inch.
The rest just did not come up yet.
No sun!
Enjoy.
POP'S
First tomato should be ready in a couple of days.
Haven't grown tomatoes in years. Looking forward to it -
Haven't grown tomatoes in years. Looking forward to it -
Here's a pic from the top of my garden.
Sry, no pretty oranges, and the maters are just beginning to set...
My crop is mainly leaf! I'll harvest everything before Tday, though it will begin as they ripen when I take them inside for curing. Won't get to use any of this until next year after it ages a while.
My best advice of the day is Macabee gopher traps from the hardware store.
A couple of them, set as per directions will resolve pocket gopher problems in a day's time. They work!
Best
rc
Sry, no pretty oranges, and the maters are just beginning to set...
My crop is mainly leaf! I'll harvest everything before Tday, though it will begin as they ripen when I take them inside for curing. Won't get to use any of this until next year after it ages a while.
My best advice of the day is Macabee gopher traps from the hardware store.
A couple of them, set as per directions will resolve pocket gopher problems in a day's time. They work!
Best
rc
Attachments
Nice garden RC, I'll have to save those beans till next year, been too busy to clear and till. Should I refrigerate them for storage?
Do those traps work on rabbits?
Do those traps work on rabbits?
I don't know that much about fertilizer but I remember reading that the three main elements are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium.
The Nitrogen helps leaf growth, Phosphorus root growth, and Potassium the flowering (buds / fruit) as I hear. Way more than that the absorbsion of the elements are dependent on other things in the soil and the pH I think. Some fertilizers have those additional ingredients.
I came across this http://www.ehow.com/homemade-fertilizer/
Interesting what is thrown out can be very useful!
On one note, I have a few different varieties of blueberry plants. One the Highbush variety always looses all its leaves once a year and strange I thought that the fruit is forming before the leaves come back. I thought this was a bad sign as the leaves are necessary for photosynthesis or something important to growth of fruit. I guess I learned not all that true. This type has way less leaves than the other two type blueberry plants, but produces the best largest fruit over all. That plant took the longest to ever get a foot hold and I’ve had them all for about 20 years.
Sunflowers in the picture, neat! I remember that they really like the heat, so I guess you have a good spot for them. I was at Orange Empire Railway Museum and on their grounds in the California Desert about 90 miles NE of Escondido is was up in the 100 degree mark. Sunflowers growing where presumably they don’t water, it is just from rain sort of strange. On a short length of straight track I got to be at the controls of a diesel electric 1000hp locomotive that was built just before Pearl Harbor Day 1941, but was amazed by the surroundings as well.
MT
The Nitrogen helps leaf growth, Phosphorus root growth, and Potassium the flowering (buds / fruit) as I hear. Way more than that the absorbsion of the elements are dependent on other things in the soil and the pH I think. Some fertilizers have those additional ingredients.
I came across this http://www.ehow.com/homemade-fertilizer/
Interesting what is thrown out can be very useful!
On one note, I have a few different varieties of blueberry plants. One the Highbush variety always looses all its leaves once a year and strange I thought that the fruit is forming before the leaves come back. I thought this was a bad sign as the leaves are necessary for photosynthesis or something important to growth of fruit. I guess I learned not all that true. This type has way less leaves than the other two type blueberry plants, but produces the best largest fruit over all. That plant took the longest to ever get a foot hold and I’ve had them all for about 20 years.
Sunflowers in the picture, neat! I remember that they really like the heat, so I guess you have a good spot for them. I was at Orange Empire Railway Museum and on their grounds in the California Desert about 90 miles NE of Escondido is was up in the 100 degree mark. Sunflowers growing where presumably they don’t water, it is just from rain sort of strange. On a short length of straight track I got to be at the controls of a diesel electric 1000hp locomotive that was built just before Pearl Harbor Day 1941, but was amazed by the surroundings as well.
MT
I found that my tree has a little bit more weight from the orange on the branches on one side that the other and it is leaning over a little. Rather than pick off some orange still a year away from ripening or cutting of a branch all together with them on it, I am adding a stabilizer. The posts it came with 4 years ago in the soil are too small and since it is in a large half wine barrel, I’m making attachments to two of the three top metal bands and through the wood barrel edge. The pipe clamps of copper will hold the wood poles that will rise above the level of the edge of the half wine barrel planter 180 degree apart. Then I will put jute tine with maybe some extra left over fuel line tubing to protect the tree trunk and guy it to keep it up right. Later I will probably trim off the ends of the branches to get it to be more bush shape and not have as much leverage to tilt over the tree.
MT
MT
I had a rough time of things this year between jobs. So my budget was limited. Came up with adding my lime to late in the season. Had added it in the spring and should have done it in the fall.
My plants were unhappy in the spring a few held on tho. They are doing the best I have seen for awhile right now and will be bringing them inside for the winter. Any luck and I will have a nice December picture with fruit to boot with snow outside lol.. ''Crosses fingers''
My prob was needing the lime but despite thoroughly mixing it into my soil it was just too late into the season when I did it is my take on things.
My plants were unhappy in the spring a few held on tho. They are doing the best I have seen for awhile right now and will be bringing them inside for the winter. Any luck and I will have a nice December picture with fruit to boot with snow outside lol.. ''Crosses fingers''
My prob was needing the lime but despite thoroughly mixing it into my soil it was just too late into the season when I did it is my take on things.
I probably limed my lawn by rinsing off dust from the stuff needing cleaning from last Burning Man Event. Your not allowed to bring in plants..... but the dust you remove may be useful if you unknowingly remove it?
If I get enough time with it raining I can continue working on the motor bike. There was enough time to BBQ with light drizzle. The orange tree has been OK with the wind and rain, the cold spells I use a cover and 60 watt incandescent bulb in the drop light to deter frost.
MT
MT
