Your Questions About Vegetable Garden Pests Control

admin answers:

Here are a few tips for whatever animal it ends up being….

MICE AND VOLES: Although they look similar and cause similar damage, they are only distantly related. Both live in grassy areas and leaf mulch and travel in tunnels. They feed on any vegetation, including bulbs and tubers, as well as bark on young trees and shrubs.

Exclude them with barriers or trap at main runways with peanut butter bait or vitamin D (death results from calcium imbalance). Other repellents, such as castor oil, may help as will poison baits. Or get a cat or small dog.

MOLES: Moles live in tunnels that while helping to aerate soil, also provide passageways for other animals and may cause excessive soil disturbance and plant upheaval. Although moles help by eating insects like grubs, they also hurt by eating earthworms. Control them by eliminating the insects they feed on or trap as you would voles.

CHIPMUNKS: This rodent lives in tunnels or burrows and is adept at running up trees and shrubs as well as along the ground. Chipmunks feed on seeds, nuts, fruits, roots, and bulbs, and, despite their tiny size, can uproot new plantings. Trap them using peanut butter, oats, nut meats, or sunflower seeds. Or spray repellents on bulbs, or place jagged shells or stones in the holes when you plant bulbs. Plant cages will keep them out. Or get a cat or two.

TREE SQUIRRELS: Squirrels are an occasional problem as they like to nest in trees and will feed on fruit, nuts, insects, bark, and seeds. Protect new plantings with cages. Squirrels can be trapped and released using sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and raisins as bait.

RABBITS: Rabbits are a serious problem not just in the Northeast, but throughout the entire country. They live in grassy areas and thickets, feeding on vegetables, flowers, and tree bark. They are active during the day year round in most areas. Your best bet is to fence them out with chicken wire or hardware cloth cages placed higher than snow level. Inflatable snakes or repellents, such as those used for deer, also may help.

GROUNDHOGS (WOODCHUCKS): These rodents cause only occasional problems in the northern states. They live in burrows with two or more openings with mounds at entrance. You can find them feeding in early morning and late afternoon on tender vegetables and flowers, especially pencil-thick stems like phlox, and occasionally on bark.

Your best bet is to trap them live or fence them out with a three-foot high fence. Bury several inches in the ground to prevent them from tunneling under. You also can repel them with taste sprays applied to desirable flowers or by placing oily substances at hole entrances. If all else fails, you could insert poison gas cartridges in their holes and cover to kill.

admin answers:

Many people forget that ladybugs fly so they tend not to stick around if conditions are not ideal. They are voracious eaters and are very patient aphid killers, neat to watch! If you have grasshoppers, try and get some praying matis caccoons, keep them out of direct weather and they will hatch mid spring. They tend to stick around and are one of the smartest and most efficient predators I’ve ever seen.

The easiest and cheapest way to kill aphids without killing everything else in your garden is to mix up a mild solution of water and dish soap, put it in a spray bottle and spray down the affected plants.

admin answers:

You can plant marigolds near tomatoes and peppers to keep bugs away.

This site has lists of what keeps what pests away as well as info on companion planning
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

admin answers:

You can also use a combination of lemon dish soap and lemon ammonia, spray it over the garden and it will repel pests. Good luck.

admin answers:

Soap doesn’t work on pests and this specialist website should be of help to you with that.
Http://www.organicbugspray.com/