Category: Problem-Solving

Pleasures & Problem-Solving – Invasive Plants

On By TimelessladyIn Pleasures, Problem-SolvingLeave a comment

I love my trumpet vine. Gorgeous golden blooms will adorn it soon, and the hummingbirds will visit once again to sip the nectar. Along with the joys of the trumpet vine come a few problems. When I purchased the vine I was forewarned about the runners it would send out. In order to thwart the reproductive determination of the vine, I planted it in the ground in a large plastic pot. This preventative measure worked for years, but the trumpet vine has never given up, and in the last few years it has won. There are dozens of runners coming up throughout my gardens and yard. Some are as far away as twenty feet from the mother plant. Hmmm, I am going to have to get out there and try to root them out. That’s not a job I’m hankering to do in the high heat we have been having this week. Pleasures and problems, why are they so often intertwined? Bah!

A few examples of the unruly sprouting runners.

Problem-Solving – Predator Bugs

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-Solving15 Comments

Praying Mantis are a favorite of mine. They are unique and interesting in appearance. I have often carried praying mantis specimens around my yard and posed them on garden blossoms for photographs. What I love most though, is how efficiently they rid my garden of unwanted pest insects.

This past Autumn, two female praying mantises laid egg cases near my back window. I also was lucky enough to find a few pods in the fields near my home. Of course, I transported these lucky finds home. Two of these have been kept on my windowsill in a decanter. Yesterday the egg cases hatched.

I don’t know exactly when the baby mantids began to emerge, but a hundred or more were born within a matter of an hour or two. Most stayed on, or near, the decanter, but several escaped into the house. After I took most into the garden, I spent a good half hour capturing as many as possible from the area near my kitchen sink. This morning, I noticed a few strays still walking on my ceiling.

I think the outdoor pods hatched a day or two before those kept indoors. The babies I spotted in the garden are bigger, deeper in color, and quicker in movement than their newly hatched neighbors.

I shook several of the baby mantids out of of the decanter into my square foot gardens. I want to garden organically, and the mantis will help with pest control. Right now, aphids and other small insects will be their major food source, but in a few short weeks, no insect will be safe from the powerful arms and jaws of the juvenile and adult mantids.

Here are a few walking about the patio, trying to find a new place to hide. I am sure, as they grow, I will find them and pose a few for photographs. I’ll keep their progress updated here on the blog.

Problem Solving – Critter Wars Part V

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-SolvingLeave a comment

I’ve been visited by a lone wild turkey once in the past few years. Yesterday, I looked out my back window, and there beneath my bird feeders, feasting on fallen seeds, was a flock of five of the big birds. Yikes! They are unique and a bit intriguing, but I was not going to stand at the window gawking and allow them to jump the chicken wire enclosing my Square Food Garden. I could envision all my gorgeous lettuce, bread seed poppies, peas and other sprouting vegetables quickly disappearing down their long throats. As I chased them out of the yard, their gobbling sounded like snarky laughter. I guess I did look a bit comical gallumphing around the yard in a big purple robe and floppy slippers. They sauntered away, unafraid, through a gap in the back fence. What, or should I say, who is next, in the constant backyard invasions of critters?

Problem Solving – Critter Wars Part III

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-Solving7 Comments

First of all, there was not supposed to be a “Part III” in my Critter Wars post. Sadly, I found more critters, not the outdoor type this time, these are indoor pests.

I have had really good luck growing herbs from seed indoors under lights in my basement. I have been pleased with the success for many reasons, I know they are organically grown, I can grow hundreds for the price of just one in the grocery store, and I can grow a large variety to use in my cooking and crafts.

After the last few days of warring with the outdoor insects and animals, the last thing I wanted to find was a colony of Aphids on my indoor plants.

I found a few Remedies for Aphids on the Internet and followed the directions for the first line of attack: heavy sprays of water. This worked on a few, took them down into the soil and drowned them. In a few hours though, a few hearty pests climbed the stems again and began to set up new colonies. My next attack was with my Homemade Organic Pest Control. This seemed to take out the more determined bugs. A few are still lodged in hiding places in the stems and leaves though, so my next option is to dab with an alcohol soaked Q-tip. If all these remedies fail I will toss the plants in the garbage and begin again. GRRRRR…

Problem-Solving – This is War Part I

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-Solving13 Comments

I hope the photograph shows the deep hole in my Square Foot Garden. My peas were just beginning to sprout when some type of marauding critter decided to make them a meal.

Something large and furry had to be the culprit, or could it have been something large and feathery? My first impulse was to blame the squirrels, but they have been in the yard with my Square Foot Garden for several weeks and have not ventured past the chicken wire enclosing it. The same day I saw the devastation in the garden, I spotted a large chipmunk running around the yard. I know they are cute, but chipmunks are tops on my problem wildlife list. They are voracious and destructive and actually can be dangerous. My neighbor broke her wrist a summer or two ago by catching her foot in a chipmunk burrow and falling. One summer our yard became so overrun the chipmunks scavenged relentlessly even when we were only a few feet away. Wild turkeys have visited my yard too, but thankfully, only once. Yesterday I saw the mallard ducks. They are back. Every spring they return to my yard. Why? To eat beneath the birdfeeder, and then for dessert feast on every fish they can scoop up in my pond. The ducks have become a pest too and are able to easily fly over the chicken wire and gobble up my sprouting peas and greens.

So the big question is what to do to fight them. I have had mixed results in past years. The bug spray I made a few days ago might repel the animals, but the ducks don’t have a sense of smell and will not be stopped by a repellent scent. I also must reapply every time it rains, and if I don’t get out there and re-spray within five minutes of rain stopping, the hungry pests might get there first.

My first weapon was applied immediately, chile powder straight out of the bottle. I have some dried chiles still on hand, and I will blend those and keep at the ready to spread around. So far this has repelled whatever it was that dug up the peas.

I am also a firm believer in scare tactics. Anyone who has lived beside me might know that when I see something near sprouting plants I might run outside roaring like a lion in attempts to scare them away. It works. It also sends my heart rate pounding. I don’t know how wise it is to sprint and roar like this, but hey, it works. I also came up with a few temporary and permanent solutions. Tomorrow I’ll post the permanent solution, but for today, the temporary solution is the focus.

Water balloons. They are at the ready in a basket, filled with water and bit of garlic powder for a little added punch. If I see one of the culprits in or near my garden, they are in for a surprise. Tee-hee! I just hope tomorrow’s newspaper headlines don’t read: “Grandmother falls out second story window lobbing water balloons at wildlife.”

IMPORTANT CAUTION: Balloons can be lethal to small children because they are a choking hazard. Make sure to remove all shreds of balloons out of your yard.

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Problem-solving – Mealy Bug Infestation

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-Solving4 Comments

While watering my succulents I noticed the dreaded white fluff of a Mealy Bug. Oh no. I have had experience with these pests in the past and know they can become a full-blown infestation. I wasted no time in treating the infested plant.

I like to use organic products and things I already have around the house. For Organic Mealy Bug Treatment Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol is a good choice. Using a Q-tip I touched the saturated tip to the back of the mealy bug. As I checked the plant I saw a few more of his family residing along the stems and treated them too. Further down there were more, oh no, it was beginning to look like an infestation, time for more drastic measures. I filled an atomizer with some of the alcohol and sprayed the entire plant. I left it on for a few moments and then washed all the foliage in tepid water. Most organic pest control sites recommend watering the alcohol down first, but for a hardy succulent, straight out the bottle did no harm. If I was treating one of my african violets I would definitely water the solution down before using.

I knew I had to check all the plants that were in the same room with the infested succulent, and sure enough, on one coleus I found the beginnings of more mealy bugs. Hopefully the intervention with rubbing alcohol has eradicated the problem.