Good morning to you all! Welcome back to Coverin’ the Bases. Thank you all for stopping by to see us again.
Since it’s the time of the year for you to be, or thinking about getting this year’s garden in the ground, then there’s another little part of gardening you need to be considering here pretty quick. Insect control.
In all my years past, my insect control consisted of (after taking a trip down south of the border several years back, and picking up a few 55 gallon drums) of one particular pesticide, after it was banned here in the U.S.
By doing so, you know, buying a little extra to put up, thus insuring always having a little on hand. My personal weapon of choice in combating the insects in our garden–DDT!
Not really, but I have been using pesticides. As a matter of fact, I used liquid Sevin just a couple weeks ago. But I usually only spray the garden twice. I use liquid Sevin the first go around, then later I come back with a spray of Malathion.
These two sprays do real well for us, and Deb and I still have one good eye apiece, most of our teeth, and at least three fingers on each hand, believe it or not! Not bad considerin’!
Here in Florida the bug populations explode with the onset of spring. This simply is how we control our bugs and I remember Dad doing the same thing. Now Granddaddy…he may have been a DDT man, I just don’t remember.
Thinking back now, he did seem awful short and kinda pale at times… just jerking you guy’s strings some this morning! I’ve been needing a good laugh though, and thanks for allowing me to share one with you! It’s appreciated for sure!
Malathion and Sevin, both seriously are what I’ve always used. They both do good jobs but are beginning to get a little on the expensive side. I wonder if I might get our government to let me in on a little insecticide subsidy???
Hmmm, Pelosi received millions for that dern swamp rat out there in the Bay area, and don’t you know off in them swamps, them dern bugs must literally almost tote those ole rats off! This might work. Me getting the money, I’ll buy the insecticides to spray my garden, then I’ll send the rest to San Fran, and they can use it to spray the rats down! Sounds like a win-win.
Getting back on track once more, and I’ll try to stay focused this time, the beekeeper asked me if I sprayed the garden for bugs? My reply was yes I do, and told her what I sprayed with. She then stated just be careful with it, because of the bees, and she had just put 54 hives here on the place.
So, this got me to wondering, beans, or honey? Then, cucumbers and squash, or honey? I considered, corn and peppers, or honey? This was beginning to be a tough decision for me to make, I gotta’ tell you. Finally, I thought, good, vine-ripe, picked right off the bush, succulent , big red, juicy tomatoes, or honey?
I knew right then…the dern bees HAD TO GO!! I like honey just as good as the next guy, but we ain’t giving up no tomatoes for us to have some bees out here! It ain’t happening!
Then I thought, you know, I had a man last year tell me, you can put some Dawn dish soap in a pump up sprayer, and he swore it’d keep most of the bugs off the veggies. I’d heard this before, and now he was telling me this, too. So I got to thinking, we might have bees and tomatoes yet!
Then, all of a sudden, I get an e-mail from the “master canner,” herself, Miss Bonnie out of North Carolina. Guess what she told me in her e-mail? Dawn dish soap on her garden for the bugs, because of her neighbor’s bees. The only difference from my hearing using Dawn, and Bonnie telling me to use Dawn, was simply, she used a “souped up version,” of it!
Here’s what Miss Bonnie had to say…verbatim!
Ain’t it just wonderful when you try to live right how blessings come? I am happy for you about the bees. We are losing our bees at an alarming rate in this nation, and without them we’re in deep doo-doo. No natural pollination for our crops. I do not use chemicals on my garden because of my neighbor’s bees. I mix one cup of listerine mouthwash in about a gallon of water, add a couple or three tablespoons of Palmolive or Dawn dish detergent, and use that to spray my fruit trees and stuff. It doesn’t hurt either the bees or the crops, and does minimize bugs. I got that from a bee keeper in SC a couple of years ago.
This again is what makes this column so fun for Deb and I…YOU! Every one of you guys respond to so many different things we ask, or someone else asks, this is really fun doing this! Thank you all so much.
I say that a lot, but you guys give a lot too. I’m sure all of you have more things to do than sit around and listen to, two ole’ buzzards gab about their growin’ up, how to do something in a garden, throw out a recipe or two, and in general, just shoot the bull, but you keep coming back for more.
Now, Deb and I have pondered this over many, many times. Are you guys, just gluttons for punishment, or do you just really need to get a life? If not these two things, then it can only be that you guys love us for just bein’ Dub and Deb, which is the exact reason we love you guys in return…good people love the company of good people, and you guys surely…are good people!
Bonnie is but one example, and I can name off the top of my head, at the very least a couple dozen more, and you all know who you are!
We started this off wanting you to come into our place, but you all have welcomed us into your homes as well! We’re very flattered from your hospitality, thank you all for this!
Now, back to bugs.
Ole’ Tex, from Arkansas, (just teasing you Tex) hollered at us just the other day in regards to fire ants, and a solution that is not poison based!
I don’t know how expensive it is anymore, because it’s been years since I last bought any, and to be honest, I’d never even considered it for fire ant beds!
But, once more, you guys have been terrific in your sharing of knowledge, in regards to your “how-to’s” of doing things, and Tex is but one other example of this!
Again, I’d never considered it for fire ant beds, but after listening to Tex, I have to agree with her, in regards to its effectiveness in destroying fire ant beds. It’s dynamite!
Yep, shocked me too, but after letting this sink in a minute or two, take a look at the other benefits provided by this.
Live out of town, and need a fire pit, or even just a place to burn the trash?? Voila, there you go, and no ants either! A hunter you say?? If you’re in Texas like Tex, fill it up with water, you got migrating Canada geese and all kinds of ducks, right there in your backyard!
You might want to consider installing lighting if way down South Texas way though. If not, you may have a problem of illegals stopping by and gassin’ up their canteens on their trek North! THAT IS A JOKE, people.
No seriously, here’s what Tex had to say about the fire ant problem.
Killing Fire Ant Colonies GREAT NEW INFO!!!!
This is a new twist to killing fire ant colonies.
For those not familiar with Walter Reeves, he is from the University of Georgia Agriculture Department, specializing in home gardening. His television show, ‘Gardening in Georgia ‘, is on each Saturday.
I know fire ants are picky eaters and any type poison that is effective takes seven feeding steps before the queen receives it. Plus, if the bait is stored in close proximity to any petroleum or fertilizer products they won’t touch it. Contact poisons that are on the market just cause the colony to move away. A well developed colony can be as deep as 30 feet and spread out some 20 to 50 feet from the mound center… This was documented by studies done in the early 60s when they were first sighted in South Alabama .
An environmentally friendly cure for fire ants has been announced by Walter Reeves on his Georgia Gardener radio program. Testimonials that it REALLY WORKS are coming in.
Simply pour two cups of CLUB SODA (carbonated water) directly in the center of a fire ant mound. The carbon dioxide in the water is heavier than air and displaces the oxygen which suffocates the queen and the other ants. The whole colony will be dead within about two days.
Besides eliminating the ants, club soda leaves no poisonous residue, does not contaminate the ground water, and does not indiscriminately kill other insects. It is not harmful to your pets, soaks into the ground. Each mound must be treated individually and a one liter bottle of club soda will kill 2 to 3 mounds.
Thank you Tex, and thanks for reading, and taking the time to share your information with us. We do appreciate it! Your earlier e-mail in regards to Deb was truly a blessing. Love ya’, Tex!
Listen guys, thank you all so much for everything you do! I can’t wait to see you all again!
God Bless you and yours!!
Dub and Deb
Dusty Drawers:
You thought I was through with ya’, didn’t you? Not so fast you guys, it might be important, but it ain’t.
Thought you might like a joke before you hit the door. Deb really liked this one, I didn’t like the way she was looking at me after the punch line though!
One evening a husband, thinking he was being funny, said to his wife, ‘Perhaps we should start washing your clothes in ‘Slim Fast’. Maybe it would take a few inches off of your butt!’
His wife was not amused, and decided that she simply couldn’t let such a comment go unrewarded. The next morning the husband took a pair of underwear out of his drawer. ‘What the heck is this?’ he said to himself as a little ‘dust’ cloud appeared when he shook them out.
’Cathy’, he hollered into the bathroom, ‘Why did you put talcum powder in my underwear?’
She replied with a snicker. ‘It’s not talcum powder; it’s ‘Miracle Grow’!
Can’t wait to try the club soda. Fire ants are a deffinite problem here now. It’s funny about your “bee lady”. I got the Listerine and dish detergent info from a bee keeper!
My dad was a firm believer in DDT and Malathian, and none of us ever had big problems. I guess if I have made it to my “golden years” without insecticide problems it really didn’t have much effect on me. I want to throw another question out there to y’all!
I used to live down that way when my kids were growing up. We had a large lake on our property that eventually was almost covered up with water hyacynths. They grew by leaps and bounds. It was a never-ending job to keep them pulled out to even make a path for the boat or swimming. Finally, my dad said he thought he could help with the elimination of them. I told him to “be my guest”! He showed up that weekend with a few large sacks of FERTILIZER, loaded it in the boat and away he went, casting big handfuls of fertilizer over the entire lake. In a few days the hyacynths were large and green, but then they started dying like flies. We had to clear the lake of the “scum” left behind, but for the most part they were dead! I called Daddy. He said he wasn’t sure it would work when he did it, but someone had told him that a good fertilizer would make them grow so fast the little “bulbs” on the leaf stems would out-grow themselves, pop, and croak over. Apparently, the info-giver was right, or…………..was it just their time to go home to “Hyacynth Heaven”? Any comments from you wise Florida crackers?