Nontoxic Pest Control for Your Home and Garden
Pesticides are toxic and, while often effective against pests, can be dangerous for your family and pets. Outdoors, sprayed pesticides might drift on a breeze and dust your vegetable garden or your neighbor's yard. Indoors, pesticides can linger in the air, exposing the family to harmful chemicals. For these reasons, many people are turning to nontoxic pest control methods. Prevention is the best way to control pests, but there are times when even the most thorough preventative measures will not save you from intruders, so this article discusses both preventative pest control methods and nontoxic pest control products. Preventative Pest Control Methods Sanitation: As they say, cleanliness is next to godliness. And it keeps pests out, too. Keeping your home clean is the most effective pest control method. If you don't leave food or dirty dishes lying around the house, animals and insects won't be attracted to the smell. Sweep and vacuum regularly. Remember, just because you can't see crumbs doesn't mean they don't exist. Clean inside pantries and cabinets cabinets, under and around the stove and refrigerator at least once a year. Screens: This may seem obvious, but screens on doors and windows are a simple and relatively cheap way to keep insects out of the house. Also, screens on crawlspaces keep rodents from obtaining easy access routes into the house. Caulking: By caulking cracks in your house, you can minimize places for insects to hide and nest. Target bathrooms and the kitchen, especially doors and windows. Nontoxic Pest Control Products Traps: There are many kinds of traps available that target many kinds of pests. Some examples are sticky traps for cockroaches, glueboards for mice, flypaper, bug zappers, and traps specifically for rats, gophers, or moles. You can usually pick up traps at your local Home and Garden store. Pheromones: Pheromones, essentially insect scent hormones, can be used in traps as bait. By emitting the scent of the female insect, pheromones can be used to lure males into a trap, where they are caught in a sticky glue. Insects are only attracted by pheromones emitted by their own kind, so you need to know exactly what kind of insects you're trying to eliminate and plan accordingly. Biological Control: Biological control is more often used in agriculture but can sometimes be used in home and garden situations as well. Basically it means using desirable organisms to eliminate undesirable organisms. For instance, planting certain plants in your garden can deter certain pests. For example, spearmint repels ants. Garlic repels Japanese Beetles. Indoors, spiders eat fruit flies and houseflies, so it may be worth leaving some of those webs around. Repellents: There are nontoxic repellents available for pest control. Mosquito repellents are the most popular, but if you look around, you can find repellents that target other pests. Some herbs, like eucalyptus and wormwood, are known for repelling animals and insects. About The Author TC Thorn writes for http://www.pestinformation.com/ where you can find more pest control information.
Related News
Learning from the ground up - The Nelson Mail
The Nelson Mail |
Learning from the ground upThe Nelson Mail, New Zealand -20 hours agoGolden Bay's Sol Morgan credits his mother for his love of gardening, and now he's inspiring a new generation to unearth the benefits of growing their own ... |
6 Fort Worth garden shops built their way up on a dream - Dallas Morning News
Master Gardeners program growing in area - Branson Daily News
Master Gardeners program growing in areaBranson Daily News, United States -Nov 20, 2008By attending 30 hours of classes that deal with subjects on ornamentals, landscaping, turf management and vegetable production, these gardeners will join a ... |
Seabrook on ... Solidarity during tough times - Horticulture Week
Seabrook on ... Solidarity during tough timesHorticulture Week, UK -11 hours agoBy combining, the hosts get the chance to speak to a larger audience (it promises to be over 200 gardening communicators), both save money on the provision ... |
Garden sector lures City workers as recession hits financial firms - Horticulture Week
Gardening Calendar, updated Nov 19 - TCPalm
Gardening Calendar, updated Nov 19TCPalm, FL -Nov 19, 2008"Florida Native Landscaping": University of Florida/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center; 2199 South Rock Road, Fort Pierce; 4-7 pm, ... |
A ‘green’ green thumb Extension gardening classes will teach ... - The Register-Guard
BEHIND OUR STONE WALLS: Ready to face the world - Harvard Post
Eagle Scouts, Girl Scouts, gardening scouts - DavidsonNews.net
Eagle Scouts, Girl Scouts, gardening scoutsDavidsonNews.net, NC -Nov 20, 2008They noticed that the landscaping around the new buildings appeared a bit sparse and knew the view from their third floor balcony could be improved. ... |
Everything's rosy for youngsters learning gardening skills - The Star
|
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Choosing the Proper Pond Pump
Whether you have a preformed or a liner pond, a pond pump is a paramount component of any water feature. Stagnant bodies of water attract mosquito infestations, which are a nuisance, and also undesirable, due to the recent outbreaks of the West Nile virus. Therefore, it is paramount that you utilize a pond pump that circulates your body of water.
Pruning the Backyard Grapevine
Proper pruning of your backyard grapevines is essential to maintain vine size, shape, and yield of the grapes. If you don't prune your vines, they will become unruly, tangled messes. Fruit ripeness will suffer. Overproduction of the vine may lead to premature death. It is also one of the harder things to visualize but one of the easier things to accomplish for the home gardener.
Themes of Shade
A Shade Garden can be created in any of several different types of shade. It can be in the mottled shade
that comes from a broad leaf tree to the deep dark woods mentioned in Robert Frost's "Stopping by A
Woods on A Snowy Evening". We have morning shade (not so good for a shade garden if this area gets
afternoon sun - it will much too hot and drying) and afternoon shade. And we can even create or modify our shade with man-made constructions. Each type of shade supports different types of plants although there is over-lap. Of course, you should always be prepared to experiment with your garden.
Orange Perennials For Your Garden
Perennials are wonderful because, they bloom year after year. Sometimes, I forget that I even have them planted and then they spring up to my surprise and delight! I like to add some zip to my garden with flowers that are orange in color. They add a vibrant touch and the brilliant colors attract birds and insects.
How to Grow Cooking Herbs
Grow your own cooking herbs to add fresh zest and flavor to your menus year-round!
Teak Furniture - How to Care for it Properly
Many finer homes and businesses feature beautiful indoor and outdoor furniture made from teak. Although the obvious reason is the beauty that comes from teak, there are many benefits to choosing this type of wood. Saturated with natural oils required to survive the rainforest where teak grows, this wood is naturally resistant to rot, insects, and outdoor elements. Therefore, while the price of teak furniture is generally a little more than you would pay for cedar, redwood, or oak, the fact that teak furniture is strong and durable, it is money well spent.
Wind Chimes Go Great With Gardening
What could be more relaxing than gardening on a nice summer morning? Listening to your wind chime while you garden! Wind chimes are not only fun to look at but they add much more to your garden then just visual appeal.
Grow the BEST Tasting Tomatoes
Tired of tomatoes that are rock hard and taste like cardboard? Stupid question! Use these tips to grow your own tomatoes bursting with flavour.
Moss on Lawns
Just about right now, we start to see moss on lawns and the plaintive cry goes up, "How do we stop it?"
Wooden You Like to Know? A Primer to Wood Outdoor Furnishings
To many people, wood is the quintessential building material for furniture, both indoor and out. There's a wooden furniture form to suit every budget and décor -- from rustic twig loveseats to classis cedar Adirondack chairs to sophisticated teak tables and benches.
Gardening for Birds Part 2
We've had some well needed rain this past week, though it makes it a bit
difficult to get chores done outside.
How To Prevent Damping Off
Damping off is the single term used to describe
underground, soil line, or crown rots of seedlings due to
unknown causes. The term actually covers several soil borne
diseases of plants and seed borne fungi. The fungi which
cause root rot are species of Phyium, Phytophthora,
Rhizoctonia and Fusarium.
Home for a Gnome?
Kitsch is defined by several dictionaries as relating to poor quality or gaudy art objects that appeal to "low-brow" taste. But in the garden, kitsch categorizes folksy or commercial art that's viewed condescendingly by some, and with irony by others. It's this irony (this stuff is so bad it's good) that has made items such as pink flamingos and garden gnomes more widely popular in recent years.
Wildlife in Winter Ponds
This may seem contradictory, but you want to leave a little bit of debris in the pond when preparing it for winter.
Bottle Gardening or Terrarium - Design and Maintenance
Women take pride in home decoration and gardening and want some unique and prized possessions that are not part of the neighboring dwellings. Gardening offers opening as there is no end to creativity, especially in the fields of flower arrangement, bonsai, mini-rock garden etc. But a sure and unique possession is a bottle garden. Many of us have seen a ship inside a bottle. This creative craft has given rise to the concept of bottle gardening. Bottle gardening can be compared to an aquarium where fishes survive with regular inputs of water and feed. Like wise, a bottle garden has the essential requirements of soil and water for the survival of plants that are housed in it, but with occasional care and maintenance. Apart from these essential requirements, the bottle garden has reservoir of water which keeps readily available moisture to the plant and also enables a humid environment in the bottle. Bottle gardens if effectively designed can fetch very high price. Selection of plants to be planted for the bottle garden is very important and in quite a few cases people fail to appreciate this fact and try to incorporate any plant they can lay hands up on! An ideal bottle plant is of slow growth and dwarf habit. Because combinations of plants are housed in a bottle garden all the plants selected must be slow growing and dwarf, so that smothering can be avoided. Extremes of temperatures should be avoided and hence the bottle garden should be placed in such a location where there is adequate availability of sunlight. Also the soil or the compost, used in bottle gardens be just adequate for survival of the plants and should not induce vigorous growth.
Fall Garden Planning - Garden Plans for Next Spring and Ordering by Mail
It's August, the weather has cooled a bit here and the summer monsoons where I live in New Mexico have begun. The kids are starting back to school and I feel the onset of fall. I'm getting that garden planning itch again! It happens 2-3 times a year... This time, it's time to start ordering bulbs and perennials for fall planting. I'm always planning how my garden will look better next season and I suppose most of you do the same. Fall is the perfect time to plant for established growth next spring!
Building Liner Ponds
Surprisingly enough, it is usually in mid-summer that many
gardeners begin to think about installing a small pond or
water garden. Ponds don't need to be weeded or watered, and
they can supply exuberant color in the form of water lilies
and bog plants.
Companion Planting
If you look closely at the natural landscape, you'll never see a large area populated by a single species. Why then would it make sense to plant a single crop in a field or in a section of your garden? It doesn't. Companion planting makes a lot of sense.
Vermicomposting - Worm Composters For Eco-Friendly Waste Disposal and Recycling
Worms are not only the gardener's best friend, they are also the recycler's new found best friend as well. Nature's little waste disposal experts have found a new place in eco-conscious household's across the globe as more and more people are catching on to the idea of using worms' special talents to dispose of their organic household waste. If you have ever pondered on the idea or are in the least bit interested in giving your world environment a helping hand then you might like to delve a little deeper into the world of worms...
Skip The Pesticide And Use Natural Alternatives
For best health, it is important to keep your environment as chemical free as possible. With better weather coming up, consider this:
|
