Home Made Pest Control Solution(s)

I'm really not a big fan of pesticides or chemicals. Actually, that's putting it mildly...I hate pesticides. They are almost always used too liberally, and often used as a preventative measure rather than to get rid of a problem. But at the same time, I'm not a big fan of caterpillars shredding my fresh new cycad leaves, or aphids sucking the life out of my new buds or snails devouring my lettuce leaves before I get a chance.

So what do we do? Where is the middle ground? Am I supposed to console myself with the fact that I have well fed snails? What do I do while I wait for the birds to get off their feathered behinds and do their job eating the insects that I'm restraining myself from spraying? When do these natural ecosystems kick in?

Before we begin, its important that you ask yourself these very important questions!

The first step is to figure out whats behind the carnage or the ailing plant.

Plants are usually pretty good at fending the insects or diseases off themselves. A healthy, well looked after plant is not likely to be affected by insects or diseases. So firstly, make sure that your plant is getting the optimum combination of the 3 essentials - light-water-food.

Once you're sure you're not under or overwatering, or you know the plant is in the right place, and you've fed it with a good nutrient-rich compost then maybe its time to get off defence and plan your attack.

Health problems in plants can be divided into 2 categories - Pathogens that cause disease, and Parasites that eat the plants.

So, before reaching for the pesticide spray, take a look at these natural remedies for getting rid of pests and diseases. These are the most common problems that I have seen throughout the years, and the home made remedies that go a long way to getting rid of them:

Pest Problems:

Aphids

These are tiny green or light brown insects often clustered around new buds. They suck the sap out of the plants, and can spread plant viruses. Often the most obvious sign of aphids is an abundance of ants, and a black sooty mould on the leaves and ground. This ants are actually milking the aphids which secrete a sugary substance which is what forms the black mould. (Soap Spray, Garlic Chilli Spray and Horticultural Oil)

Caterpillars

Caterpillars vary in size and description, and love all kinds of soft leaves and juicy plants. They are often found hiding on the under sides of leaves. Evidence of their presence is usually their little black poos on leaves and around the base of plants (Garlic Chilli Spray and Horticultural Oil)

Mealy bugs

Mealy bugs are small cotton woolly insects that hide along stems and midribs, and similar to aphids, encourage ants with their sugary sap that they produce. Black sooty mould is often present. (Soap Spray, Garlic Chilli Spray and Horticultural Oil)

Red Spider Mite

These tiny almost microscopic little spiders are more easily spotted by their tiny cobwebs on the underside of yellowing leaves. They thrive in dry windless environments like indoors or sheltered spots near buildings. (Water, Wind, Soap Spray, Garlic Chilli Spray and Horticultural Oil)

Scale

Often look like tiny waxy bumps along the midrib of leaves or around soft stems of plants, they can be black, brown or white, and also encourage ants to feed off the sticky sugary substance that they produce. (Soap Spray, Garlic Chilli Spray and Horticultural Oil)

White fly

These are extremely tiny little "flies' that are actually more similar to aphids. They congregate in their thousands often on the underside of new leaves and fly away quickly when disturbed. It is best to do follow up sprays every 2-3 days. (Soap Spray, Garlic Chilli Spray and Horticultural Oil)

Snails and Slugs

Often found hiding in the cool undersides of leaves or rocks. You can often spot their silvery trails around the plant or soil beneath. (Beer, Grapefruit halves, Egg shells)

Pest Control Solutions:

Soap Spray – Dissolve 3 teaspoons of liquid soap or washing detergent in 2 cups of water into a spray bottle and use it to control aphids on roses, citrus and other plants. The soap removes the aphids waxy coating and dries them out. Also good for mealy bugs, ants and whiteflies. 

Garlic-chilli spray – Chop and boil 4 onions, 4 hot chillis and 2 garlic cloves in 2 litres of water for about 15 minutes. Let the liquid cool overnight, then strain into a jar and add 2 tablespoons of liquid soap. To spray, mix 10ml of your concentrate in 1 litre of water in a bottle and use to control aphids, caterpillars, whitefly, and other pests. 

Horticultural oil – Use 2 cups of vegetable oil and 1/2 cup of liquid soap. Shake together in a jar, where the mixture will turn a milky colour. Add 2 tablespoons of this concentrate to a litre of water and spray.  This controls most insect pests, including scale, aphids, white fly, leaf miner, mealy bug and mites.

Hollowed out orange or grapefruit halves placed upside down overnight - These attract snails and slugs inside them. These can then be collected from the garden and thrown away.

Glass of beer - Snails and slugs are a sucker for a good glass of beer, into which they crawl in and drown. At least they die happy?

Crushed-up egg shells spread around the base of plants deters snails and slugs. They are too sharp for the soft undersides of these creatures.

Other Home Remedies:

Baking Soda is great as a preventative measure against powdery mildew on plants. Mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap and 3 litres of water. It can burn the leaves of some plants so water plants well before use and don’t apply in full sun. Try and get the under side of the leaves too.  In very humid conditions, Powdery Mildew can also be prevented by watering the soil rather than leaves.

Vinegar, or Boiling Hot water can be poured into paving to kill plants between bricks or pavers.

Milk Spray Fungicide – Also works best as a preventative measure or in the early stages. Mix 50ml milk into 450ml water and spray onto the leaves. Re-apply every time it rains. Not effective on badly affected plants.

Making Mountains Out Of Moles

So...your lawn is looking amazing.  The grass has just been manicured...it looks like an immaculate green carpet out there. You couldn't be more proud of the kingdom you survey. Suddenly, you start to notice little piles of earth being pushed up around your pristine lawn. The ground becomes soft and uneven in places. Where there was once perfection, little brown piles now punctuate your sea of green, taunting your obsessive compulsive side. This means war! How can I get rid of these damn moles!

But before you begin, its important that - in the words of Sun Tzu - you know your enemy.

The first thing you should know is that (if you live in South Africa) there are no moles in your garden.

"But wait!" I hear you say, "I'm definitely not imagining this mess in my garden." Thats true, but moles are not native to Africa. They are a resident of North America, Asia and Europe. What you are actually seeing in your garden is one of either two groups of mole-like creatures that are found in Southern Africa - Golden Moles, or Mole Rats.

Take a look at this cute little Golden Mole (picture credit)

Golden Moles are a distant relative of the hedgehog, and are mainly insectivores, with a predilection for termites. They range in size from 8-20cm, and are covered in a moisture and dirt repellant, black/grey/yellow fur. Their eyes are non-functional, and their ears are just tiny holes, so their sense of touch is highly developed to the point where they can feel termites and other insects nearby. Golden Moles are generally solitary creatures, and can travel great distances (up to as much as 6km in the case of the Grant's Golden Mole) in search of food.  Sadly, 11 of the 21 species of Golden Moles are now threatened with extinction.

Mole Rat caught pink handed (picture credit)

The name Mole Rat is a misleading title, as it is neither a mole, nor a rat.  It is possibly a closer relative to a porcupine. They're herbivores, and enjoy munching on bulbs and grass stolons. Very often eating but not destroying the bulbs that they feed on. They tend to live in family units of up to 14 individuals. Their tunnels are quite extensive, and can go down as much as a 80cm below the surface. Tunnels have been found to be as much as a kilometre in length. They can be quite grumpy little creatures if they are cornered, so take care when handling them.

The second thing you should know about these 2 groups of creatures that we have up till now been mis-calling moles, is that they also perform an important function of aerating the soil, improving drainage, and essentially tilling the soil from underneath.

Thirdly, and most importantly, based on my experience, it is very difficult to get rid of mole rats in particular. I have employed most of them - sonic devices, spinning plastic coke bottles, garlic solutions, urination (not me personally), Jack Russells, and I'm sad to say that when I was younger I even used pesticides. None of these solutions have worked for more than a couple of months, and most didn't work at all. Pesticides seemed to work the best, but you have to weigh up the long term damage that you are doing to the environment. The chemicals are highly toxic, heavier than air and will poison the groundwater, all the surrounding soil, and in the process killing off all the life in the soil. In the long term your grass and plants will end up suffering, as the symbiotic relationship they have with the myriad organisms in the soil will be destroyed.

There are 2 solutions that I have as yet not tried. The first is the use of wire mesh. This involves, essentially spreading galvanised wire mesh over the entire area about 15cm below the surface. The problems with this option are that the wire mesh would have to have a tiny aperture to prevent the moles from squeezing through, it would be quite an expensive option especially for larger areas, and there would be nothing stopping the mole from walking along the surface, and burrowing into the newly fenced off area. But it still may be a good option worth exploring. I would imagine the key would be finding the right depth for the layer of wire to be spread out at.

The second solution is in my opinion the best. At one point I heard about someone who traps moles/mole rats/golden moles alive, and then releases the animals back into the wild far away.  I was never able to get hold of his details. I would have been happy to send him lots of work.

At the moment, the advice that I most often give my clients is more of a remedial one. Prior to regular mowing, any mole hills, and and any surface tunnelling, should be stamped down.
Then during your annual top-dressing, the loose soil can be stamped back down, rolled and then top-dressed to deal with any minor unevenness.
This essentially gives the lawn a fresh start, but the moles will still be there and will eventually work your lawn back to its previous bumpy self.

As with most garden problems that come about from our attempts to control our environment, I believe the best mindset is to work with nature and not against it. The Japanese have a way of thinking called Wabi-sabi, which essentially means embracing imperfection. Something we obsessive compulsive westerners would do well to learn.

Embracing the unevenness, the weeds, the creatures, the yellowing leaves, the non-linear and the imperfect is so hard for us to do, but says so much about our need for control of the world around us. I wonder if it is an outward sign of an impossibility that we expect of ourselves and others around us.

Killing Your Dinner Guests, and Other Pest Control Solutions

Getting rid of pests in gardens is a tough subject. Its never easy watching bugs or other 'pests' eat their way through your beautiful garden. Especially when you've put in all that hard work, or spent all that money.

I left this little guy to eat what he wanted from my plants

But as with so many of the problems that we face in life, we resort to a knee-jerk reaction, or we respond emotionally. We don't stop to think things through properly. Sometimes it requires an unemotional look at, and a better understanding of the problem to decide what to do.
To put things in perspective, I look at pesticides (maybe we should more honestly call them naturecides because of the damage they do) in as serious a way as chemotherapy drugs. They should only be used in very serious situations, and when all other options have been examined and weighed.

Here's some questions to ask yourself before resorting to poisoning your garden with pesticides:

1. How serious is the problem?
Will the 'pest' kill the plant that it is eating, or will it just perform a natural function of cutting back, which gives space for new growth? Get some advice if you're not sure.
In most cases, its just a natural cycle, and the garden/plant will recover on its own without needing our intervention.

2. Is there a bigger problem behind this infestation?
Sometimes there are other reasons for a sudden increase in insect activity, but we end up treating the symptoms and not the cause. These reasons can be anything from a change in the plants ideal environment (too much sun, or shade), or even the over-use of chemicals in the past which has removed the pests natural predators or weakened the plant. Usually 'pests' increase when plants are weak and can't defend themselves.

3. Have I planted the right plant?
If we choose the right plant for the right place, it usually needs less attention. The right plant is usually less prone to attack from insects. Choose indigenous plants over exotics. Indigenous plants are normally more resistant to attacks.

4. Have I planted too much of the same plant?
Mono-cultures (a single type of plant spread over a wide area) are like an eat-all-you-want buffet. They're basically an invitation for insects and animals to come in take a load off, and eat to their hearts content. Most lawns are mono-cultures, and are usually the source of most problems.

5. Is this normal?
There is often a natural and harmonious balance between plant and insect that shouldn't be interfered with. Some plants actually need insects to eat them, to stay healthy. By spraying pesticides and herbicides, we're getting in the way, and could end up killing a lot more plants and animals than we intended.

6. Are you killing your dinner-guests?
This is really a follow up to the previous question. Most plants put "Open For Business" signs up in the way of fruit and flowers and juicy leaves. These attract insects for a reason, but these insects may sample other plants on their way in and out. If you plant a Butterfly Bush, it follows that you're going to see more caterpillars coming into the garden. Either get used to your visitors, or take the plant out.

7. Can I deal with them in other ways?
If at all possible, rather kill them by hand (or foot). If you're squeamish, there are plenty natural solutions out there; from beer, and grapefruit to chilli and flour. A little research usually yields a better solution (literally).

If none of these questions give you reason to resist the chemical route, then ask yourself one final question:

8. Is a little bit of chaos and mess not a good thing to have?
The need to have everything perfectly neat and tidy is sometimes a reflection of other issues that we are not dealing with, or other areas in our lives that are not under control. I believe that sometimes the challenges we face are there for us to confront the things we would rather not face.

If you still decide to go down the naturecide route, do it carefully and in a restrained way. But come back to these questions every now and then, and re-evaluate your garden as things change.

Food For Thought

I'm reading a book by Barbara Kingsolver at the moment called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It begins with an honest look at the divorce in the United States between humans and nature (especially their food), and the resulting social, economic and environmental catastrophe that we humans are hurtling towards.

 A tinker reed frog I found the day after planting this Aloe

Here in South Africa, we have the fortunate ability to be able to see into the future. We are like the furthest island from an earthquakes epicentre - we are able to receive the early warning, long before the tsunami hits. We could be likened to the late adopters in trend forecasting - there is often a lag of as little as a few months to as many as a few years in our adopting of certain fashions or trends.

So you'd think we would see the consequences of another nation's life in the fast-food lane, and make the changes necessary to steer clear of the mess to follow? The sad reality is that we are so distracted by the present problems that we have little capacity or will to take advantage of this advantage and plan for the future. The result is that the warning signals go un-heeded.

There has long been an inevitable shift in allegiance from rural farm life and a dependance and understanding of nature to urban living with its attendant ills. But urbanisation, doesn't have to spell out the death of communion with nature.
 It does require a certain amount of commitment on our part though. We need to take steps every day to notice nature, and welcome, and encourage it:

In South Africa, we have a term - Local is Lekker - which means buying locally made/grown/produced, is always better. Choose food that is locally grown as opposed to buying food which needs exponential amounts of energy just to get it to your door.

Encourage nature back into your garden by planting indigenous, or better yet, endemic plants. This gives animals a natural place to eat or rest - you'd be amazed at how quickly you will see all kinds of birds and wildlife returning to your garden.

Resist the urge to throw chemicals at your problems. Pesticides and herbicides are no solution - they just delay the inevitable. In extreme cases you may have no alternative, but most times all thats needed is a little patience. Nature's own balances, will kick in soon enough.

We need to take advantage of our prophetic viewpoint in SA, and begin learning from the mistakes made by other countries.

I do believe that every little action makes a difference - if we wait for governments or politicians to pass laws or push policies to protect and improve the environment, we'll be waiting till there are no longer cows to come home. We need to resolve to take a step now, no matter how small.

Any Advice On Dealing With Voracious Pigeons?

We are doing our best to care for a roof garden in the center of Durban which has recently been landscaped by another company.
The planting is a bit of a mix of indigenous and exotic, with a definite tropical theme to it. There are bamboo palms at the back, which provide a bit of height to the garden, and then a mix of Aloes, Cordylines, Dianella and Helichrysum underneath. At the front of the garden, a stretch of Gazania's were originally planted, which would have provided a much needed splash of colour.

But lately, this roof garden has reminded me of a scene from Alfred Hitchcocks 'The Birds'. The pigeons sit on every little outcrop of the building - looking down ominously on the smokers that congregate outside the offices. For now, (fortunately for the smokers) the pigeons have been satisfying their hunger by eating the plants.

The Gazania's were the first plant-victim to be devoured by the swarm of pigeons almost immediately after they were planted. Pilea microphylla was planted as a replacement plant, which in just as short a time, was grazed into non-existence. The next attempt, that the landscaping company tried, was to try a fast growing groundcover - Carpobrotus edulis, which is quite common on our beaches and does an excellent job of stabilising sand-dunes. To all of our surprise, these have also been completely eaten.

I'm going to suggest that we replace these little Pilea corpses that you can see in the photo, with Carissa 'green carpet', but before I do, I was wondering if anybody in the ethernet has any suggestions as to how to keep the pigeons from eating everything in sight, or a better option to try planting?

Limb-eating insects

Ok, thats a pretty scary sounding title for this post. But actually it is quite scary what these insects seem to be able to do. This branch fell down on top of 2 cars that were parked innocently on the side of the road.

On closer inspection, you can see the core of this branch had been entirely eaten away, and there were insects busy trying to burrow away deeper into the tree.

There were 2 of these insects on the ground next to the severed limb. They were anemic-looking and slightly translucent, and both were about 2 inches long. It looked like 2 pairs of wings were busy forming close to the head. Any ideas as to what this creature is?

Falling branches and trees seems to be on the increase in Durban lately. The windy conditions don't help, but at the core (literally) of this problem seems to be insects that eat their way into the trunks and branches of trees. Most often its white ants, but it seems other insects seem to be capable of just as much damage.

The problem is that this is all happening below the surface of apparently healthy trees. Looking at the tree itself there were no obvious signs of the damage being done on the inside. This is something that will start happening more often now that a lot of our street trees have matured and are showing signs of old age and weakening, and are therefore more susceptible to insects and disease.

Dealing with White Ants, or How To Control The Universe

Our gardens tell us a lot about ourselves - they often are a reflection of our personality - they reveal our tastes, needs, likes, passions, etc. - but they also sometimes show what we obsess about, what irritates us, and our crazy need to control everything around us.

My guess is that the state of our gardens are probably a good measure of our fragile grip on reality!

Lawns are a perfect example of this - if our lawn is perfect, we console ourselves with the fantasy that we at least have control over some small corner of the universe. And maybe in the uneasy state that is the world's economy, we need to believe we have some control over the universe - as deluded as that may be.

So now that white ant season has hit Durban again, I have a lot more sympathy for the "perfect lawn obsession" that results in the flurry of calls from panicking garden owners asking what can be done to save their lawns from these little "evil" creatures.

There are several ways to deal with termites eating your grass or plants - some more effective than others, but the first step (as in the financial world) is not to panic.

But to deal with them properly its best to understand why they are there...

Most often, they are looking for food. If your lawn has just been laid or recently composted, you may notice an increase in the occurrence of termites. They are present because they have found a new source of food.

They generally also become more noticeable around this time of year, because they are preparing for reproduction and swarming.

I am not a big fan of chemicals, unless the situation is incredibly serious. In most cases applying insecticides is an all-round bad idea - it kills most of the beneficial creatures that live in your soil, and the effects are extremely short-term. They may also make the situation worse in the long term.

The presence of termites is usually easily seen by the fact that the grass starts to look sparse, and small sandy tunnels form above the surface of the soil, or on plants or trees. Make sure that you don't leave anything lying flat on the grass over-night, as the next morning you will usually find the area underneath completely eaten.

I've found that the best way to deal with them, is to disturb these tunnels whenever they are visible, by using the back of a rake, or better yet, give the areas a good spray with water. They usually don't like too much disturbance, and often will move on.

Gardening - as in life, is all about cycles. Sometimes the only control that we can exert is by being patient, doing the basics, and waiting these negative cycles out. Every now and then though, if we look carefully enough, we can find something positive that can be taken out of these crises. Termites are an essential part of the ecosystem - they create habitats, provide food, and make certain nutrients available. The nests also often help the soils absorption of water.

A Perfect Winters Day

Yesterday was one of those perfect winter days - warm enough that you could sit in the sun and feel toasty but not hot. We went for a walk in Kloof Gorge, to take some photos of the red hot pokers that were sitting proudly above the dry winter grass.

On the way back I started to notice a scattering of these Helichrysums in the veld. The flowers were already dry and silvery, but seemed to reflect the sun like little mirrors in the grass.
The flowers are probably several weeks old now, and if the veld isn't burnt too soon they'll probably look just as good for a few more weeks. (True to their common name - Everlasting)

I changed the photos to black and white to show how striking the silvery flowers really are.

The only blight on the day was discovering hundreds of tiny little red ticks the size of pin-heads on my ankles. I had to spend the next half an hour making sure they were all off me.