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Gardeners:
A message from the USDA

During the holidays, people buy and send more citrus plants than any other time of the year. Whether someone is buying citrus plants online or giving a citrus plant as a gift, they could be spreading citrus greening disease. This deadly bacterial plant disease is spread by a disease-infected insect, the Asian citrus psyllid, and has destroyed millions of acres of citrus plants around the world. Since there is no cure, the best way to protect our citrus is to not move citrus plants or plant materials.

Inform others about the dangers of moving citrus.
As a gardener, people respect your expertise on plants. Help spread the word about citrus greening disease. Let people know:

• Many areas of the Southeast are under quarantine for citrus greening disease and Asian citrus psyllids. It is illegal to move live citrus plants, plant parts, budwood, or cuttings from these areas.
• Many other areas are under quarantine for Asian citrus psyllids. Get a complete list of quarantined areas for both the disease and the psyllid.
• Citrus greening is only one of many diseases threatening our citrus. By not moving citrus, you help stop the spread of all these deadly disease.
• Citrus plants and plant materials include curry leaves, jasmine flowers, and the citrus leaves on wreaths and in potpourri.

Spread the word — don’t move citrus.

The safest approach is to simply not move citrus plants, ship citrus plants, or buy citrus plants of an unknown origin. If you or someone you know owns citrus plants, make sure they are inspected regularly for signs and symptoms of the disease and psyllids.

For more information from the USDA on citrus greening disease, visit www.saveourcitrus.org.

It is not only important to get rid of pests from your garden, but it is also important to prevent them from destroying your garden. You can use chemicals in the form of pesticides to do this, but it may be as harmful to you as it is to the pests. It is also not good for the plants that grow in your garden. Using these chemicals has also been shown to be related to the cause of a number of diseases like Lymphoma, cancer, birth defects etc. These chemicals are also expensive. Hence using organic garden pest control strategies are beneficial for you and the plants.

One of the first steps you can take is using organic soil. Organic soil aids in the proper growth of plants and thus makes it better equipped to ward off the threats by your pests. You must use compost bins and compost pails, which is an integral part in organic garden pest control, which can be used to produce compost at home. There are several repellents that are good organic recipes for pest control like orange guard and organic insect killer repellent that can be used to kill or repel insects and bugs. These are non toxic in nature and provide effective results in killing or repelling the pests.

The most effective form of pest control is prevention. If you can grow your garden in such a way that the probability of pest attack is minimized, then use of repellents that generally come under the organic pest control category can be kept as a last resort.

You can start the whole process when you are deciding the kind of plants you want in your garden. By studying the types of plants and the various bugs that affect them, you can set up the defences as you know what type of bugs will affect your garden. Certain plants attract certain insects that are known to eat pests that affect other plants. By planting these plants together, you are essentially empowering the garden with its own natural defence system to get rid of the pests. There are certain kinds of plants that have their own natural defence system against pests. These plants can be useful additions in your garden as they provide organic garden pest control measures.

As part of organic garden pest control, you should take care of the soil in the garden and make sure it stays fertile and healthy throughout the year. You can do this by working on your garden throughout the year by adding compost and rearranging your plants. You should make sure that all the planting is done when conditions are not conducive for the growth of pests. Another useful strategy is to allow the growth of bugs that eat pests in your garden. This is where the use of chemicals can be disadvantageous as the bugs that are useful can also get killed.

In any case, you must be ready to get your hands dirty to combat the menace of these pests using organic garden pest control. You should carefully study each and every kind of pests that can likely affect your garden and study the different ways to get rid of them by checking upon sources like insect encyclopaedia. Due diligence and hard work in your garden are sure shot of ways of keeping the pests at bay.

Visit our website if you are interested in more information on insect pest control and pests and disease in the Organic Garden

The same sugar solution that attracts your Hummingbirds
will also be attractive to ants, bees and wasps. Not only will they drink, they
will also contaminate the nectar and sometimes even keep the Hummingbirds from
using the feeder. Ants  getting inside the feeder will drown and
contaminate the nectar as their bodies decompose.
As for bees and wasps …..  I have seen bees and
wasps at my feeder so thick that the Hummingbirds couldn’t feed at all. Thumping
them with a rolled up newspaper seemed to help a little, but every time I
thumped one, it wasn’t long before it was replaced by another. Besides being a
little too risky …. after a while it begins to take a toll on your feeder! So,
let’s examine some alternative possibilities to controlling pests at your
Hummingbird feeder.
Controlling ants

1. Keep the ants from finding your Hummingbird feeder
   ….. Using a drip less feeder is one way to help keep the ants from
   locating your Hummingbird feeder. Bottle-type feeders have a tendency to drip. When the
   air that’s trapped above the nectar heats up, it expands and forces the nectar
   out through the feed ports. Basin or saucer type feeders are designed so that
   they are less likely to drip.
2. Keep the ants away from the Hummingbird nectar
   ….. okay, the ants have found your feeder …. go to plan b ….. The best
   way to keep ants away from the nectar is to use some sort of “ant
   guard”. An ant guard is a barrier that’s placed between the ants and the
   Hummingbird nectar. These aunt guards are built into some feeders in the form of an ant
   moat that can be filled with water to keep the ants away from the nectar. But
   they can also be purchase separately and added to a feeder. They usually
   consist of a plastic cup about 3 inches in diameter that fits tightly around
   the hanger wire above the feeder. Once the cup is filled with water the ants
   can’t get to the nectar.

You can also make your own ant moat using the plastic
cap from a spray can. Punch or drill a hole in the cap to run the feeder hanger
wire through, then use hot glue or silicone sealant to seal the hole and make
the lid water proof so you can fill it with water.
 Controlling bees and wasps

1. Buy a feeder with bee guards. Some
   Hummingbird feeders come equipped with plastic mesh bee guards. Unfortunately,
   a lot of these Hummingbird feeders will also be prone to dripping which will undermine the
   effectiveness of the bee guards.
2. Try moving the feeder. Sometimes just
   moving the Hummingbird feeder a few feet will trick the insects into thinking that it’s
   gone and they won’t find it. If your insects happen to be too smart to fall
   for this one….. try taking the feeder down for a day or two until they quit
   looking for it. The Hummingbirds won’t give up as quick as the insects, so
   once you hang it back up the Hummingbirds will find it again.
3. Give the insects their own feeder.
   Personally, I would rather go back to thumping them with a rolled up newspaper
   before I conceded and tried this trick, but it’s a technique used effectively
   by lots of people, so I thought it appropriate to mention here. You will need
   two Hummingbird feeders, one for the bees and wasps and one for the Hummingbirds. Bees and
   wasps are more attracted to higher concentrations of sugar, so in their feeder
   use a nectar ratio of 1 part sugar to 3 parts water. In the Hummingbirds
   feeder, instead of using the standard 1 to 4 ratio,  use a ratio of 1
   part sugar to 5 parts water. This ratio although not as sweet as the 1 to 4,
   will still be good enough for the Hummingbirds , but not nearly as attractive
   to the bees and wasps as the feeder with the 1 to 3 ratio. Give the bees and
   wasps a few hours to attach themselves to their feeder then move it away from
   the Hummingbird feeder and hope they follow.
4. Buy a basin or saucer-type Hummingbird feeder.
   These type feeders are pretty much drip proof, so they’re not as likely to
   attract insects in the first place. Also, the nectar level will be lower and
   out of reach to the insects, but not out of reach to the Hummingbirds with
   their long tongues. My favorite basin-type feeder is
   the HummZinger.
   It’s kind of expensive, but has several features that might warrant a
   high price. The HummZinger has patented Nectar guard tips which are flexible
   membranes attached to the feed ports that prohibit entry from flying insects,
   but allow Hummingbirds to feed as usual. The HummZinger also has a built in
   ant moat that will stop crawling insects from getting to the nectar. This
   Hummingbird feeder can solve your ant, bee and wasp problems all at the same
   time.

Sustainable Living Articles @ http://www.articlegarden.com 

First, this bug has many names. Some of it’s names are:
lady bugs
ladybugs
lady beetle
asiatic lady beetle
Asian Lady Beetle
Asian Lady Bugs
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle

The Ladybird Beetle is the correct name for a Lady bug and are not bugs but are beetles. Worldwide there are nearly 5,000 different kinds of ladybugs of which 400 are found in North America. The Convergent Lady Beetle is the most common beneficial species of Ladybird beetle in North America.

The life cycle of all Lady Bugs are mainly the same. The eggs are laid in the spring. When they hatch the larvae will feed for a couple of weeks and then pupate into adults. During the winter they will hibernate or will have died in the fall. Springtime they awake to feed and lay more eggs again.

As a form of biological pest control Lady Bugs are widely used and are the best known. Besides eating their favorite food aphids they also eat mites, scales, whitefly, mealybugs and most other soft insects. They are known to eat cabbage moths, bollworms, tomato hornworms and broccoli worms. These bugs will eat up to 1,000 aphids in it’s lifetime in both their larvae and adult stages.

The most common complaint against the Lady Bug is that when they are released they will fly off and let the aphids have their feast with your roses and tomato plants. But really only a part of your release will venture off, the rest will eat all the aphids they can find and then maybe fly off.

-There are a couple of tricks you can do to keep your Ladybugs-

1. Only release the ladybugs in the evening since they are not known to fly at night when it is cooler.

2. Take a can of soda and mix it with equal amounts of water and spray on the Lady Bugs just before you release them. The sugar will make the wings sticky for just a couple days so they will hang around at least for awhile and eat the pests. Since Lady Beetles claim certain areas home they will stay in your yard and make it their home and the females will start laying eggs in and around your garden.

-What about Lady Beetles in the house-

We are glad to have these beetles hang around and control the pests just like mother nature intended.If they stay at your place over winter they will look for a nice cozy place to stay and that is where your home comes into the picture.

These bugs don’t seem to have any logic to picking a house they just have found yours and they like it there. In the yard and garden they were welcome guests, in your home not so welcome. What we want to do is ask the lady bugs to leave. They don’t speak our language.

-So a few suggestions to try-

1. Get out your vacuum cleaner and find the hose attachment.

2. Get a nylon stocking and place it inside the hose with the top of the stocking overlapping the end of the hose and place the hose attachment end nozzle on this to keep the stocking on.

3. Start the vacuum and get the bugs cleaned up. This will keep the bugs alive and then you can take them outside and release in another area away from your home. Refrigerate for next spring or give them to a friend with a green house.

The ladybugs may be a problem outside the house also, help them relocate by:

1. Spray water at them with the garden hose.

2. Use your leaf blower and blow them away.

3. Upset the lady bugs and eventually they will move on to another location.

Needless to say they are a very beneficial bug, but for some people bugs are not their favorite. They can be helpful and at the same time create a problem. What we need to do is learn to live with our tiny friends and make sure they stay around.

By: James Ellison

Ant season is on the horizon.

As the ground warms up in the spring, ants who have been dormant in the earth during the colder weather warm up and come to the surface. Queen ants fly off to find new nesting areas…and before you know it, ants are back in our world.

While ants play an important roll in the ecosystem, it is no picnic when they become pests in our world.

But all too often, when people have a pest problem they run to the store and buy a can of toxic pesticide, come home and spray the pest.

Whoa! Let’s step back and take a look at handling ant problems using a least toxic approach.

Perhaps I should first define “least toxic approach.” This term means you try to solve the insect problem with the least toxic material. If that doesn’t work, then you try something a little toxic but not as toxic as poison. You keep trying to solve the insect problem using progressively more toxic substances until you find something that works. Using this approach, the solution to your insect problem can range from doing nothing to spraying toxic insect killer, if that is the only thing that works.

Why should you bother with a least toxic approach? For one thing, studies are beginning to reveal the serious side effects of the overuse of toxic pesticides in our environment.

Did you know that evidence suggests a risk for some types of cancer and even genetic damage from exposure to pesticides?

And perhaps worst of all, children are especially at risk.

Why wait until science finally makes a direct link to damaged genes and pesticides? By that time, the damage could already be done to your genes and those of your children.

You can help protect yourself, your children and our planet by doing your part to be a good steward of our environment right now. One way to do that is to adapt a least toxic approach to pest problems…and that’s what our article series on getting rid of ants is all about.

Chris Wells is the author of How to Get Rid of Ants: 137 Non-Toxic Ways to Get Rid of Ants Using Common Household Items and Products, an 88-page book chock full of non-toxic solutions to ant and insect problems. Go to http://www.howtogetridofants.com for more information.

Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles