Pests

[Patchouli]

Maybe it was a possum that ate my cucumber seedlings. Rats are still an issue.

There are owls too, so putting out poison would be a bad idea environmentally.
I read that these are good rat repellent plants: lemon balm, mint, catnip, lavender, sweet pea, wormwood, amaryllis, grape hyacinth, citronella grass. Any mint is invasive, of course. I do not care, if it repels rats that's great.

I want them gone but since this is town, not much chance of everyone participating in rat eradication. It is probably a lot worse than people think.
Do you think you don't have rats Or mice? How are you so sure? What would you do to eliminate them?

 

[SheepDog]

Mixing syrup of Ipecac with peanut butter or lard is a great way to get rid of rats and mice. Rodents can't regurgitate so the Ipecac kills them. It won't adversely affect carrion eaters and scavengers except other rodents. The lard works best if you use it to fry chicken or potatoes before setting it out. The best way to prevent problems is to never leave anything they can eat or use as nesting material where they can get it. Once they find a food source or nesting spot they will always return.

 

[Peanut]

In this spot last year I grew 2 jalapeno plants. Something kept eating the leaves of one of them. I took me most of the summer to figure out that it was moths doing the damage.

Already moths have attacked one of my little cayenne pepper plants. Diatomaceous earth doesn't work... Searching the internet tonight I found this obscure reference...

A moth to a flame...

Love Hurts
Another explanation, proposed by U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologists in the 1970s, is that the infrared light spectrum emitted by candle flames contains some of the exact same wavelengths of light given off by female moths' luminescent pheromones. In other words, it’s just male moths that are attracted to flames because they wrongly assume that they’re going to get lucky. This doesn’t explain their attraction to UV light, which doesn’t emit the same light wavelengths as moth pheromones, but it does say something very profound about the lure of love.

So tonight I put tea candles by my pepper plants... it's worth a laugh even if it doesn't work!

Update... in 15 minutes my tea candle has killed 4 moths... Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!



This is too funny... something so simple works! Who would have thunk?

 

[Meerkat]

Mixing syrup of Ipecac with peanut butter or lard is a great way to get rid of rats and mice. Rodents can't regurgitate so the Ipecac kills them. It won't adversely affect carrion eaters and scavengers except other rodents. The lard works best if you use it to fry chicken or potatoes before setting it out. The best way to prevent problems is to never leave anything they can eat or use as nesting material where they can get it. Once they find a food source or nesting spot they will always return.

Rat traps are best. Poisoned rat will stink up the place for months. Leaned this the hard way. A very bad stink too.

 

[Peanut]

This mornings totals... 7 moths and about a dozen tiny assorted insects at the bottom of the tea candle. I started another tea candle tonight... in the first hour I got two moths and a couple of tiny assorted.

I have a whole case of tea candles. It seems like I got them at a yard sale for a couple of bucks.

Any who... some nasty little insects raiding your porch plants at night... tea candles are the way to go! One candle will burn about 10 hours and kill every creepy crawly around. Either they die in the flame or drown in the liquid wax.

Edited to add... I just check online prices... Tea candles go for around 10 to 12 cents each.

 

[Spikedriver]

For rats: Poison, trap, BB gun, repellent plants...just get rid of them and don't worry too much about consequences. All rats must die, and the sooner the better. A dead stinky rat is much better than a live non-stinky one that runs around tearing up your place and making more little beady eyed filth mongers. To hell with rats...