All posts in “garden”

What can you do to help your garden?

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I like to spread information, it is important for us to get along with nature but occasionally nature attacks and leaves us no options. We have several pests that can be a real pain, like Bark Scorpions and Black Widow spiders and sometime even with home-sealing they can get into our homes. I’m a BIG believer in IPM or Integrated Pest Management and this can also be used outside the home. I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it, there is always an option to pesticides in your home, always. Some people say there is never a reason, but I’ve seen reasons why it might be important. Termites inside the home, even though the pesticide might be going into a wall void, German Roaches within a kitchen – not all of those over the counter things work.

I ran across this very informative E-book – “Beneficial Insects, Spiders and Other Mini-Creatures in Your Garden; Who They Are and How to Get Them to Stay” by Washington State University. IPM is an art, you can use all types of ways to prevent pests before getting to or using pesticides. Soap and water is another IPM, not a pesticide but very useful in getting rid of Aphids but also supplying Ladybugs to your plants may help get rid of those Aphids. Remember not all bugs are bad!

37_House Spider

House spider photo by PPMA

 

What won’t termites eat?

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Termites don’t eat concrete or plastics, but they will build over it and many other products. There was a few years ago some type of foam which was filled with concrete and it always worried me as in my opinion it was just a space in which they could build a tube.

Garages are well known for termite activity, I guess when build it is the last concrete poured and who knows want went on after the pretreatment. That story for another day, but I find termites in garages often and this is not always what I find but it is interesting. Since the expansion joint is visible in the garage, this is what you look for when performing a termite inspection. Mud tubes or tunnels coming up the foundation wall into the structure, are often visible unless you have storage against the walls which most people do. So the lesson here is not to obstruct the expansion joint, better said than done since the garage is the catch all of our lives.

I recommend a yearly inspection which is free from ProBest unless it is for a sale of a home or business for termites if you live in the South or Southwest and if you notice anything that looks like mud inside the home call Professional Termite Company ASAP.

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