On 6/26/2016 5:06 PM, T wrote:
On 06/26/2016 04:29 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 6/26/2016 3:40 AM, T wrote:
Hi George and eFriends,

In my ongoing fight with swarms of earwigs, I have some
progress to report. And maybe this will help George
with his stink bugs.

Yesterday, I filled my Smith 190285 spray canaster with ~1/2
cup dish soap (7th gen free and clear) and ~4 Tablespoons
of Cayenne pepper. Then I waited for dark and the
daemon span to come out. The idea was for the soap to
suffocate them and the Cayenne to repel them.

On my radish patch, it actually looked like they were
socializing with each other. I killed ~100 to 150
of them. Then I waited another two hours to see if they
would all come back, as they have before. I only found
a few stragglers.

Sprayed my sprouting cups too. Killed about 20 over there.
Got another 20 or so one of my hollyhocks that they have
taken a liking to.

Today, I went out after dark again. I killed ~20: one here,
one there. And none were back on my radish patch or
my one hollyhock (I have about 20 hollyhocks total).
Two had found my sprouting cups and got the soapy hot
sauce treatment.

I love the way the Smith 190285 spray foams up the dragon's
brew. I think it reduces the amount you need and
makes it more effective.

When my traps get here, it should take care of the
stragglers.

If you guys decide to do this, be careful of the cayenne
pepper, it is like mace.
Ma no, my shah. Cayenne is the state spice of Louisiana. I can't handle
it anymore at my age but we used to put cayenne on eggs and bacon.
Cayenne is also used as a medicine in Loosyanna. We lived there for 24
years and made a lot of friends and stole a lot of good recipes.

Can you eat other peppers? I LOVE Chimayo (New Mexico Red) peppers.
They are the taste in enchiladas. I buy them dried by the bag
from the local Mexican markets. Wal Mart has them too. Don't
touch the ones from Raley's: they are sprayed with sulfites, which
makes me explode from ever orifice.
Mostly sweet peppers and a few mild ones.


Interesting, by this afternoon, the ants had cleaned up
all the daemon spawn carcasses. Now how to get ants to
attack earwigs!

If I can get my zukes to grow after all the munching on
them, the squash bugs are in for a real surprise!
Our lone zuke is finally making fruit. Damned thing is nearly three feet
high and that much around and was planted in February.

Mumble. Mine are old four inches high. All bitten up by
the daemon spawn.


Oh, and I almost forgot: death to earwigs!

-T

It's still death to stink bugs here. Nearly had a heat stroke yesterday
building a netting house for the young fig tree. Will have to finish it
today to keep the !@#$% mockingbirds off the figs.

George

Hot spices won't work on bird. They can't taste it. Squirrels can,
so the old trick about including chili pepper seeds in your bird feed.

Yesterday the fake owl and the flashing, jingling tape came in. I'm
getting ready to put enough sand in the hollow owl that it won't blow.
Plus instruction said to move the owl every two or three days as birds
will find out it isn't a predator. We shall see.