On Apr 19, 6:00*pm, "piedmont" wrote:
"Billy" wrote in message
....
snip
Welcome to "wrecked gardens", personally, I hope you find the site
informative.
You may wish to look up "Biodiversity"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity
#Human_benefits, and #Destruction_of_habitat
The simplest model would be the wolf and the rabbit, when their
populations are in balance, neither are a nuisance to humans, but let
the wolf population drop and the rabbits eat everything in sight. Let
the rabbit population drop, and hungry wolves become a menace to people..
Kill spiders, and you invite mosquitos and/or flies. The other resort is
polluting the environment with insecticides (see
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...guins-ddt.html)
. You will find many gardeners here who will grant wildlife, a portion
of their crops, beyond that, you need to look into "integrated pest
management".
I'm not suggesting that you let Black Widows into your bed, but you may
want to cut non-venomous critters some slack, as they are probably
performing an indispensable service for you.
snip
--
- Billy
I hear what your saying and do try to leave a small footprint, here in the
Carolina's wasp can be over whelming and try to set up nests everywhere. If
I see a nest on my front or back porch they are dispatched, anywhere else
they aren't a bother, oh I forgot under the raised back deck where I stored
my lawn tractor.
As far as spiders a strongly suggest wearing gloves at all times working in
a garden and especially if picking up rocks. I totally understand and have
personally observed tampering with the thread. I worked at a shop when one
day a mouse was seen in an office trash can after the weekend, big deal,
dump it out , but because the ladies in the office freaked the mgr had rat
bait put out to kill all the mice. Well guess what, after all the mice where
killed there was a gross invasion of hundreds of roaches that the mice ate
and kept at bay. It was indeed better to have the mice!
--
regards, piedmont (michael)
The Practical BBQ'r -http://sites.google.com/site/thepracticalbbqr/
(mawil55) Hardiness Zone 7-8- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
loved the imput and responses concerning the more serious aspects of
the widow's bite. I've spotted three more recently. At least they ARE
easy to spot. I had no idea the recluse were so large and ugly
though! euck! I don't like them in the least. The widow I happened
across was in the same place as the toad I relocated onto my property.
And then two days later I found I had toads of my own! woo hoo! I
wear gloves now as a matter of habit. My footprint in regards to the
critters is light. wasp are so good to deter catepillars, I let them
alone. I do have a habit of watching out for the red bodied black
winged bitches in early Spring and Fall when they're hungry after long
Winter and trying to find their own place to nest and then Fall when
they're grumpy and preparing. They don't sometimes need provocation.
But seeing the piece on the "yellow jackets" that were accidentally
introduced from the Pacific Northwest into Hawaii freaked me out.
WOW.....now I know what my girlfriend has encountered three times and
had to go to hospital for! holy crap! and my English husband was
watching the show with me and casually remarked that they looked a lot
like the yellow jackets they have in the UK. eeek! made killer bees
seem like sweet little honey bees.
I have a long garden ramble coming. so some can comment and critique
at hearts content. good to see folks are throwing out questions. I've
miss it. again, thanks for the banter on this. a great chat!
madgardener now in the Mississippi River Delta region in Western
Tennessee in her new Delta Faerie Holler bogs zone 7b, Sunset zone 33
(we survived the floods and tornado's! )