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Old 20-09-2010, 06:31 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Spamlet Spamlet is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2010
Posts: 53
Default Nasty little bu**ers


"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 19 Sep 2010 Spamlet wrote:

Skin So Soft. In this country they're not allowed to advertise it as an
insect repellent, as far as I'm aware. But it is. It works, IME.

I'll tell my wife about that. Most insect repellents just don't seem to
work for her and going out into the garden from teatime onwards is just
misery for her.


(Interestingly the Wiki says the 'Blandford Fly' version was eradicated at
Blandford with Bacillus thuringiensis - which was the favoured 'organic'
control for cabbage white caterpillars until the GM companies got hold of
it
and started sticking its toxin genes into everything, so that eventually
they will just breed resistance to it and the 'organic' gardener will be
defenceless...)


No, not eradicated. Here is what the wiki actually says:

"In the late 1980s, Dorset County Council asked the Institute for
Freshwater Ecology (now the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), then based
in Wareham, Dorset, to investigate a means of ameliorating the problem.
They suggested using a biological insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis
israelensis (Bti), which was sprayed into the weed beds, resulting in the
destruction of 80–90% of the Blandford fly larvae and a corresponding
reduction in the numbers of people bitten."

Not the same as "eradicate"! :-)

David


So it is clearly not possible to offer any information on this forum without
attracting petty nit picking. Explain in full with quotes, and one is 'on
an ego trip' and told to be 'succinct': give a 'succinct' account with a
reference, and the nit pickers fly in to print it out for you.

Much better gardening advice - and advice on just about anything in fact -
on uk.d-i-y. Where there is plenty of extended discussion and the nit
pickers are in the minority.

S