While were on naturual bug and fungus sprays i had a
question.

Have any of you ever used envirapel. Its supposed to
be a garlic based substance marketed to keep mites and
such away before they arrive i was thinking of trying
it. Im just a little worried it might keep bees and
such away also. Also do any of you ever purchase good
bugs from some of these online stores like mite
predators and leacewings that are supposed to keep the
bad bugs at bay.

Ben

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While were on naturual bug and fungus sprays i had a
question.

Have any of you ever used envirapel. Its supposed to
be a garlic based substance marketed to keep mites and
such away before they arrive i was thinking of trying
it. Im just a little worried it might keep bees and
such away also. Also do any of you ever purchase good
bugs from some of these online stores like mite
predators and leacewings that are supposed to keep the
bad bugs at bay.


And if you never get "mites and such" that means it works? Hard
to prove a negative -- which is what the marketers of this junk
count on.

Free enterprise alert! There is more smoke and mirrors in the
horticultural trade than in virtually any other common trade
(veterinary medicine -- especially with horses -- possibly
excepted. There IS one that's much worse -- the health-food
supplement business; NEVER has more potentially dangerous
material been peddled to an unsuspecting and very gullible public
than in that business!)

But I'll jump off my soapbox to say . . .

There really isn't any free lunch when it comes to bugs.

You either grow things in a manner that discourages the bad bug
kingdom, or you get 'em and go after them with chemicals (and
even soap is a chemical!).

Buying "good bugs" to kill bad bugs is another one of those myths
promoted by the ecologically minded. It is a VERY good idea if
you are commercial and grow nursery crops, or have a BIG garden
filled with plants that aphids (just to choose one kind of bug)
dote on all at the same time of year. Let loose a bug predator,
and your aphid population will drop -- for a while. When there
are too few aphids to support the army of predators you have
loosed on your garden, the predators will go elsewhere -- or
starve.

If you have 2 or a dozen trees, two or three of them maybe with a
few aphids, the predator is unlikely to even be able to FIND his
lunch -- and if he does, he'll find it's only a snack and go on
to "greener" pastures. Even if you have 100 trees, SOME of them
with aphids, your predator will quickly move on. (If you have
100 trees, ALL of them with aphids, you'd better take up basket
making.)

Keep your growing area clean, provide good air circulation, don't
grow all your Japanese maples (just for example) on a single
table, and keep your trees outdoors as much as possible and you
and your trees should be able to live with the insects in your
neighborhood.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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Snip
There IS one that's much worse -- the health-food
supplement business; NEVER has more potentially dangerous
material been peddled to an unsuspecting and very gullible public
than in that business!

Gosh, you mean "All Natural" doesn't guarantee "safe?"

Jeff Isom
Cleveland, OH / Sunset Zone 39

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++++Sponsored, in part, by Evergreen Gardenworks++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++