Classy birds deserve classy digs.
Posted on 05/13/2016 3:14:54 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Use a good ant bait .
You need to deprive them of moisture too
If you have any plumbing leaks they need to be fixed
I have a big backyard, part grass, part weeds. I am so hesitant to use any weed killer/fertilizer chemicals because my dog plays in the yard,lays on the grass, sometimes digs.
My questions with your marvelous homemade weed killer:
1) will it kill the grass?..should I just limit it to the weed areas?
2) will it be safe for my dog (the epsom salt?). Do you just spray it on?
Also, is there any fertilizer I could use..that won’t hurt doggie?
Thank you both for your kind advice. I will check out both of your suggestions.
((((HUGS)))
(BTW...I am the “Missus” but I am alone now, widowed. So it’s up to me to do the job.)
I was thinking of using the ants as “target practice” but I don’t want to put more holes in the walls than there already are. LOL!
Thanks for that, Lera. I know you have had experience with “bad water”.
I have a new Home Depot Charge, so I plan on going tomorrow.
Hope there is more info on the seed tape
I had problems with them in my old house (West Palm )
They were coming in through a crack in the concrete floor under the carpeting ( I did not even know it was there , canal in the back of the house had overflowed and flooded my yard after a hurricane )
Friend who was an exterminator just put out some bait and had me fill the crack with some patch stuff they sell at Home Depot .
The Weed Killer was a notation from a post regarding that issue, and I didn’t happen to write down who made the suggestion. I honestly don’t know the answer to the question on Epsom salts with respect to dogs. It is better to target the weeds, because it will kill the other stuff too.
I’d say that spraying it on weeds, and then picking them up before letting your dog out would be safe, but that’s just a guess.
I do know that others have used boiling hot vinegar water to disperse weeds-sometimes takes several doses, and I wouldn’t think that would be harmful at all.
We don’t use fertilizer usually. We have compost, manure, peat, sometimes some bone meal. Once in a while we use a water soluble product for micro ingredients with a little potassium and phosphorus boost during the blooming and fruiting phase, such as Miracle Grow for vegetables. Never seems to bother the neighbor’s dogs.
I’m kinda leaning towards making my own with paper towels instead of buying Amazon’s, because in centex we have no soil and rain is iffy (except for this month). Basically, you roll out ten feet of paper towel - single ply might be best - then cut 8 10ft long strips of the towels. You can use a sharp scalpel to do it on the roll about 1/2 deep for speed if you have one.
Then you fold each 10ft 1- 1 1/2” wide strip in half into a long V. Spread whatever seeds you want out so they don’t touch, like on a large flat plate. Using a toothpick, dip up a small rice grain-sized bit of Elmer’s glue, pick up a seed from the plate, and smear it on one side of the now V-shaped paper towel. Space the seeds as recommended on the packet.
It would be good to seal the paper V shut with each seed you glue onto it. Now go dig a 1/2, 1, 1 1/2 inch trench with rebar, a hoe, whatever the seed dictates. Lay the seed tape in it. Spread the soil back on top of your seed tape, and sprinkle-water to saturate down to 4” of soil. Keep it moist and watch for seedlings to come up at their expected germination/sprout rate per the package.
It will save wear on your eyes, back, knees, neck, ankles and fingertips, not having to pincer teeny-tiny seeds, crouch down to and spider around the soil leval and deposit them at the prescribed seed-spacing and avoid the rain washing away all your precision work.
If you can’t dig a pond, go with chickens. But, that being said, dig a pond and a bog filter. Ducks are much nicer than chockens, and the eggs are great!
thank you, green eyes. I will give get some of that stuff!
IF the beetles are gone by the time the potatoes emerge and I don’t need to spray any more, can I eat the skins or does the chemical stay in the plant? I love the skins too!
One of our jalapeños has three nice peppers. They’re about finger length and beginning to fill out. Two of the Amish Paste tomatoes has green fruit.
Cukes have two tiny specimens. Leaves seem to be rotting; what’s wrong ?
A friend gave us some duck eggs and they taste similar to chicken eggs except they are richer because the yolks are bigger.
I want to get ducks but don’t know what kind of shelter they would need. I wonder if something similar to a chicken coop would work and if they’d lay their eggs there.
Thanks. Thinking I might need to taste some duck eggs. LOL
I don’t know - I wouldn’t eat the skins without researching it very very meticulously.
Well I like the yolks better than whites, so I might like them. I don’t know much about ducks. Just read a brief article that had a paragraph stating what I already said about ducks. Haven’t had time to do any further research.
At this point, it’s just a theoretical brainstorming idea that Hubby and I kick around now and then. So far we have had donations of manure/stable straw and we get eggs from a local farmer for $2.50 per dozen, so we don’t really need to do it at this point.
Thank you soooo much!!
I have been so conflicted about this. I even bought a bag of weed and feed and haven’t wanted to use it. (Will give it to a neighbor who has no dogs. ha.)
I will ask my vet about the epsom salts. And the vinegar and soap may work. I’ll discuss this with the vet...never thought of that before.(duh).
I have had excellant luck with pouring vinegar over an ant hill. Really soaking it. Usually works the first time!
what a great thread this is!
Oh, for the doggie lovers...I bought a couple big Lemon Grass plants and my dog loves it. Good for her tummy.
Classy birds deserve classy digs.
Yes, it has been wet this week in Central Missouri. Not really what I need right at the moment.
I finished setting out tomato plants in the long row Wednesday evening. Thursday evening we had a monsoon with some wind and hail. There was some minor damage to some of the tomato plants, but I don’t think any of them are killed.
I was hoping to get drip tape and weed cloth down on the cucumber row after work today, but it was raining again so I wasn’t able to get that done.
Tomorrow I’m going to a farm auction in High Point with hopes of buying a manure spreader. With any good luck the sun will be shining and all of the local Mennonite farmers will be out working their fields.
Have you done a soil test?Get the good test that checks for trace elements.
Happy Friday 13Th! Hard freeze warning for tonight; lousy day at work; lost a duck, apparently to sudden death syndrome; and no hot water.
Brought in the stuff in pots, then we spent over an hour at the garden tarping the blooming cherry & peach trees, and the asparagus patch. Also covered the elderberry seedlings, though I suspect they would be okay in any case. Didn’t bother with the blooming strawberries. Also cut any & all cuttable asparagus.
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