Re: Mysterious Holes
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Mysterious Holes
- From: D* M* <d*@southconn.com>
- Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 18:27:54 -0700 (MST)
At 10:55 AM 3/7/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I did this same thing to my mixed flower bed in the front of my house, and
>yes, crickets had a feast on the few rhizomes I planted there even though
>my bark mulch wasn't near them. They stopped munching my rhizomes the very
>day I sprinkled them with Diatomaceous earth, which is a non-toxic powder
>made of sharp-edged particles that apparently hurt the crickets' little
>feet, or walkers or whatever crickets have that they hop around on.
>It's affordable, unless you need mass quantities. I found mine at National
>Home Center, a chainstore.
>celia
Ditto to Celia's remedy. I had the mysterious craters appear in my bearded
iris rhizomes last year about a month after they were planted. All
rhizomes were growing great guns then MUNCH! It looked as if someone was
taking a miniature melon baller to my beautiful rhizomes. I new that some
little critter was the culprit, so I bought the least toxic thing I could
find - diatomaceous earth. I found mine at LOWE'S hardware/home center for
about $4.00 for a canister. It seemed to deter whatever was doing the
damage, but it was necessary to reapply after every little evening shower
that we had.
I've read that it acts by piercing the insect's exoskeleton which leads to
eventual dehydration of the insect. I also seem to think that it was
somewhat effective with deterring snails and slugs. Treatment of a large
collection of plants, however, would not be very practical or economical.
I use it only as a spot treatment for areas in which there is evidence of
heavy insect "munching" activity.
-Donald
Donald Mosser
Member of AIS, HIPS, SIGNA, SSI, SLI, SPCNI, and IRIS-L
dmosser@southconn.com
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/5570
North Augusta, South Carolina, USA
On the South Carolina and Georgia Border
USDA Zone 7b-8
