Re: CULT: Crickets--Comet, Vinegar, Mothballs and Garlic

Mike I've noticed when I apply it to daylilies in spring when I see my buds
are being eaten.  After two or three applications the bugs that bother my
buds don't mess with them any more.  I think the Sevin must get into the
plant and these bugs find it is and leave them alone.  I don't know if this
would work for Iris and crickets.  But I would think Iris would absorb the
sevin too.  Might not affect crickets like it does these pink& black bugs on
my daylilies.

I know how you feel about the damage to your Iris.  Sorry its happening.
Crickets here in North Carolina never bother mine.  So glad they don't.
Hope you don't lose a lot of them.  Sandra
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Matbeach1@aol.com>
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 3:41 PM
Subject: [iris] CULT: Crickets--Comet, Vinegar, Mothballs and Garlic


> I am just about at my wit's end with crickets. Everyone I relate this to
> thinks that it is funny, that innocent little crickets couldn't be really
causing
> that much harm. Some people laugh. I am really distressed and disgusted
> because it seems nothing I try is working. I have some specific questions
at the end
> of this post, following my explanation of what I've done thus far. If
anyone
> can reply to those, I'd be grateful.
>
> What I've tried:
> I have powdered with Sevin dust, and if it rains overnight the dust is
washed
> away, and I have bite marks all over the next morning. I hate reapplying
> poison day after day. It just does not seem healthy.
>
> I have used a bait of honey, water, grenadine and vanilla. This attracts
them
> and kills some of them (they drown), but this does nothing to keep their
> numerous cousins off my plants.
>
> I read that white vinegar repels crickets, so I spread some around the
bed. I
> also read that crickets hate mothballs, so I stuck some of those around
the
> plants. I went out that night with a flashlight, and crickets were
everywhere,
> one right on top of Crowned Heads, about to chow down. The smell of the
> vinegar and moth balls did more to make me sick than the crickets.
>
> I read here on the archives that sprinkling Comet on the rhizomes worked,
so
> I did it. The writer said that it would be awfully ugly, and it is. But on
one
> of the rhizomes where the Comet isn't covering is a brand new "scoop"
mark.
> The Comet doesn't repel them; they just will not bite through it.
>
> Every one of my new plants has scoops eaten out of them. Three of my
> transplanted rhizomes have been "gutted"--crickets have literally eaten
tunnels
> through them. I have never had such a pest problem like this except for
summer 1998
> when Japanese beetles were swarming like black clouds devouring
everything.
>
> My questions are:
>
> Am I correct that reapplying poison more than once a week (Sevin 10% in
this
> case) is not good?
>
> Aren't rhizomes supposed to be exposed to the sun? If I cover the rhizome
> with a layer of Comet (completely), will this negate the important effects
of the
> sun on the plant's growth? Does anyone know what it is about Comet that
> repels crickets?
>
> I have used homemade sprays of garlic with success before on some
vegetables.
> I am wondering if taking minced bottled pure garlic juice and painting it
on
> to the rhizomes with a paintbrush might provide a natural deterrent.
However,
> pure garlic is strong. Would it burn/harm the iris rhizome to do this?
>
> And, finally, if I must use poison, is there some kind which would not
have
> to be reapplied again and again due to rain?
>
>
> I suppose if I have to, I could cover the new plantings with terra cotta
pots
> each evening, and uncover them each morning. But there has to be something
> better than that solution.
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> Mike
>
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