RE: hollyhocks/pest control

I don't use it either-- same reason.  I use the "hand-dig" and "mow the lawn
long" methods.  We still have a bit of crabgrass, but not enough to fret
over.

Sue

SPesznec@lhs.org                   Milwaukie, OR.

> ----------
> From: 	Miller, Devon
> Sent: 	Monday, January 25, 1999 11:27 PM
> To: 	'perennials@mallorn.com'
> Subject: 	RE: hollyhocks/pest control
> 
> Maybe I'm just squeamish, but I can't bring myself to use the blowtorch
> approach -- I keep thinking about all the little bugs I'm incinerating.
>  ----------
> From: Pesznecker, Sue
> To: 'perennials@mallorn.com'
> Subject: RE: hollyhocks/pest control
> Date: Monday, January 25, 1999 5:09PM
> 
> Crabgrass can also be killed with a propane blowtorch (held above the
> plant
> for about 10 seconds, until its edges begin to curl-- you don't need to
> cremate the plant!) or with boiling water.  It can also be hand-dug, if
> you
> don't have too much.
> 
> One major help in educing lawn weeds is to have a healthy lawn (feed it,
> water it correctly) and to leave the lawn fairly "long" so that weed seeds
> cannot germinate.
> 
> Sue P.
> 
> SPesznec@lhs.org                   Milwaukie, OR.
> 
> > ----------
> > From: 	Miller, Devon
> > Sent: 	Monday, January 25, 1999 9:58 PM
> > To: 	'perennials@mallorn.com'
> > Subject: 	RE: hollyhocks/pest control
> >
> > I agree completely about pesticides.  What I sink to, occasionally, is
> > weed-killers for our lawn.  I just don't seem able to get rid of
> crabgrass
> > without it, and then it gets into the garden.  Any suggestions about how
> > to
> > avoid herbicides?
> >  ----------
> > From: Pesznecker, Sue
> > To: 'perennials@mallorn.com'
> > Subject: RE: hollyhocks/pest control
> > Date: Monday, January 25, 1999 3:39PM
> >
> > > We have the same experience but keep on trying. I think it is kind of
> a
> > > nostalgia thing as my grandmother raised such beautiful hollyhocks. I
> > can
> > > remember her making such colorful little dolls out of the flowers. I
> > know
> > > she did not spray them, they just grew kind of wild outside of her
> > > potting shed. I doubt if they used sprays on anything , their lone
> > > concession to pest control was dusting the tomatoes.
> > >
> > I'm with your grandmother.  I won't use any non-botanical, non-organic
> > pesticides-- I was forced to use rotenone once, and that's it.
> >
> > In Tracy Di Sabato-Aust's wonderful book, "The Well-Tended Perennial
> > Garden"
> > (many of you have talked about it), she makes emphatic comments about
> > pesticides.  She rarely uses them, feeling that they upset what should
> be
> > a
> > natural balance in the yard.  She accepts the occasional loss of a plant
> > to
> > insects or slugs, and almost never "treats" them with poisons.
> >
> > In our yard, after three consecutive years of swearing off pesticides
> and
> > herbicides, we have seen the gradual return of beneficial insects and
> > wasps,
> > Mason bees, praying mantises, lady bird beetles (e.g. lady bugs"), and
> > tree
> > frogs, none of which were there when the yard was being sprayed with
> > chemicals.  We have also made efforts to welcome birds into our yard,
> with
> > feeders, etc., and have planted appropriate flowers to attract honeybees
> > from an apiary 0.5 mile down the road.  As these "beneficials" have
> > increased, our problems with insect and grub damage have plummeted.
> >
> > Also, Milwaukie (where I live) sits virtually ON the water table, and I
> > have
> > profound ethical feelings about not dumping chemicals into the soil that
> > will certainly leach into the ground water, going on to contaminate
> local
> > streams, rivers, etc.  But then, I lean heavily towards being a bleeding
> > heart environmentalist!  (I grow bleeding hearts [Dicentra], too!)
> >
> > Sue P.
> >
> >
> >  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> > message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> > message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> >
> 
>  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index