I've had strawberries growing in my garden for a few months, but unfortunately have only been able to eat a few because they seem to disappear from the plant the day they reach optimal ripeness. I've just chalked it up to the birds or the ants, though I did catch my cat lurking in the garden too. And I'd be surprised if a colony of ants could make a strawberry disappear, but who knows?

But the other morning I had quite a surprise. Every single jalapeno on my jalapeno plant had disappeared. There were probably 10 or more that were an inch or two long last time I looked. This was definitely not the work of ants, nor was it due to the cat or dogs. Is it possible that the birds at all of them?

I did do a google search and saw that birds can eat hot peppers no problem as the heat of it does not affect them. But wow, has this happened to anyone else before?

Additionally, now a small cucumber has gone missing, as have the buds on my pea plants. I can only guess that this is the birds. Is there a way to keep them out of the garden without having to cover it with chicken wire or something like that? Do scarecrows really work?

Labels: garden, interesting, pests, random

Pets, pests, and pesticides, or my flea plea.

In our house, there is one cat and two dogs. We are in San Diego where the weather is usually great year round. Unfortunately this means that all of our favorite pests also can live year round, and they are especially persistent in the summer. So I send this plea out to my reader(s), if you have pets have you been able to control fleas in your houses without using all the usual nasty chemicals?

As much as I hate to do it, I do use Advantage or Frontline on my cat, and my girlfriend uses it on her dogs. But to be honest, I've never seen much change in the fleas on the animals after administering it. The last two times we gave Advantage to one of our dogs, within a few days time I spotted large fleas on him. And same thing on my cat. Though I do notice that when I find the fleas on my cat after giving the Advantage, they seem sluggish and are easy to catch, no doubt due to the effects of the chemicals. But the thing is, if I'm putting this poison onto my pet's skin, it should work perfectly. And at $10 a dose, I'm not going to poison my cat and keep having fleas. I know how terrible this stuff is and I cringe when I give it, and I always do so reluctantly hoping all the flea problems will go away, but they never seem to. And yes, I've read all about how pests are becoming resistant to these pesticides, ironically because we use them too frequently. In our overzealous attempts to kill them we are actually giving them so much exposure that they are becoming immune to the chemicals.

I've also tried diatomaceous earth, both on the pets and on the beds and the carpet, but again, I haven't seen a big change, and if there is one, it's never more than a few days relief before the fleas show up again.

Now I'm reading about these non-toxic flea traps, has anyone used those? Do they work?

For the past two year I've been looking for safe non-toxic solutions, and try to avoid the nasty chemicals, and the truth is I haven't had anything work for me. Next option is to "flea bomb" the house, which I hate hate HATE to do, but my girlfriend and I can't take the flea issue. I find them on my feet when I do yoga in the living room. I find them on the bed sheets after my cat has her nap. And I find them on the dogs the day after their Advantage dose.

Update 9/9/09: I have used this Victor Ultimate Flea Trap for the past month or two, and it does actually work. I wouldn't count on it to handle a full infestation, but it does definitely catch fleas.

Labels: chemicals, eco-friendly, pesticides, pests, pets