Humane critter control: natural, nontoxic pest solutions. Low Tox

Price: $19.99 - $9.98
(as of Jun 27, 2024 17:59:07 UTC – Details)

Keep critters and pests out of your yard and garden with heart! The Guide to Humane Critter Control keeps unwanted guests away safely and organically.

It takes a lot of work and a fair amount of money to grow a garden, and a top fear of every gardener is having their investment wiped out by deer, rabbits, and insect invaders. The Guide to Humane Critter Control is filled with clever ways to be proactive and stop pests from feasting on the bounty you’ve been working on all season.

The Guide to Humane Critter Control shows many ways to incorporate protective barriers without ruining your sight lines, outsmart the invaders using insect behavior, use scent to your advantage, and more. With methods and products that are not only kind to wildlife and insects but also healthier for children and pets, this is the blueprint for creating a safe backyard for play, beauty, and healthy fresh-grown foods.

From the Publisher

Chapter 1: Identifying Pests

How do you define a pest? It may sound like an obvious question, but the answer depends on what you’re growing and your tolerance for disorder or untidiness in your yard and garden. Nature is a messy place—if you desire order and formality, your threshold for pests will be much lower than someone who loves the look of blousy, overgrown gardens, crooked paths, and the evidence of something nibbling on the leaves. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle. There is no right or wrong way to feel; your view is correct for you. Own it and accept all that goes with it.

What Is Pest Damage?

This is another question that sounds simple but can be complex to answer. At the most basic level, pest damage is damage caused to your lawn or garden by an animal or insect. But how do you know whether the damage is from pests or a disease or even something else, like the weather? Hail damage can look like insect damage or even a disease. Herbicide damage can look like disease or even vandalism.

If your diagnosis is wrong, your efforts to correct it will be in vain. Be sure of the type of damage you have and its cause before you begin correction. The pages that follow and the table on pages 26 and 27 will help you narrow down the cause(s) of a particular symptom in your plants or lawn.

I admit: I frequently prefer to just let it go. Part of that is my basic laziness but, more, it is because I love to see what happens. I have found that, many times, when I remove my efforts to ‘correct’ the problem, it seems to equalize more quickly. Again, we humans can be an enemy of a healthy lawn and garden.

Questions to Ask When the Pest Is Larger than an Insect At what time of year is the damage seen? Are you seeing holes dug in the lawn? Under a plant or near a foundation? How large are the holes and how many are there? A few large ones? Many small (under 3″) holes over a wide area? Are the holes in the garden? What plant, or part of the plant, is damaged? What kind of damage is it? Removal of part or all of the plant? Destruction? Are the plants or seeds or containers dug up? Do you see evidence of gnawing or chewing, or do you see holes in the leaves? At what time of day or night does the damage occur? Where in your yard is this happening? Open space, protected area, specific garden, or the lawn? Has this happened before? Do other yards show the same kind of damage? What else has changed from the past season when you did not have this damage? Different precipitation/heat/storms? Has the area changed? New homes? Removal of homes? New families with different pets that may affect wild animals?

Dangerous and Invasive Pests to Watch for and Report

Gypsy Moth: Report sightings, remove egg masses from furniture, learn quarantine areas, and respect rules.

Emerald Ash Borer: Report sightings, learn quarantine areas, never move firewood or fresh-cut lumber.

Asian Long-Horned Beetle: Inspect trees for damage, report the pest, don’t move firewood, diversify the tree varieties in your yard. The damage will be small oval areas on the bark of the trees where the female has removed the bark and laid her egg. The exit holes will be round and large enough to insert a pencil into. There may be frass, or sawdust-like product coming out of some of the holes or in piles under the holes on the ground.

Asian Citrus Psyllid: Learn quarantine areas, don’t move homegrown fruit, use certified vendors or sellers of citrus fruit if in quarantine areas, don’t move the pest out, inspect clothing.

Giant African Snail: Report if seen, call the USDA; don’t handle without gloves as they can carry a parasite that causes meningitis.

Spotted Wing Drosophila: Identify the pest, report it, harvest fruit frequently, clean up ripe fruit. You will find the pest will look like and be tiny maggots in the fruit. So, you would pick a bowl of berries and after they sit for a few moments you may notice they seem to move, when opened you will find the tiny maggots inside.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cool Springs Press; Illustrated edition (December 12, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1591866960
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1591866961
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 0.63 x 9.38 inches