Natural pesticide use


Has anyone used these types of products around their gardens/fruit trees? Thoughts?

Generally if it kills insects it will kill bees.
what are you hoping to treat for - Aphids use soapy water.

Have a look at companion planting

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There is a good chance that if it kills hearty bugs like cockroaches and crickets that it will affect bees. The bees will likely not come into contact with it where you are spraying for those two guys, but they will if you are spraying on plants for aphids etc.

Not spraying for anything yet. Set hive up just over a week ago in the corner of the soon to be garden. Also have numerous young fu it trees within 100 yards of the hive. Just seen these at Home depot and was getting some input from others. If I had to use a pesticide/herbicide/fungicide, it looks like these types would be a best case. I like to plan ahead and be ready. Thanks

I don’t want to sound like a smart alec, but as others have pointed out, bees are insects…

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That is understood. Lol. There’s just a lot of info on blocking your bees in and only spraying at night, etc. I’m looking more along the lines of what do you experienced beeks with trees and gardens do when needed vs. what not to do.

As always the best answer with trees is the same with bees. Keep healthy strong stock and they will solve their own problems. Pests are almost always a sign of a bigger more important issue at hand. In plants it is often a nutritional deficiency or age issue. Young healthy plants keep insects at bay on their own. With poor soil or improper pH they will be unable to uptake the necessary elements to keep themselves healthy and as such nature provides a way to eliminate the weak. In this case it is pests.

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Will it not be dangerous to use it by our own?

I say, “why spray at all, ever?”

At some point in time, before insecticides/ pesticides, someone, somewhere, grew an apple, ate it, and didn’t die. And…they must have liked it so much that they planted more!

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Everywhere I’ve lived I’ve planted fruit trees and often they were already there. I have never sprayed any of them for anything and it’s never been a problem.

Every insect/animal/plant has a purpose within our ecology, yes even ants, crickets & cockroaches :wink: they become ‘pests’ or ‘weeds’ only when they are not behaving in a particular order or manner as classified by people. As they found with wolves in Yellowstone National Park, remove a species entirely and the 'balance or rather ecological health is jeopardised by a further imbalance.

My precious few second season milkweeds had their leaves curling horrendously.
These plants were on their way out.
I did not want to put anything on these plants. I mean not even BT since their purpose is to be Monarch Butterfly caterpillar food.

I bought a batch of ladybugs for the price of a bottle of chemicals and set them loose on the milkweeds early one morning and within two days, aphids and white flies gone; leaves uncurled and the plants back from Death’s door.

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Well done. I use natural predator control on my veg for slugs and sawfly and in the greenhouse for whitefly. Works well. Now what can I do about mice eating my strawberries grrrrrrrrr

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Humaine Peanut butter traps for the mice - if you don’t want to kill the mice. then release them else where or if you have a snake owner I’m sure they will take them off your hands

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Ive not set up my hive yet, however i have fruit trees and a vege patch . For the most part i use a natural methods of pest control. Occasionally the pests get the upper hand and i have used chemical warfare. If i do use pesticides when the trees/plants are not flowering, how will this hurt the bees.?

If you use pesticide sprays on blossom the bees are visiting you will kill them. Simple. The other thing to remember that fungicides though not harming bees directly have an additive and maybe synergistic effect with sublethal doses of insecticide. Ban all neonicotinoids from your armoury

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I’m thinking of trying this for my strawberry nibblers.

Easy Chipmunk Trap (2 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L5J7S50/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_eaQyxbH1A0XD6

There’s a handful of of videos on YouTube showing variations on the 5 gal bucket peanut butter theme.

I found 5 of the most enormous fat slugs in one hive yesterday - I threw them on the lawn for the birds