permaculture

[George Anna Clark <esac@laneta.apc.org>]

Hi Mike, enjoyed yours as well, always do (especially on fish pond 
security)...


> Have you ever thought of trying neem oil to repel them?
> What about using a very strong essential oil...that messes up their
> smell...garlic eucalyptus, peppermint, lemongrass

      these two are new, will try them .... I'm also interspersing neem 
trees in the live fence around the farm - thinking at some point I will 
make my own neem oil (right... sometime around 2 am after making organic 
peanut butter and hummus...), but have recently been told the trees work as 
a physical barrier for the white fly as well. We'll see in a few years, boy 
do they grow fast. Absolutely love dry conditions.

> Injecting Boiling water into the nest..??

      tried that... I think you need a very large swimming pool full of 
boiling water

> Black Plastic barrier around the field...?
     they're inside the field (and outside as well, of course)

> Sand around tree trunks?
     I think perhaps I did many moons ago -just in case, will try it 
again. Have tried ash and lime, though, also inside their holes...  Also 
tried stick-em stuff that I use on the plastic yellow cards for the white 
flies (which capture about 1 out of 10,000 white flies, by the way, and 
more beneficials than I like) around the trunk, they didn't even feel it.

> Scent barrier around trees/plants that you want...
    I'm working on that - I'm thinking lemongrass is working (yet another 
excuse to grow it)...

>  boric acid as a deterrent?

    verrrrry interesting.


> beneficial fungii, bacteria that attacks the ants, their eggs, or the 
> rotting food
> stores?....check out quassia (active ingredient quassine) to spray around 
> your good plants..

        great ideas, any volunteer research students out there who would 
like to study these in Mexico for your thesis??

> Natural pest? (Rent-an-anteater??)
     Honest to god I tried this once. Well, I bought the anteater (you can 
go to a certain tree on the side of the highway sort of in the middle of 
nowhere and buy live anteaters -sometimes- not always available...)  I let 
him (her?) loose in the field and never saw it again, with no noticeable 
drop in the population... I suppose I would have to start an anteater 
farm.... I do have iguanas living in my roof (they like the heat but I 
suspect they've also discovered the cat food), but perhaps they sleep when 
the ants are active ?? (which is one reason why chickens and ducks don't work)

> Anyone have similar ideas from keeping away goats out of my plants??
> Any tried and true ideas? Offline ideas welcome too...

     The only thing that occurs to me is barbecue... (sorry...)

      good luck and thanks again!
      george anna