Trees and Plants

Neem Oil Information

This was an e-mail from a woman who responded the post I wrote, Home Depot Then Lowe’s, about the sudden loss of leaf life in my vegetable garden and my frantic attempt to save my now deceased squash plants – deceased because by the time I got to saving the plant, the destruction to the leaves had taken a bigger toll than even neem oil could put a stop to. I visited the links provided in the e-mail, and they go to a very educational website.

It’s a lovely letter, so I thought I’d share.

Helen

———

Hi Helen,

I just came across your blog and your post where you mention neem oil (I have a website that educates people about neem, so I always check it out when neem gets mentioned on the web.)

Hope you don’t mind me writing, but comments were closed. I like your attitude towards sprays and chemicals, and I just wanted to let you know a couple of things about neem, and especially about bees.

Neem doesn’t kill insects or grubs. It acts as a feeding repellent and it also interrupts their breeding cycle. Don’t conclude it doesn’t work, just because there are still moths around the next day. It needs to be used regularly.

The other thing is that it is NOT toxic to beneficial insects, BUT it will kill your bees nevertheless if you spray it during the day. It’s an oil and it clogs their skin and suffocates them if they get in contact with it. The best time to spray is in the evening when the bees have gone home for the day. Then it can dry overnight.

Dry neem will repel all chewing and sucking insects, and if they eat it it will stop them from breeding. But dry neem does not hurt any good bugs and it doesn’t hurt you. In fact, people take neem (leaf and bark) as a supplement because it has so many benefits.

If you want to learn more about it check out my site;

http://www.discoverneem.com/

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html

By the way, you probably know this anyway, but neem oil is also absolutely FANTASTIC to use on dogs, to heal their skin if they have problems, or to deal with fleas, ringworm, mange etc. Especially when saving neglected dogs who have horrible skins and whose immune system is already compromised because they are so weak, neem really is a saviour. The last thing to put on those dogs would be chemical warfare…

Anyway, I better stop rambling. (Always on a mission to spread the word…)

Good luck with your soon to be hole free garden!

Best regards,
B.
—
Birgit “B” Bradtke
birgit@discoverneem.com
www.DiscoverNeem.com

Trees and Plants

24

Jul

2008

I’m Worried About My Corn

I was outside with my babies, and Baby herself was really hunting for something in the agility patch. Well, I figured it might be a Bufo as she has a propensity to find those disgusting things and grab them. Then the whole foaming of the mouth starts, and I have to wash her tongue for minutes and minutes and minutes till the foaming stops. So I really didn’t feel like going through that. I asked her kindly to go pee-pee, and then I escorted everyone in.

Baby’s a sly one, she is. When I call her in, she oftentimes hides in the shadows. She figures I don’t see her, and she figures right. She stands so still, if I don’t put the light on and search for her, I don’t see her. Tonight, I figured she was playing that game with me, so after everyone else was in, I put the light on and swept the whole Fort Doberdale campus.

Out of the side of my eye, behind a pine tree, I saw a shadow. It was scary, though, because when I got to the tree, there wasn’t anyone. And all my dogs were in the house. Then I saw out of the other eye’s side, my corn patch moving. Holy cow! What was going on? I summoned my courage and moved closer to the corn patch, and right there ON my budding corns was the outline of a frog. It was dark enough all right, for it to conceal itself. So I ran all the way to the back door and into the back room to get my camera. By the time I got back outside, the outline was gone. However, I figured to just point the camera at the corn patch and see what comes out in the dark room when I develop the pictures.

There is a frog in the lower right-hand corner of this picture! There is a frog in the lower right-hand corner of this picture!

Well! There he is. In the lower right hand corner of both of these pictures is a frog! Now these guys are fine if they eat slugs and bugs, but if they eat corn and squash plants, I’m going to be irate. Listen, I already know that I’m going to lose my battle to actually eat this corn. If they ever mature, there are plenty of squirrels that will beat me to them in the wee hours of the morning when the sun is just rising and I’m not quite there yet. But in the meantime, I can dream, can’t I? Unless there are corn-eating frogs in my corn patch! Or I can’t sleep thinking about them eating my beautiful vegetable garden.

Whose great idea was this vegetable gardening anyway? OK, mine. I thought I’d save some dinero on the veggies by growing my own. But never thought I’d use up those savings on snail bait, neem oil, and extra bottles of Rescue Remedy for my own use.

Argh!

What’s in that stomach that’s pointy?

By the way, I’d taken a picture earlier of a frog on my window. It isn’t the clearest, but you can see what I saw. Something’s in that frog stomach poking out. Now I’m wondering if that’s the tip of one of my prized corn cobs!

Double Argh!

Helen

People Plan God Laughs, Trees and Plants

21

Jul

2008

A Sunny July Sunday

This morning’s moonshine I love this tree! Green and yellow is a favorite combo color of mine.

Sunday morning met us and so did the lovely moonshine. Look closely. You’ll see her. And this is my Verawood tree, one of five I have. The other four are smaller. One of the smaller ones is a tree I started from a seed from this tree. This one is best known here at Fort Doberdale as “The Luigi Tree.” Yes, it is! It’s a big boy!

Taadaa! I found it. I’m Raven the best nose in town! A good peanut hiding place!

We had a peanut hunt this afternoon. I hid them all over the Fort Doberdale campus – above and below nose levels. I hid one in a planter attached to a pine tree. Raven found that one. Impressive!

Taylor found a peanut…stretch and reach! The Pippinator! She found this one. It was under the bird cage, so I moved it for her.

Taylor found one and had to get in a compromising position to pull off the finale, but she did it and munched that peanut. Then Pippin found a peanut I’d hidden under a birdcage. She tried, but needed help getting to it, so I lifted the cage up off the peanut, and she grabbed the nut fast.

Work it, Annie, work it! Annie’s sniffer is at work here. Annie’s a good hunter!

Annie, even though she’s shorter than the Dobies of Fort Doberdale, kicks arse at finding peanuts. She’s a hunter supreme. Look at this. She finds those peanuts above and below nose level! Annie rules!

Can you find the peanut in this picture? Bouchard, the Frenchmann, isn’t so swift with the sniff.

Can you find the peanut in this picture? Neither could Bouchard. But it’s there. He found others, so don’t feel bad for him, and he’s working on his peanut hunting skills. After all, he’s used to hunting those snails.

There you are! Raven’s sniffer works really well! Little Big Pants aka Raven Fence Walker

After Raven’s earlier find, she follows her nose to other above-nose hiding places. It takes her a while to pinpoint the peanut, but by Goddess, she finds it and gives it a good crunch to let the world know.

Regis O’Verten doesn’t think it’s worth his old man energy to hunt for peanuts. Lilian swiping Baby’s first and only found peanut! Baby Diva gets a hand-fed peanut

The seniors are less enthusiastic about this game. Though Baby did find a peanut on her own, as she began enjoying it, Lilian (surprisingly) took advantage of my senior Baby, and swiped most of it. So I cracked open another one for the Diva. Meanwhile, Regis stood mostly in one place. Earlier, he dropped a turd in the house by his food bowl. So when I was delivering breakfasts, I had to figure out why he wouldn’t go near his. Bingo! The egg was found, removed, and all was well for Regis to dine. He’s old and turds come out unplanned. The best part of this is how indignant he gets over finding one. As if someone else left the thing in his way. I don’t know if that’s the gramps in him or the male in him. 🙂

Luigi’s got a nose for finding things on the ground, too! Luigi’s a magnificent peanut hunter. He has the height and the nose for those in the upper level.

Luigi, he finds those peanuts upwards and downwards. He’s got the nose power and dedication to continue on until no peanut goes unfound.

Helen

Doberkids, Sky, Trees and Plants

20

Jul

2008

Moody Blues

There is going to be a full moon tonight. It’s the Capricorn Moon. We went outside to find it, but didn’t spot it yet.

What a sight! Airplane in the Fort Doberdale pines Black and White Skyscape

As dusk came, so did a huge blanket of clouds. They were magnificent. Their intensity suggested a big storm. We were at the ready to run inside, but all the sky did was sneeze on us. It may have been more intense the further upwards one traveled. The airlines re-routed right over the Fort Doberdale campus.

Lovely red hibiscus Ginger under the moody blue skies

Ginger asked to show the beautiful red hibiscus that bloomed today. “It’s lovely,” she says, “lovely and red just like I am!”

Baby watching the moody blue skies

Baby was fascinated with it all. She will sleep well tonight…on 2/3 of the bed. Meanwhile, we will all go outside to see if we can locate that Capricorn moon once again.

Helen

Baby, Ginger, Sky, Trees and Plants

18

Jul

2008

Home Depot then Lowe’s

After work, I went to Home Depot to get Sluggo. They didn’t have Sluggo. They only had chemical warfare for slugs, so I went to Lowe’s where I found more chemical based treatments. Sluggo may be chemical, too, I don’t know because I never found a box to hold and read. But what I did find was Lowe’s has a great section of organic products for the garden. So I found a bag of organic slug killing pellets. And let’s just say that this was meant to be because as I was about to check out with my pellets, I saw a holey vine leaf that looked like my holey squash leaf and I asked the clerk what caused it. He touched it and a moth flew off! I have lawn moths! Not snails.

So the clerk then helped me find a bottle of Neem oil based insect repellant. When I got home, after saying hello to everyone, I got to work mixing the Neem with the water and spraying, and do you know what I found? I found a skinny slinky green worm! Eating one of the squash leaves. I doused it with the Neem solution. What the hey? There were also moths eating those leaves. Maybe that worm was a moth to be? I don’t know, but I’m still highly irritated over this whole situation. I sprayed all my plants. The corn has now gotten holes in it, the sweet potato vines, squash – all the veggie leaves have holes in them! For goodness sakes! Maybe I caught it in time with the Neem. But I’m taking the organic snail pellets back, and also the pump for spraying the “greenery,” which when I opened it smelled like gasoline. Funny enough, reading the bottom of the container, there is a sticker that on it is printed that the product contains ingredients known to cause cancer in California. And to wash your hands after using it. Ewwwkay! I put that lid back on that cancer causing jug, and tidied it up and put it back in the plastic Lowe’s bag as it is going back to Lowe’s. Can you imagine that? I washed my hands, and hope that was enough to detoxify myself. Yikes!

Well, now it’s a waiting game to see if I’ve been directed correctly to get these bugs gone! I’ll tell you what, after reading the Neem oil label and then the old Sevin label I have in the laundry room, well, that Sevin is scary! For one point, it says that it will kill bees. In order for squash to make babies, it has to be pollinated by the bees, so what good would spraying a plant that is going to kill the animals it needs to produce? And they give the OK to spray on veggie plants? Eeegads!

I think I’m obsessed with vegetable gardening. It’s like being a dog parent for the first time, but not as warm and fuzzy. I am trying to plan the next chess move in this game with the insects, fungus, etc. that’s out there. You know what? I think I’m going to call upon my local garden fairies for some help as well. That is something I haven’t done yet. I’ll ask Baby to help me, as I think she’s on a one-to-one relationship with some of them.

No visiting cat tonight. Just an obsessed vegetable gardener and her dogs.

Helen

Trees and Plants

02

Jul

2008