erences. ing short of miraculous. mere completely wiped out. POISONS his is a biological control, smething that will not harm any- ang but members of the caterpil- family, and the results are Two years ago I sprayed our pple trees for caterpillars (in this articular case “‘tent’’ caterpillars) wid the inhabitants of those nests jome & Garden Last year, the control still seemed to be in effect. We had the beginnings of several tent caterpil- lar cacoons on the apple trees, but, before I really got organized to deal with them, the inhabitants of those silken tents just up and died! It must have been the lingering effects of “Organic Insect Killer” (ipel, or Thuricide) or whatever name is being used by various companies that package Bacillus thuringiensis. This is its real, honest-to-Pete Continued from Page A20 strong stomach above a well-shod Auman foot, but that’s not always possible. One has to get SOME leep. Slugs remain the only thing we ill poison. I find “Deadline” to e the best of a bad lot! To make ure nothing gets killed but slugs, we use a triangular bottle-opener 0 make several holes around the ase of a cottagecheese carton. We put a goodly splash of Deadline in the centre of the bottom of the carton, put the lid on firmly, then put this trap on the A heavy rock set on top of the filid will keep the container from g being tipped over by curious dogs 7 OL Cats. Whiteflies A biological control for these @ pests is useful when they are on #greenhouse plants. It has a very fancy name, encarcia Formosa, and is an absolutely harmless tiny wasp that lays its eggs on those of the white fly, effectively killing the | latter. Outside it is considerably more difficult to control whiteflies, but sticky yellow traps made by paint- ing vaseline, tanglefoot, or S.TP. on a bright yellow board seems relatively effective. This board is placed near where whiteflies are a plague, and the pests are attracted by the color and trapped by the sticky substance. Since whiteflies are a major problem in citrus groves I’m sure effective biological control is already in the works. Aphids These small beasts with the appetite of a fully grown sap Sucker, are sure to be worse than usual this summer. The best non- toxic control that I’ve found is to spray affected plants with a soap and water solution. I use a few drops of Sunlight dish soap in a litre bottle of tepid water as a spray. Do put the water in the container m first, then add the soap, or before you know it, you’ll be up to your e knees in bubbles. Don’t use soap spray on either q Sweetpeas or nasturtiums. They s hate it! Watch your honeysuckle | vines for aphids. They collect around the flower buds in their Tnillions, and if not controlled will @ suck the unopened flowers dry. No s buds, no flowers! No beautiful 4 perfume, either! Broad beans are a favorite target for black aphids. The quickest and €asiest control here is to pinch out the growing tips of all broad bean plants just as they begin to flower. Nasturtiums are another fancy food for aphids. Since a soap solution kills these plants, most years when aphids take over I just pull them out destroying the aphids along with their hosts. A natural predator of aphids is the lady-bug, or lady-bird beetle, but | there are never enough of these | Betle cuties around to stop the J | blasted aphids! ground where slugs are.a problem. — Ethyl Mollett gave me this rec- ipe for rhubarb tea which is used to control aphids. Mix three pounds of rhubarb leaves with three quarts of water and boil for 30 minutes. When cooled, strain and add another quart of water in which you have mixed an ounce of soap flakes. Although its a yukky way to go, aphids may be squeezed between the leaf and your fingers. Not very pleasant, but effective! Starlings Although they are dirty birds (Goth the hood of the car and the picnic table are favorite targets) they do eat a powerful number of leatherjackets, those horrid worm- like things that eat the roots of your lawn grasses. They will also eat every grape in the garden if you don’t net them out. Racoons I feel a bit uncomfortable about this suggestion, although I am assurred it works. Pour human urine around the edges of com patches, or on the soil around the trunks of nut trees, or fruit trees. Racoons being territorial crit- fers, scem to get the hint that they are trespassing on YOUR ground! Cats If you will spread pieces of chicken wire in beds where cats come to relieve themselves it serves to send them elsewhere. The wire soon blends with the soil, or gets covered with foliage, and seedlings, when small, soon grow through the holes in the netting. Snakes If you have snakes in your garden count your blessings. They will eat countless insects, and I’ve been told SLUGS! Frankly I can’t believe it! If you don’t want your snakes, please bring them here. I’d be thrilled. Haven’t seen a snake in this garden for years. Robins, crows, etc. The best method of keeping birds from eating your berries is to screen them out with nylon net- ting. We have tried the vibrating nylon tape, the painted owl’s eye, the scare crow (that bore a Startling resemblence to ME!) but nothing did the job as well as the netting. Carrot rust flies These also attack the roots of parsnips, and as all of us have learned (to our sorrow) they can, in short order, wipe out an entire planting of carrots. These flies must be screened out, and for this you should use Reemay cloth, or other floating row cover, well tucked into the soil. There is some thought that these pests fly close to the ground, so that screens need only be ALONGSIDE plants, and not nec- essarily over the top. This would be an advantage in that with the top open to the sun, plants wouldn’t grow extra tall in their struggle for more light. I know I should experiment to see if this would work, but this year I’m sticking with the Reemay. —$_$_" reat biological control for caterpillars a do want to share with you a er marvelous cure for caterpil- of all shapes, sizes and food name, rather GRAND as names go, but it deserves a classy title. It -Teally is wonderful stuff It will kill those little green leafrollers that demolish the new foliage on your rose bushes and finish off those horrible black- spotted green werms that other- wise will eat every leaf on your red currant bushes, (and then start on the black currants.) It will also decimate those Deastiy littie worms that eat the flower buds on azaleas. Any mem-- ber of the caterpillar family is sunk if if meets up with this great control! Iry some new summer flowers Please do go through the racks displaying summer flowering bulbs, and this year, why not try something different? Some of the flowers are very beautiful, and almost all of them will do well in pots. It’s rather fun to have a tub of tigridia out on the deck. These are a real conversation starter! Something we have every year 1s a pot of dark blue anemonies, but this year I am going to add some ixias, Sparaxis, some dwarf gladi- ola, and if we have enough pots a few tuberoses. Dahlia’s are a specialty This is really “himself’s” spe- cialty, not mine. Last year we were given a box of assorted dahlia tubers by a very nice man. “himself,’’ who had been feel- ing a bit left out with all the seeding, weeding, planting and pruning, immediately claimed them as his own. Having lots of other things to do I backed off and let him do his own thing, He didn’t separate the tubers, planted them without any idea as to correct depth, amount of ferti- lizer, kind of fertilizer, or whether or not they would need to be staked. He simply dug holes and plunked each collection of tubers in, and shovelled dirt over the top! These dahlias were a complete marvel ... enormous tall plants with a super abundance of giant flowers. So much for all the supposed gardening expertise in this family. He never even read a book about gardening, let alone one about dahlias!