Reduce Pesticide Use With Natural Alternatives

5/13/2006

Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH)

By Mary Beth Breckenridge

Myles Bader can't ignore the statistics: 2 billion pounds of insecticides manufactured in the United States every year.  Some 100 million pounds of pesticides used by homeowners annually, inside and outside their homes. In 2002, 3.2 million people reported medically related side effects from pesticides.

Garlic gets rid of grubs, sweet potato wash drives away aphids.

Bader worries about the effects those substances are having on our health and our underground water supplies. So he's touting alternatives in his new book, 1001 All-Natural Secrets to a Pest-Free Property.

Bader minored in zoology in college before earning a doctorate in preventive care and counseling people for 26 years in such areas as weight control, stress reduction and exercise physiology. Now retired, he spent more than five years researching his pest-control tips, gathering information from "agriculture schools, veterinarians, farmers, grandmothers, grandfathers, everybody," he said.

"I know people aren't going to use all naturals all the time," Bader said. His goal, he said, is to encourage them to try natural alternatives first in the hopes of reducing the use of manufactured pesticides.

Here are his recommendations for dealing with some of the critters and crawly things that bedevil lawns and gardens in Northeast Ohio:

-- Grubs: Mince five garlic cloves and let them dry, then crush them into a powder. Place the powder in 2 teaspoons of water, and let the mixture stand for two hours. Add 2 quarts of water, mix well, strain and place into a sprayer with a glass jar. (Never use metal, because it may react with the chemicals in garlic.) Spray on a test area to make sure the mixture isn't too potent for plants. If not, spray the area where grubs have been found. Bader said the mixture will kill grubs but not earthworms, which are beneficial to the soil.

-- Moles: Getting rid of grubs should help, because they're one of the moles' favorite food sources. His other suggestions include buying a cheap portable radio, tuning it to a hard rock music station and putting it into the entrance to the moles' tunnel (assuming, of course, that your moles are not AC/DC fans), or placing a few squares of chocolate laxative or used kitty litter into the hole.

-- Grasshoppers: Plant tomatoes around the garden instead of in just one area. Grasshoppers hate them.

-- Gypsy moth caterpillars: Spray with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a naturally occurring bacteria sold in garden supply stores.

-- Cabbage worms: Mix one cup of all-purpose flour with a half-cup of salt. Sprinkle the powder on the plants early in the morning, when the plants still have some dew on them.

-- Cutworms: Place hickory or walnut leaves around the stems of plants to keep cutworms away. You can also crush 1 tablespoon of black peppercorns into a powder, add water and spray the plants, or just spread the powdered pepper around the affected area.

-- Aphids: Cook sweet potatoes for dinner, and save the water you boiled them in. Spray on affected plants.

-- Mosquitos: Invite bats, a natural mosquito predator, into your yard by erecting a bat house. You should be able to buy one at a garden center. To keep bats out of your attic, keep a circulating fan or a light on in there.

-- Cats: Mix 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper, 3 tablespoons of powdered Chinese mustard, one-fourth cup of all-purpose flour and 2 quarts of warm water. Allow to stand one hour before straining and placing the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray the soil in the areas cats like to use as a litter box.

-- Japanese beetles: Buy a Japanese beetle trap from a garden center, and lure them there with geraniol oil.