What is bugging you? I have a solution and chances are there are no chemicals involved. Trapping and drowning unwanted pests seems to be a theme, where pest-traps are concerned.
Take wasps for example. While the chemical used in the spray bomb that you buy at your local retailer is among the most toxic mixture on the consumer market, a simple wasp trap filled with fruit juice works extremely well. It works like a minnow trap: a wasp is attracted to the sweet juice and can’t get out.
Similarly, the now popular ‘mock wasp habitat’ works like a charm. Invented in Canada this simple paper structure that balloons out to look like a wasp trap tells wasps in your neighbourhood to buzz off and find some other real estate to make a nest. Wasps are naturally territorial and will not [generally] build a nest near an existing one.
Fruit flies and fungus gnats are a nuisance in the house and can be trapped with a simple trap that works on the same principle as the wasp trap. The trap that I feature here on Canada AM is made to look like an apple not to fool the fruit flies but people: it is designed to blend in with other real fruit in your fruit bowl.
Ants are everywhere. Thank goodness, as civilization would not exist as we know it if they were to disappear [they serve a primary function in the early stages of decay in the garden and the wild]. But most of us would like them to disappear from the kitchen. The traditional ‘borax’ based ant trap still works very well and is very safe as it is completely enclosed, making it hard for little hands or curious pets from getting into any trouble.
For more information about controlling common garden pests this time of year visit www.markcullen.com.
