Arlyn:
What do you use for borer control? I am trying something different this year. Just curious what others do for getting rid of those ugly things other than picking them out.

Jane, do you have much trouble with borers? I rarely see evidence of them here.

Curious if there are any organic methods of control that any of you have heard of?

Raining. Again with the rain. If I have any borers they have drowned by now.....

Definitely going to have to keep the slugs and snails in control this year. I know you can use borax in garages and such to control crickets and grasshoppers because they eat it and it tears up their insides. Would a sprinkling of borax effect slugs? I wonder if it would effect the soil too. And would it hurt a rhizome? If not, you could sprinkle some on the rhizome instead of Seven dust to keep crickets from eating the rhizomes. Can anyone chime in and let me know what they think? Don't want to hurt the iris.

I cleaned-up some of the SDB clumps today, loosened the soil around them, added some 10-10-10 slow release fertilizer and some alfalfa pellets. I worked them loosely into the surface of the soil and then watered them with some Miracle Grow Bloom Fertilizer. They are looking great. I also put some gas in my lawn mower and it started on the second pull Went over the lawns and picked up some dry grass, a few leaves and some pine needles. Watered the lawn lightly with some culinary water....our secondary water system won't be on til next month. Sure wish could get some nice spring showers. Today is the last day of winter

Jane, I use a "mixed approach"......I clean the beds in the fall, and "burn " them......(.I feel this gets rid of most of the eggs laid directly in the bed area), I make a spray/ drench application of Bayer Long Season Grub Control in early spring (probably another week, or so) It's systemic ,and supposed to last 2-3 months, depending on rainfall amounts, in 'late summer (about the end of July) I spray the reblooming iris plants with BT (bacillus thuricide),and the "regular" iris with another dose of the Bayer product. ( I use the BT on the rebloomers because it's a bit more "bee friendly", and it's the late summer/fall iris blossoms that draw the bees(spring bloomdoesn't seem to attract them too much...I guess there is plenty of blooms they like better ).....and everyday, on my walk-a-bout, I try to keep my eye open for any borer activity, and do a squish ,if I see any (I haven't seen any in the 4 years we've been at this property...but I know they are in the area...We had them years ago, at the other house, and our neighbor has a small bed that is always INFESTED with borer!).....anyway....that "system " has worked for me, seeming to give me good borer control, while "mitigating" the danger to the bee population (we keep bees, ourselves)........I have used beneficial nematodes, one season ,on one bed, and, there was no sign of borer, but It was (I thought") quite expensive. The amount of bed area I have now , would be VERY expensive to treat with the nematodes(over 2500 sq. ft.)

Three days of raking and burning and two days of fertilizing. Finished up way after dark this evening. The garden is starting to look good. Need some green growth but we are to get 4-6 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.

One ski/board resort already closed in Tahoe, and another is closing on Sunday because of no snow. They will reopen if they get enough snow to reopen. We might get some rain on Sunday/Monday.

Leslie, I would do some research before putting borax in your soil. There are 2 issues. Too much or too little boron in the soil can effect your plants, and too much boron can leach into and contaminate groundwater.

This last one may not be a problem in your area, but it is a problem in some parts of the US including an area from southeast Pennsylvania to South Carolina:
"The Newark Basin is the largest of the 13 major exposed Mesozoic rift basins that stretch from Nova Scotia to South Carolina"
(from this website: http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/...)

Here is some basic information about the effects of boron on plants: http://www.gardeningknowhow.co....

I only know about this because we have high levels of boron in the groundwater in some parts of the central San Joaquin Valley due to the agricultural fertilizers that are used. I have not done much research...I just try to be very selective about using products with borax or detergents in them. I try to choose biodegradable products.

I'm enjoying reading how everyone approaches choices of chemical use in the garden. While I've gotten away from them over the years, I consider myself pro choice on the matter as far as home gardeners are concerned. Thoughtful, light handed use of chemicals by home gardeners doesn't seem likely to have the environmental impact that widespread use over many acres practiced by big agriculture causes.

Arlyn, you're approach as a beekeeper, based on your observations, is eye opening to me.

I have a lot of hippy type friends, many radically green tree huggers (I consider myself somewhat of a tree hugger, flower sniffer, fern fondler,...all that, LOL), and sometimes there wear me out preaching! As conscientious as I try to be in all the products I use, I'm constantly finding out another is poisoning the environment...the latest was Dawn dishwashing liquid... . Sometimes I want to scream "I can't do everything I need with coconut oil and baking soda!"

I am with you on that topic, Neal. I try to use old tried and true methods and make odd plantings because the critters that feed on one plant do not go near the other plant. That being said, once you 'tame' one forager it seems like another moves in. Before you know what is going on the damage is done! It is frustrating. At this time of year we are in the garden in jackets pulling weeds, picking up twigs, giving pep talks to our plants while the bugs are still sleeping but just turn your back for a moment and they will awaken and look at the plants you have coddled and say YUMMY!

I pulled a few weeds yesterday. I counted the barely visible bloom stalks. It looks like Killarney Green may be the first named variety that blooms for me again this year. The cooler temps have slowed most of the development down except for KG. I may not have to wait two whole weeks to see it bloom. I do have a bloom stalk with color showing on a tiny little guy. It will open first and be very welcome!

Jim, How do you burn your beds ? Do you scatter straw or leaves on them, and then touch them off/, or do you use a "weed burner"? I've always used the "scatter" method, in years past, but last fall (December, actually" I used a weed burner........and I *think* I may have "cooked" a couple .
As to the chemical use, I try to follow the directions....all of them......and feel that "responsible " has little chance of harming anything but the "targeted" culprit, but, in a "perfect world", I suppose that since I haven't seen a borer in years....I shouldn't be spraying for them, but I'd rather be pro-active, than re-active. Big agriculture gets a lot of 'flack" as being the most harmful as to chemical use...but, in my opinion, it's the" home user" that's the real culprit.....a lot (but of course not all) of the farm users have application done 'professionally " done, and take a LOT of precautions....both for safety reasons , as well as "monetary" reasons......it's business ,with a 'bottom line", and chemicals,and fertilizer are far to expensive to 'waste' by over-application. The biggest percentage of "home" users, on the other hand, by the product...often on the recommendation of a friend who had "good luck" with it.....and use it, without proper personal protection, either for themselves or the neighbors who are down-wind, for insects or diseases they really don't have, or, in the case of fertilizers, on soils that don't need it....and then dispose of the left-overs, or packaging materials, by putting it in the garbage, and sending it to be buried in a landfill.
There is a place for "chemical" controls, companion planting, and manual controls ("squishing", or in the case of weed control..pulling instead of spraying) in both our gardens and yards, as well as in our orchards and fields....as long as there is 'responsable" and "intelligent " use ! Use your County extension program to help you actually identify the insect, or disease, follow, or at least consider their recommendations, get a soil test....often insects and disease target plants that are "stressed ' by improper fertilization ,watering, or incorrect ph.....read,...and follow...the directions on the products you use....dispose of them, and their packaging in the correct way. All our gardens are different, we all have different priorities as to what is 'acceptable" for use in our gardens and homes, and we can all find ways to manage the insects, disease, and weeds in our little corner of the world....WITHOUT poisoning either ourselves, OR the planet.....and we can love trees and plants without actually "hugging" them....and we don't need to wear sandals and beads to use manual weed control.....and we don't need to "farm" 10,000acres to treat our iris bed as a 'business', and manage it accordingly ....I'll put my soapbox away

Good points, Arlyn. As I was typing above, I did consider the non gardener, who just uses products for easy lawn and landscape care- so true that folks can't be relied upon to act responsibly.

This reminded me of a neighbor to my family when I was growing up. One day I saw her pouring motor oil down the fence line to kill weeds. She said "my husband would kill me if he saw me doing this". I've lived in a bubble for a long time now, with no close neighbors, and had forgotten how often folks do things like that.

Yikes! on the motor oil!

Thanks for the info on boron. I happen to have borax to kill mold/mildew in my basement (in NC very few houses have basements, and because of the clay, those that do often get wet). It was listed as a non-toxic way to handle mold, and is far kinder than bleach, etc. Works very well BTW. That it also kills the ugly camel back crickets that like to get in the basements around here is a plus. It also did a good job soaking up some spilled gasoline, then I swept it up and put it in the trash. It just seemed kinder to the environment than Sevin dust, so I wondered at an outdoor application. It would only be small amounts, and only in one bed, so I don't know that it would cause an excess of boron in my soil. The area isn't that rich in it. Will have to think on it.

Neal, there are things like that happening every day........."back in the day", we didn't really know (or at least most of us) that kind of thing would come back to haunt us, as well as succeeding generations....we were blessed with "plenty"...plenty of water, plenty of space, plenty of EVERYTHING...plenty enough to waste!..Those "plenty" days are long gone...and we 'know better" than to waste, and pollute.....but we still do it! Usually because of either laziness or greed !

You are so funny Neal....you gave me a good laugh imagining you as a 'fern fondler"!

I couldn't have said it better Arlyn! The Master Gardener program is under the auspices of the County Agricultural Extension office. They go to great lengths in the training to teach that you use the least toxic method...but sometimes you have to use stronger chemicals...but use them wisely. There are a wide variety of people in the Master Gardener program...and some are avid tree-huggers! Although I try to avoid all chemicals...and admire those who succeed in that...there are times when I have felt the need to resort to using chemicals for a particular reason. It is a personal decision and everyone's situation is different. Although I will consider what they have to say, I make myself scarce when they get into major soapbox mode.

My mother used to pour bleach into ant hills, undiluted, straight from the bottle. She was never a gardener and always did what HER mom taught her.(Also not a gardener.)

I'm fresh out of soapboxes today, but my thought is if I "resort" to using toxic chemicals , and my neighbor does too, and the guy down the road
is spraying toxins also, that eventually we'll have quite a toxic load on the local land. Multiply that by thousands, millions of Americans doing the
same thing, and we've got a problem - right here in River City.