CHAPTER 11 - The Best Control 2

Bird feeders - will attract more than birds; they can attract squirrels, rabbits, skunks, raccoons, opposums, deerand even bears into your back yard and into your buildings.Birds - Encourage birds to stay with bird houses, bird baths, plants they like and/or bird feeders. Birds eatmany insect pests. Birds are one of the leading predators of insects. For instance, more than a dozen speciesof birds are known to feed on codling moth larvae. Raptors or birds of prey remove pigeons and rodents awayfrom your property. See Spiders.Bitter - Bitter tasting and less fragrant plants are less likely to be eaten than those that contain any sweetness.Black Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) - Extract of twigs and stems controls coddling moth larvae.Black (or Ultraviolet) Light - can be used to fluoresce scorpions and rodent urine. It can be used to attractflies, moths, cutworms, ladybugs and other beetles and other flying pests to a trap or into an area where youcan vacuum them up or spray them with diluted enzyme cleaners or peppermint soap.Black Locust, False Acacia (Robina psuedo-acacia) - Beautiful ornamental loaded with white fragrant flowers.An excellent shade tree with acacia type foliage. The fragrant flowers can be smelled for hundreds of feet in thespring. The bruised foliage mixed with sugar will attract and kill flies.Black Pepper - and other freshly ground peppers sprinkled around repel many mammals and ants - they areorganic, “safe” and inexpensive. Mix in sweet milk to kill flies.Black Plastic Bags - Put infested materials in a sealed black plastic bag out in the sun for 3 - 4 hours on a warmday for a really inexpensive heat treatment; nothing inside can survive the heat.Black Strap Molasses - Dissolve 1 gallon in 50 gallons of water and spray plants and trees; sparrows and theother birds love to eat “sweetened bugs”.Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) - The odor of the leaves repels insects. The bark is toxic to mosquitoes.Blazing Star (Spicata) - A beautiful plant often raised for its ornamental appeal. Has rosy purple spikes offlowers up to 15” long. The dried roots of the plant have a soft vanilla smell and will repel moths when placedamong clothes. A hardy perennial that is easy to grow from seeds reaching 3’- 6’ tall.Bleach - Kill weeds and grass growing in sidewalk cracks by dousing with undiluted bleach. Use bleach tohelp break down organophosphate pesticides. Bleach also kills many pests and bacteria. Be careful...manypeople react to chlorine bleach negatively and never mix this product with ammonia.On January 22, 2007: EPA Okays “Cause Marketing” Labels for Pesticides and Poisons—PrecedentEntangles EPA in Promotional Campaigns at Risk of Consumer ConfusionWASHINGTON—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved display of promotions for causes orcharities on labels of pesticides, disinfectants and other commercial poisons, according to agency documentsreleased today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, these products maynow feature tie-ins with charitable organizations and marketing slogans on their labels which are otherwisesupposed to be devoted primarily to consumer safety and usage information.The policy change came in response to a request from the Clorox Company to advertise a pledge that it willdonate a small percentage of the retail purchase price of its bleach products to the Red Cross. EPA droppedearlier objections following a meeting in July between top agency and corporate officials, according to an EPAbriefing provided in early December to state pesticide agency officials.At Clorox’s urging, EPA will allow placement of the phrases “Dedicated to a healthier world” and “Help Cloroxraise $1M for the Red Cross”, as well as the use of the Red Cross logo on both the front and back panels, onfive Clorox products.365