Summer is here, which means that it’s time to deal with all sorts of creepy, crawly critters. With four kids in the house, we’ve had to deal with our fair share of ants in the past — though it’s been less of an issue as the kids have gotten a bit older and a bit less messy. While there are a lot of commercial solutions out there, such as Terro Ant Baits, I wanted to share a quick, cheap, and easy tip for do-it-yourself ant control.

First, pick up some boric acid powder (available at most drug stores) and mix a small amount of it 50:50 with table sugar. There’s nothing particularly scientific about this ratio, so it’s fine to just eyeball it. Next, put some of this mix into a small container such as the the cap from a milk jug or the lid from a 2 liter bottle. Finally, drizzle some water into it to make a slurry (i.e., a thick suspension). That’s it — you’re now ready to kill some ants.

Once your concoction is ready, simply set the mix in the path of the oncoming ants (they usually form a foraging trail) and then wait. At this point it’s important to be patient and not kill any of the ants yourself. The reason for this is that you want them to take your tasty treat back to the nest with them. Boric acid is toxic to ants, but it doesn’t work immediately. As such, you need to let them forage and then take it back home to share with their nestmates — this will ultimately wipe out the entire colony.

A few notes:

It might take a bit for the ants to get interested. I’ve noticed in that past that they really get going after dark, so if they don’t take interest right away, there’s still hope. Within a day or two your problem will be gone.

As I noted above, it’s important to resist the temptation to squash them once they get interested in your tasty treat. Let them have their fill and then take it back to the nest to feed it to the queen and her young’uns.

A word of caution… While boric acid is relatively low in toxicity when it comes to humans — in fact, it’s traditionally been used as an eye wash in a low concentration solution — you still shouldn’t ingest it. As such, you should keep children and/or pets away from it.

There are different kinds of ants. Some prefer sweets, whereas others prefer grease and fats. While I’ve never tried this myself, I’ve heard that mixing boric acid with peanut butter is an effective treatment for grease-eating ants. So… If sugar doesn’t work, give peanut butter a try.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the most effective way to combat the ant problem is to avoid it in the first place. Simply cleaning up after messy kids, wiping up food spills, sweeping up crumbs, etc. will go a long way toward keeping the ants away.

Source: fivecentnickel

Other solutions:
They make cans of spray that you can activate and leave the house while they fog the house and destroy all the critters. Be careful with them though, use them as directed.
Source:Answerbag

Ants have had nuisance value for humans for centuries. Many methods have been devised to get rid of them, but they keep coming back in seemingly larger numbers!
Ants in the household exist because of the presence of food. All food must be kept secure in air tight containers or in the refrigerator. Vinegar, pepper, salt and perfume have repelled the common house ant. Killing ants is an obvious solution but it isn’t recommended because they will keep coming back. If there is any rotting or damp wood in the house then it should be removed, as they provide a great hiding place for the ants.
If the ant nest is spotted then it should be removed from the house and the area should be sanitized. There are various ant baits available in the market. If everything fails then a quality exterminator can always be relied on for a price.
Source: Blurtit

Not everybody likes cucumbers. You may be interested to learn that ants hate cucumbers, especially cucumber peels. You’ll especially appreciate that fact if you want to get rid of them. Just spread some cucumber peels – the more bitter, the better – where ants enter your home and they should get the message. Consider cucumber the “anti-welcome” mat for ants.
Another easy solution is to squeeze some lemon into the cracks.
Source: Yedda

Posted in Home & Garden, Maintenance & Repairs | 1 Comment »

Grape growing is fun, easy and provide a great family activity for all to share. Some of my fondest memories as a young child was in the vineyards. Believe it or not, grapes are extremely easy to grow and maintain, but you must do it correctly.

Step 1 – Location. Drainage is very important. You need to pick a location that has adequate drainage. Grapes do not like to much water. This is why most vineyards are located on a hill or some sort of incline. When choosing your location for growing grape vines, make sure your location has some sort of pitch.

Step 2 – Soil. Soil is somewhat important but not as important as most people tend to believe. Most people who have problems will blame it on the soil when in reality the variety of grape was wrong for their area (I will go into this more later). As long as the variety is correct, grapes will grow in any soil. It would be a good idea to add some sort of natural additive (manure) to the soil as well.

Step 3 – Purchasing/Planting. This is by far the most important step in the grape growing process. You can pick the right location, have good soil and do everything else right, but if you choose the wrong variety of plant, you will see no results. I’ve found that the best way to start is to visit a few local vineyards. Go to a few of them and ask them what they suggest you plant. Also look at some of the wine they have their and take note of the variety of grape used in the wine. This would be a good starting point.

Once you purchase your grapes, you want to separate them by at least 5 feet. Dig a hole with a post hole digger (or shovel) and plant the newly purchased vines at least 10 inches into the ground. Make sure all roots are covered.

Step 4 – Watering. Grapes do NOT like a lot of water. I water my grape vines every 3 days if there was no rain. If there was rain, I count that as a watering session and wait until another 3 dry days have passed.

Step 5 – Pests. Birds and incests LOVE grapes (and all berries for that matter). I usually let the incests have their take because I do not like using chemicals, but they are an option for you to use. To keep your vines free of birds, you can place a net over them. Before using a net simply watch the crop and see how much of a problem the birds are causing. I suggest only using a net if the birds are causing a big problem and eating a lot of your crop.

That is a brief overview of everything you need to know in order to get started growing grape vines in your backyard.

Posted in Garden & Landscape, Home & Garden | No Comments »

The California Fan Palm is native to San Diego County. All of the other types of palm trees, e.g. date palms and royal palms, have been artificially planted here by man.

Here’s a little history about the California Fan Palm.

The California Fan Palm was an important resource for the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, who called it maul. They used it for food, especially the fruit/nut which they ground up as flour or made into a mush. They also soaked the fruits to produce a sweet beverage and made jelly from the fruit. Trees produced a dozen or so such date clusters at 5-20 lbs. each.

The spongy pith in the center was sometimes boiled and eaten and was called maul pasun or “heart of the palm.” The Fan Palm was also used for construction (fronds for roof thatch), and leaves were stripped and used in various weaving applications.

The hard seeds that fell after fruit pulp dried were the preferred fill for gourd rattles and were better than stones or other seeds. The Desert Cahuilla also preferred the Fan Palm for making sandals and certain fire making tools as well as tinder were made from this palm.

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