So you go to your favorite garden shop and purchase two beautiful pepper plants. It took awhile because you had to sort through all the plants to find the best, most healthy ones. And they were not cheap. Seems like the price goes up every year.

You go home and select that perfect spot in the garden and plant your new peppers. The next morning you wander out to the garden with a cup of coffee to admire your new peppers and to see if they have miraculously grown six inches overnight. Then your heart sinks as you discover your plants are gone. Not just nibbled on by some bug...they are gone.

You have just been victimized by the scourge of the garden. Slugs!

Snails and slugs (I'll just refer to slugs hereon) can completely devour a small plant in one sitting. As well as take huge chunks out of the leaves on larger plants. Perhaps slugs have some benefit to mankind, but I can not think of any. Certainly not in my garden. So, how do we get rid of them?

First, no matter what method you eventually use, you must eliminate all debris from your garden and the surrounding area. Slugs are night creatures and do not like being exposed to the open air or daylight. Therefore, they hide and live under rocks, old wood planks or crass clippings. So, the first step in getting rid of them is to remove all their hiding places. Rocks, wooden boards, grass clippings, that old metal tool that has been in the corner for months...they all must be removed.

Then, choose a method to get rid of them.

There are many. Some of the household remedies are:

Beer in a cup: take any small container that will hold liquid and bury the top of the container even with ground level. Fill with stale beer and wait for them to crawl in and drown. The slugs are attracted to the beer and they will crawl into it. This method works but is not sufficient for even a moderate infestation.

Hand Picking: Very simple. Go out into the garden at daybreak and hand pick the slugs. This method also works but is tedious and time consuming. I still do this today in addition to other methods.

Copper strips: You can purchase copper strips at the garden shop made for this purpose. The idea is that you completely surround your garden with a copper strip barrier and slugs will not cross the copper strip. I have found that, while it is helpful, some slugs apparently do cross the barrier.

Snail Bait: This is what I have found to be most effective. However, conventional snail bait is attractive to dogs (looks like dog food) and it is poisonous to dogs and children. I refuse to put a poisonous chemical around plants in my garden that I intend to eat. However, there is a better product.

Most garden shops and large markets today sell a snail bait that is "pet friendly". It cost a little more but is well worth a dollar or two. It is non-poisonous to pets and people. And... it works.

I have used the pet-friendly snail bait for several years and my garden is 99% snail/slug free. You just apply in the afternoon, surrounding the garden or individual plants you want to protect. Re-apply every couple of days as your watering or the rain washes it away.

Start your treatment in the spring before planting the garden and continue for two weeks. Then you can apply about once a week throughout the growing season and you will not have a slug problem.

I have found one or two slugs survive occasionally and make it into the garden. This is very rare and is why I say my garden is 99% slug free instead of 100%. Therefore, I continue to hand pick as necessary on my normal morning walk through the garden.

I wish I could tell you that there is a cheap, effective home remedy for slugs. Like mixing vinegar, ketchup and water or something like that, but the store bought pet-friendly snail bait has proven to me to be the most effective.

By: Ken Miller
Ken Miller is a free lance writer and webmaster for www.basicgardentips.com where you can find many free how-to articles on gardening. He also has a Southern Food Recipe site at olsouthrecipes.com with loads of free recipes.

Submitted by:
Rebecca Thornton
Law - USA

Ladybugs have been admired for hundreds of years. They are beautiful, believed to bring good luck, and have even been praised in song. The great Romantic composer Johannes Brahms created a lovely, folk like melody and words, showing his adoration of our little friends. It is almost impossible to not see some form of the Ladybug , whether in statuary, stepping stones, jewelry, lamps, banners, or the real thing wherever you might go. Ladybugs are one of the wonders of Spring, along with brilliant blue skies and flowers shyly poking their heads up through the soil, reaching for the warming sun. Ladybugs are a symbol of renewed life.

Going back as long ago as the Middle Ages, these insects were also known as the "Beetle of Our Lady." Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it was thought that these striking creatures had come from Heaven to save crops. In several places around the world, it is still believed that Ladybugs can predict an abundant harvest or good weather.

Ladybugs are really not bugs but beetles and, according to one source, their proper name is the Ladybird Beetle. North America has between 400 to 450 different species of Ladybugs while there are about 4,000 worldwide. The most prevalent beneficial species of Ladybugs in North America is the Convergent Lady Beetle. Other common names include Ladybird Beetle, the Asian Lady Beetle, and the Lady Beetle.

The life cycle for all Ladybugs is similar. They lay their eggs in the Spring and upon hatching, the larvae (the stage of development of insects between the egg and the pupae) will feed for many weeks and then pupate into adults. In Fall, the adults feed and then either lay eggs, die, or go into a state of hibernation for the Winter. Spring again brings awakening, to feed and lay eggs.

When it comes to biological pest control, the best known and most popular insects for the job are Ladybugs. Famous for their appetite for aphids, Ladybugs are also voracious in decimating white fly, mealy bugs, scales, and mites, plus many other soft-bodied insects and will consume boll worm, broccoli worm, cabbage moth and tomato horn worm. Various sources credit Ladybugs with the ability to eat up to either 1,000 or 5,000 (that's a significant difference!) aphids in the beetle's lifetime, in both their larval and adult forms and to work well in gardens and greenhouses.

Ladybug larvae are sometimes known as "aphid lions." Generally, they are black with red-orange spots on the back. They rather look like little alligators, with both the head and tail ends flattened and narrowed down from the rest of the body, and with a ridged and textured surface. Their legs are small and seemingly insignificant but if sufficiently incited, they can move very quickly. Ladybugs, in their larval stage, can surpass adults in their insatiable quest for aphids.

Releasing adult Ladybugs into your garden is not difficult but certain steps must be taken to insure a prompt farewell to the aphids. The suggested manner of release is as follows:

Obtain your Ladybugs from a reputable nursery, mail-order firm, or online. Buying them online might be a better idea than going directly to the nursery; there have been many occasions when I have gone for my Ladybugs only to find the garden center either had sold out or never did receive a shipment. Not good.
As soon as you arrive home, gently spray a few drops of water into the net bag that is the temporary home to your Ladybugs. Place them (still in their bag) in your vegetable crisper or refrigerator immediately. They will not be harmed by the chilling.
While your Ladybugs are cooling, go outside and give your garden a thorough watering. The Ladybugs will be very thirsty from their three to five day journey without any water to drink. You don't want your lovely little predators to get too cold; it is time to take them out of the refrigerator. Brr.
The proper time to actually release the Ladybugs into your well-watered garden is just after the sun sets. The cover of darkness will prevent the Ladybugs from being eaten by not-so-friendly birds looking for a snack. If you can't see them, you can't eat them.
After you have given your Ladybugs a good drink and tucked them into bed, so to speak, they should wake up the next morning very hungry. Watch out aphids! Your number is up.
Never, never, never use pesticides in your garden unless you want hundreds of dead Ladybugs.
Ladybugs will hunt for aphids and other non-acceptable denizens of the garden from dawn until dusk. They really aren't fussy as long as they have fresh water and a steady supply of aphids. For Ladybugs to be able to produce new eggs, they must have aphids or other prey available.
If your Ladybugs are acting sluggish or conversely, are irritable and moving around too quickly, give them a spritz of apple juice or grape juice from a misting bottle. You can use some 7Up, Sprite, or Gator Ade in place of the juices. Be sure to dilute the juices by at least of 50%. The water and sugar will delight them and their grumpiness should disappear, leaving a happy army of hydrated Ladybugs, ready for another meal of Aphids du Jour. Ladybugs are quite territorial; those which have been hatched in your garden will continue to call it home.

Using natural pesticides such as Ladybugs and other predatory insects with rapacious appetites, your garden (especially your roses) will soon be glowing again and be a safe place for your children and pets to play.

Make Ladybugs a family activity. They are cute and harmless to humans and your children will enjoy them so much from gently handling them. At the same time, the concept of the Cycle of Life, from hatching until the end of life, with all the physical changes in between, is easily and painlessly introduced. Your small children will feel so proud of themselves helping Mom or Dad release these stunning, beneficial insects into your garden.

By: Terry Kaufman
Terry Kaufman is Chief Editorial Writer for Niftygarden.com and Niftykitchen.com. See more on environmentally responsible pest control at Niftygarden.com Pest Control.

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Small as they are, gophers can be a serious nuisance. The good news, though, is that you can get rid of them for good humanely. Despite what all the rodent poisons on the market imply, killing gophers isn't a long-term solution. There will always be more to replace the ones you killed. To get rid of gophers for any length of time, you'll need to make your property either impossible for gophers to get into or so unappealing that they stay away voluntarily. Doing this is easier than it may sound.

Get them out and keep them out
If gophers are only a problem in your flower and vegetable beds, try building raised beds. These not only make gardening easier, but when protected from beneath, they can also keep burrowing animals out. When you build the bed, make it gopher-proof by first laying down a sheet of hardware cloth to cover the bottom of the bed area. Another trick is to install rhizome barriers around your planting beds. These underground barriers are usually used to contain rapidly spreading plants, but they also keep out gophers.

Gophers that are eating up your lawn, on the other hand, can be caught unharmed with live traps designed for small rodents and moved to a wilderness area. Unless you're experienced at live trapping rodents, though, it's best to leave this one to the professionals. Environmentally friendly pest control companies like Animal Problems? Inc., of Florida are licensed to safely remove a variety of animals, including gophers.

To keep gophers from returning once you get rid of them, consider building a barrier around your property. Because gophers can't climb, a solid one-foot-high fence buried six to 12 inches into the ground around the perimeter of your property is enough to stop gophers from getting in.


Offend their sensibilities
The smells from your yard and garden are what attract gophers and you can get rid of the gophers again by altering those smells. Products like Mole-otov Cocktail made by Not Tonight Deer! or Whole Control Spray by Nixalite use non-toxic ingredients to make gophers favorite foods unappetizing so the rodents no longer have a reason to hang around your garden. To use these products, just attach the container to a garden hose, turn the water on and spray the repellent over the gopher-populated area. Mole-Med by Gardens Alive, another rodent repellent, can be spread on the lawn either wet or dry.


Shake things up
Gophers have a very keen sense of hearing and sensitivity to ground vibration, so they'll avoid areas where there are constant sounds and movements in the ground. Installing devices that create these annoyances is a cheap and easy way how to get rid of gophers.

Sonic rodent repelling units for the garden are self-contained spikes that can be inserted into the ground to create noises so irritating to the gophers that they stay away. These sounds are so subtle, though, that not even dogs are bothered by them. One of the most popular devices is the Sonic Molechaser from Molechasers International. The smaller model can keep an area of approximately 11,250 sq. ft. (1045 sq. meters) gopher-free and the larger one covers up to 13,500 sq. ft. (approx. 1250 sq. meters). There's also a solar-powered model. This model saves batteries, but due to the solar panel, it's a little more visible than the electronic types and it only covers up to 7,500 sq. feet (approx. 700 sq. meters).

Another sound gophers avoid is that of their predators, owls and hawks. Electronic birdcall imitators like the Bird Sound Device available from U-Spray, Inc. can scare off gophers for 10,000 sq. ft. (930 sq. meters) around. The Bird Sound Device is triggered by a motion detector, so to use it to get rid of gophers, place it beside a light at night when the gophers are active.


How to get rid of gophers the all-natural way
Faking the sound of predatory birds can work well, but the real thing is even better. Barn owls are one of the gophers' main predators, so if this bird is native to your area, put up a barn owl box on your property to attract a natural gopher prevention system. The only drawback is that barn owls look for new homes only in the spring, so you may not be able to attract one immediately.

If you're looking for an environmentally friendly way to get rid of gophers that are snacking on your lawn and garden, you've got several affordable and easy-to-use options. While not everyone can get a barn owl to drop by, plant barriers and smell- or sound-based gopher repellents can work just as well.

By: Michael Aral
Michael Aral invites you to backyard-landscaping-ideas.com for more free landscaping ideas and garden design tips. You'll find unique design concepts and discover affordable ways to bring out the beauty of your home's landscape.

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