Plants that keep bugs away

[sumi]

 

[Mini Horses]

I use no chemicals here. Chickens free range and forage well. Cats are on mouse patrol -- my young female was having a bunny breakfast two days ago....teaching 3 kittens to hunt. Goats work on weed control, mini horses graze grasses. Several swallows (?) have annual nests and do the aerial work. Plenty of natural plants to attract good and lessen undesirables.

Actually, the occasional rat snake is my only problem. There are a couple skunks, sometimes a possum that wander in but, coops are closed at night. Fox are seen seldom but, out there if the back neighbor has missed them. Have beneficial insects around...I'm pretty much ok with most of it as I see little damage.

Garden will tell the tale next year. Didn't get one in this year In past it's been relatively minimal problems. I live on top of a sizeable & gradual rise in the land, so I get some nice breeze when others may not. That helps, IMO, so far as flying type. Farm acreage &/or wooded on all sides. Yeah, farmers do use some chems but only on ONE side & limited, with 20' buffer zone.


It's a combo of things here.

 

[Britesea]

Wasps and Yellow Jackets hate the smell of Peppermint. I've driven them away from a ground nest by just pouring Dr Bronner's Peppermint soap and boiling water down the hole. They didn't come back.

 

[Britesea]

I'd be fine with them if they weren't so aggressive; they are great pollinators.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Here's another option. Rather than focusing only on plants that repel mosquitos, you can intentionally plant things that attract their predators. Here's a video on what to plant to attract dragonflies.
https://livelovefruit.com/10-plants-that-attract-dragonflies-for-mosquito-control/

You can also put up nesting places for bats, Purple Martins, and other birds. Having both natural predators and plants that repel different pests can really reduce the amount of chemicals needed around the homestead. And once the natural balance is back, the cost goes waaaaay down.

 

[Mini Horses]

just pouring Dr Bronner's Peppermint soap and boiling water down the hole. They didn't come back.

how inhospitable of you!

 

[Hinotori]

You would not believe the amount of spiders that live in my mints. They like it when the mint gets tall and bottom leaves fall off inside.

The rats don't seem to like catnip. They will go way around the big patches to get near the chicken food. I've allowed the plants that have come up alone the fence to stay and spread. It covers over half of the 35x16 large fowl run fence now. The chickens won't eat it but do like hanging out under the shade it casts.


I can't say anything about catnip and mosquitoes. I don't ever see many mosquitoes here even with 60 acres worth of pond with half a mile or next to us.

Because there are trees and marsh that dries up for summer, there is habitat for tons of little birds that eat the things. The ponds are stream fed and there are fish. So can sit outside pretty safely here.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've been eradicating mint from my garden, and letting that and lemon balm pop up at will around the perimeter of my yard. I just dumped a w/b full of mint rhizomes under the mail box where poison ivy has taken over. If the mint does not drive out the PI, the next plan will be to put heavy cardboard down, or some scrap lumber.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I allow trap plants to grow here and there around my yard. I know that Japanese beetles are inevitable. I'm not about to resort to poisons in a folly attempt to eradicate them from my property. And the nematodes that could be used are very expensive and not winter hardy enough to make that an economical treatment. So... knowing that JB love primrose, as well as some of the other weeds that I allow to stay... I become the eccentric bug lady. This time of year, I make multiple trips around my yard, garbed with my little old lady disguise hat (covers my dark hair to make the deer flies less likely to attack me) toting my JB trap made from a sawed off ammonia bottle with a qt sized zip lock bag attached to the bottom. (I cut the lid, so that only the screw ring is left.) That holds the bag in place. The jug is cut down into a funnel shape. It doesn't take long to collect a cup or more of JB. These are given a HOT bath from the hose, then dumped into the chicken run.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My birds go into a brawl over Japanese beetles.