Description
A practical guide to repelling indoor and outdoor pests using organic methods, updated with new information on getting rid of bedbugs and dust mites, plus includes updated online resources.
If you’ve ever had a swarm of fruit flies in your kitchen or a gopher wreaking havoc in your yard, you may have wondered what a conscientious gardener or homeowner can do short of heavy-duty chemical warfare. Dead Snails Leave No Trails is a comprehensive guide to repelling both indoor and outdoor pests using organic methods—it’s the perfect DIY solution to eliminate unwelcome visitors in your home and garden while keeping yourself,your family, and the environment safe from harmful chemicals.With a few easy-to-find items, you’ll learn how to:
• Make your own all-purpose pest repellents with simple ingredients like chile peppers and vinegar
• Use companion planting to attract beneficial insects and animals or repel harmful ones
• Keep four-legged intruders—including squirrels, deer, rabbits, and skunks—away from your prized vegetables and flowers
• Safely eliminate ants, roaches, and rodents from your house or apartment
• Protect your pets from critters like ticks and fleas
This revised edition contains newly updated information on today’s pest epidemics, like bedbugs, as well as new online resources for finding beneficial organisms that act as predators for specific pests. Full of tips, tricks, and straightforward instructions, Dead Snails Leave No Trails is the most user-friendly guide to indoor and outdoor natural pest solutions.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One. Pesticide Savvy
(Synthetic vs. Natural vs. Biological)
Integrated Pest Management • Pesticide Safety • Pesticide Information Resources
Chapter Two. Home Pest Control
Ants • Bedbugs • Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs • Cockroaches •
Dust Mites • Mice and Rats • Termites
Chapter Three. Garden Pest Control
Ants in the Garden • Aphids • Cabbage Loopers • Corn Earworms • Cucumber Beetles • Cutworms • Earwigs • Fruit Flies • Grasshoppers •
Green Fig Beetles • Gypsy Moths • Harlequin Bugs • Japanese Beetles •
Mealybugs and Scale Insects • Mosquitoes • Rose Slugs (Sawflies) • Rose Mildew • Snails and Slugs • Sow Bugs • Spider Mites • Squash Vine Borers • Tomato Hornworms • Whiteflies • Wireworms (Click Beetles)
Chapter Four. Pet Help
Fleas • Flies • Ticks
Chapter Five. Good Guys or Bad Guys?
Blister Beetles • Centipedes • Crane Flies • Crickets • Darkling Beetles (aka Stink Beetles) • Eucalyptus Long-Horned Beetles • Jerusalem Crickets • Snakes • Spiders • Spittle Bugs (Froghoppers) • Tarantula Hawk Wasps • Yellow Jacket Wasps
Chapter Six. Beneficial Insects and Animals
Bats • Bees • Green Lacewings • Ground Beetles (Carabid Beetles) • Hover Flies (Syrphid Flies) • Hummingbirds • Ladybugs (Ladybird Beetles) • Lizards • Nematodes • Parasitic Wasps • Praying Mantises • Robber Flies • Toads and Frogs
Chapter Seven. Beneficial Plants
and All-Purpose Repellents
Insect-Repelling Plants • Animal-Repelling Plants • All-Purpose Repellents
Chapter Eight. Four-Legged Intruders
Cats and Dogs • Deer • Gophers • Moles • Opossums • Rabbits • Skunks • Ground Squirrels • Tree Squirrels • Voles
Resources and Buying Guide
Glossary
Bibliography
About the Authors
Index
