Keep Wasps Away Tricks – DIY Wasp repellents and Traps

Summer gives us warm temperatures and plenty of chances to enjoy picnics, BBQ’s  and outdoor gatherings.
Unfortunately summer also brings some unwelcome guests.
Mosquitos and wasps (or yellow jackets) can quickly take the enjoyment of eating outdoors and become a nuisance you’d want to get rid of.

In August and September wasps seem to be on a carb rush and will be attracted by anything sweet!
Sharing your delicious pie or juicy drink with these bugs is not only gross, but it can be quite dangerous!

I don’t like using the commercially available bug and insect sprays because they contain too many dangerous pesticides. That’s not something I would consider spraying around my children, or anywhere near food.

So I have compiled a list of my favourite natural and homemade tricks to deter wasps and as a final resort you may want to put up traps.
There are store bought wasp traps available, but they can cost anywhere from $6 to $20 and
you can make your own wasp traps for a lot less money.

1. Deter Wasps & Keep them away with herbs and scents.

Certain scents are proven to keep wasps away. If wasps are a problem in your kitchen or around the patio, make sure to use these natural deterents.  They include:

• Tea tree oil is a great hack for germs, viruses and wasps!
• sliced garlic cloves. Wasps hate the smell and you may want to place a few cloves on the table when having a BBQ
• Basil plants. To us the smell is delightful. To wasps, NOT so much! Place plants as decoration.
• Essential oils. Use an incense burner with essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus or mint. We love the scent, but it  actually drives away these pesky insects.
• Coffee: We love the smell of roasted coffee. Not wasps, however. So place some ground coffee on a heat proof plate and light it up. The smoke will send them packing.

2. Distract the Wasps!

If your family is eating at the patio table, place a dish with very ripe grapes several feet away on the ground. Wasps love grapes and will likely flock to the grapes, leaving your plate untouched! Don’t use honey or jam, which tends to make wasps more aggressive,

3. Trap and Kill?

As a last resort you can make your own DIY wasp trap and catch them.

www.pinterest.com

Take any empty bottle and use a sharp knife or scissors to cut off the top third part. Then fill a sweet solution into the bottle and insert the top back with the opening facing downwards (creating a funnel). The insects will crawl into the bottle via the funnel, but be unable to find the opening when trying to escape.

In a pinch trap:

Simply take any large, used soda bottle, unscrew and fill with 2-3 cm of pop or juice. Add a little dish soap  This will prevent wasps from escaping the trap. Place bottle a few feet away from eating area. Wasps will climb be attracted to the sweet scent, climb into the bottle and eventually drown.

You can conduct some experiments with several types of bottles to see what works best for you.

Finally, there are some Dont’s when it comes to dealing with wasps:

DON’T swat or blow on wasps. This will make them agressive and more likely to attack and sting you.

Don’t use honey in traps, as it might attract honey bees, which should not be killed.

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How to get started – Raising Monarch Butterflies!

It’s summer and Monarch butterflies have finally started to arrive in Ontario.
During the winter months Monarchs hibernate in Mexico and migrate to Canada in June and July to breed.
For me, that’s a beautiful reminder that summer is here, and our family has enjoyed raising Monarch butterflies in our own backyard for several years now.
Raising Monarch butterfly larvae is very easy, and it’s a great way to teach children about the Monarch butterfly life cycle and Metamorphosis in general.
Children love to follow and watch each species development stage up close.
It’s quite mesmerizing, watching a newly hatched Monarch emerging from its cocoon and taking its first flight over your gardens.
Through trial and error, we have found some great tips to share so you can learn how to find Monarch caterpillars (or eggs), and how to raise the caterpillars.
You don’t need to purchase any fancy equipment or a Monarch rearing kit.  All the items I am using are reusable and recycled household containers and wet floral foam blocks, which can be purchased at a Dollar Store, Walmart or a Florist (most expensive).

Read more about the right containers, here

To get started, I recommend using these items:

• various empty Tupperware style containers (with lid)
• cleaned yogurt cups (small single portion cups)
• wet floral foam block
• newspaper
• a medium sized Rubbermaid style container (10l) with a lid (holes in the top) is required once caterpillars get larger
• or if you have, a small/medium terrarium with a screen cover. However, I find the light weight plastic containers are much easier to move and clean than a glass aquarium/terrarium.

Finding Monarch Butterfly Larvae or caterpillars

1. Look for eggs or tiny Monarch caterpillar larvae on the underside of milkweed plants.
Milkweed are the only host plant for Monarch caterpillars and they cannot survive without them.

• Pinch off the whole leaf or a large section around the eggs.
• Gently place the leaves into a small container. I like to place a piece of newspaper on the container bottom to absorb extra moisture and prevent mold.
• Open lid daily to allow for fresh air to come in.

Pictured above, white, glossy Monarch Caterpillar eggs, just laid onto Mexican Milkweed plant.

2. Caterpillars are hatching
After the second to third day you will notice the eggs have turned from white to a gray/blackish colour, which means that the tiny caterpillars are about to hatch. It takes about three to four days after an egg is laid for the caterpillar to hatch.

This tiny, transluscent appearing Monarch caterpillar has just emerged from its egg shell. Caterpillars will eat the leftover egg shell and then move on to “munching” on milkweed leaves. Now it’s time to move them to a slightly bigger container that contains freshly picked leaves.
The safest way to move these tiny caterpillars is to move the whole leaf or cut off the part the caterpillar is resting on. I make sure never to touch them at this stage as they are very hard to see and are extremely fragile.

Pictured above are seven small Monarch caterpillars in varies sizes. They are only a few days old.

Once they get to this size, you must move them to a larger container. 

Read the next page now on how to find the best containers for raising Monarch Caterpillars so

they can successfully transform into their next stage, the chrysalis!

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Scabiosa or Pincushion Plants for Butterfly Gardens

Scabiosa, also called pincushion plants are excellent perennial flowers for Butterfly Gardens.

Which butterflies love Scabiosas?

Many small butterflies like Cabbage Whites, Skippers and Sulphur are attracted to this plant.
I have also seen the occasional Swallowtail and even a Monarch stopping by for a quick “meal”.

Varieties

What I love about Scabiosa are the lovely flowers that bloom all summer. The cute little flowers centres resemble pincushions on top of their long green stems.
The one pictured above (in my garden) is a mauve/lilac variety and is very hardy and easy to grow in Ontario.
You can find a variety of colours in Scabiosa plants, from white, purple (seen above), hot pink and blues.
I have tried various colours, but the mauve/lilac coloured variety seems to be the hardiest one of them.
There are perennial scabiosa plants and annuals. Make sure to pick up a perennial scabiosa if you want to enjoy them year after year. Annual scabiosa plants will die off in the winter.

Where to plant Pincushion flowers & soil conditions

They are not very fussy when it comes to soil conditions, but seem to do better in dry and enriched soils.
As with most plants for butterfly gardens, Scabiosa plants love sunny spots.
If there is too much shade, wet or humid conditions, Scabioas may develop mildew.

Care

Scabiosa does not require extra fertilizer. Also watering is only needed in a drought when there is no rainfall.
My plants have been doing well, despite the fact I am spending little to no time caring for them.
My Scabiosa plants have self-seeded and I have replanted some of them in various beds in my gardens.
If they ever take over your flower bed, only pull and remove.
The root system is relatively shallow and does not spread, so control is not a problem with Scabiosa plants.

This plants gets a big thumbs up for easy butterfly gardening!

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Bringing Tropical Plants in for the winter

Here are some tips on how to move your patio plants inside:

Ontario Garden centres have such a great summer selection of exotic container plants. You may have a lemon tree, banana plant, palm tree, Mandeville, Hibiscus standards or cacti on your patio.

Now that fall has arrived you may still have your tropical plants on your patio and be wondering what to do with them.
I have bought beautiful orange and a yellow Hibiscus plant, Lantanas, and a small yucca palm tree.
These tropical plants add an exotic touch to our patio and gardens all summer and there is a way to save them for the next season.

When to move in patio plants:

Of course,  tropical plants don’t survive Canadian winters (even in a garage), so they have to be moved inside, as soon as nighttime temperatures fall below ten degrees Celsius.

Check that plants are healthy looking.

Moving a plant from the sunny and bright outdoor conditions into a low-light and dry home environment is stressful for any plant. Plants that already show damage by drought, overwatering or pests will not do well. It’s best to discard them.

Treat for Insects

If your plant is healthy looking, examine it for any insect infestations like aphids. Check the soil and leaves on both sides.
If there are visible insects, gently spray both the underside and top of leaves with a garden hose to dislodge any bugs.
Then soak each planter in warm water for 10-20 minutes to remove insects that might have been hiding in the soil.

I always spray the leaves and soil of my plants with a homemade soap solution that will “kill” insects without harming the plants or bringing dangerous chemicals into my house. The same soapy solution can be added to the “soaking bath” when trying to wash out the insects that may be hidden in the soil.

Pruning and Repotting

If your plants are very large, a little pruning may be recommended, just don’t prune too much at the same time. About 1/3 of the growth should be enough. Also, remove dead branches and leaves.

Has you plant started to outgrow its pot, then you may want to change the soil and cut off part of the roots (to keep it at the same size).
If you wish to grow a larger plant you can repot it into a slightly bigger container.
Repotting and pruning are best done before moving the plant inside.

Moving Your Plants Inside

Now you are ready to bring in your plants.
I typically bring in plants overnight, when temperatures are low  and back outdoors through the day.
Doing this for a week (if you can) will help them get acclimatized to the change in light conditions
Most flowering tropical plants like Hibiscus require high light conditions and should be placed close to a window, if possible with southern exposure.
Many palm trees do fine with medium light conditions.  Check the requirements for your particular plants.

How to water and fertilize

Without direct sunlight and drying winds, your plants require much less
water than outside on the patio.
Wait for the soil to dry out before watering again.

Also, plants will undergo a form of dormancy when moved inside and require no or very little fertilizer.
Yu can start with a fertilizer routine in early to mid spring before moving plants outside.

I found that Hibiscus plants make great house plants when they are in the right spot!
They will even flower for you and what could be better than seeing these gorgeous huge flowers in the dead of winter?!

Are you overwintering your patio plants in the house and which one
have you tried!

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Good Containers For Raising Monarch Butterflies

Raising Monarch Butterflies is easy when using the right containers and following some simple steps.
In my first article Raising Monarch Butterflies, I have included some tips on how to get started with rearing Monarch butterflies and where to find larvae.

Some Butterfly Conservatories, Provincial Park stores and online shops offer Monarch rearing kits, and they are a great idea, as they often support Nature Conservancy efforts and include teaching material. However, you can easily make your own if you wish. It’s very easy and only costs a fraction of store bought kits.

Here I will show you some of the containers I am using, and you will probably have some of them in your home already!

So once you have located some of the tiny eggs (more about Raising Monarch Butterflies here)

you can place them in any small containers like these pictured above and below.
The milkweed leaves and cut outs should be placed on a thin piece of paper towel (unbleached) or newspaper clips inside the container, to prevent it from building mold, which could be fatal to the larvae.
Keep this container anywhere in your home, but away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures like air conditioners or heaters.
I used a small sandwich container. Great are also the pre-packaged salads tubs you can buy at your grocery store. We eat a lot of salads during the summer, so there is no shortage of suitable containers in my home.

The shiny white/yellowish eggs will slowly turn black with the caterpillar forming inside. It takes about 3-4 days for the tiny caterpillar to hatch. At this time you should add a fresh new milkweed leaf, as the “old” one will now be dry and less nutritious.

Caterpillars will grow very rapidly over the next few days and it’s best to clean the container daily by changing  newspaper clips on the bottom and exchanging leaves. Just place a new milkweed into a container and gently pick up the leaves where the caterpillars rest on and transfer it to a new clean container. Do not try to pick them up or touch them, as they are much too fragile to be handled directly. I like to alternate containers, so there is always one or two fresh ones on hand.

Once caterpillars grow to a mature size, they will also produce a bigger amount of waste, so remember to clean their containers daily. If you are a beginner, it’s easier to take care of 1-2 caterpillars at a time.

I used a plastic tub, which is very light weight and I drilled dozens and dozens of small holes into the lid for proper ventilation. The holes are big enough to allow airflow, but too small for the caterpillars to escape through.

Very decorative are also glass terrariums with a screen lid. They may be filled with sand on the bottom
and you can then add plants. You will often see this set up at your local Visitor Centres (Provincial Parks) during the Monarch season. A great place to find terrariums new is Petsmart, or try local yard sales, where you can get bargain prices! Bear in mind that even small to medium terrariums and aquariums are fairly heavy.
I have several terrariums but found that cleaning and maintaining the rubber tubs was much easier for me.

After about two weeks, the caterpillars have grown to a mature size and they should be in a larger container like the one pictured below.
The caterpillars need sufficient room to make their chrysalis, which they will either attach to the container lid or a milkweed leaf.

The adult caterpillars will start to spin a very strong thread that it attaches to a leaf or lid. At this stage, caterpillars will hang upside down, and you might see them “wiggle” out of their skin. This process takes about a day, and the caterpillars are very fragile during this stage as well.
If you accidently dislodge them, they will not recover and fail to form a chrysalis.
At this time it’s best not to remove container lids, until the caterpillars have transitioned into a chrysalis.
Avoid any disruptions by not keeping mature and smaller caterpillars in the same container.

This Monarch caterpillar has now successfully transformed into a chrysalis and is hanging upside down from a milkweed stem.
I am always amazed at how intricate the chrysalis design really is. The first time we saw the Monarch Butterfly pupae, we could not believe our eyes. The light green pupa has small gold dots and a gold band around the top. It’s just amazingly beautiful!

Happy Birthday! This Monarch Butterfly has just emerged from the chrysalis twenty minutes ago. When first “hatched” the body looks fat and plump and the wings are tiny and “crumbled” from resting inside the chrysalis. Over the next two hours the wings will slowly expand and take shape. If the Butterfly does not have sufficient room, or sits at the bottom of a container, wings will be distorted, leaving him unable to fly. Never leave any chrysalis on a container bottom, as it’s important to provide enough room around the chrysalis to allow for the proper formation of the Butterfly wings. The Monarch must be able to spread its wings freely.

I have now placed this newborn Butterfly onto a butterfly bush for a first drink of nectar. Soon he will be ready for his first flight around my flower gardens and

the hopefully migrate to Mexico!

I hope you enjoyed my article about raising Monarch Butterflies and will look forward to raising your own.
In my “best year” of rearing Monarchs, we raised over 310 Butterflies. As my Birthday falls into the months of August, I released 21 Butterflies on my Birthday that year.
It was quite the treat sharing my Birthday with them and sending them off one by one.

Recommended articles:

Raising Monarch Butterflies, article 1

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An Ontario Gray Treefrog lives in Our Garden & How we raised thousands of Tree Frog babies!

Mom, there is a strange bird in the garden!
The sun had set, and my daughter was pointing at our backyard window while we all listened to this loud and different sounding “bird call,” which resembled a laughing sound. “It’s a Mockingbird,” my youngest daughter guessed, while my son was certain that this sound could only come from a species like the Kookaburra! I was pretty sure neither of them was correct, but I was clueless myself, as to which animal was making this noise.
For a few days, we listened and guessed and I went outside with my camcorder to capture and record the calls.
The singing came from somewhere between our above ground pool and cedar hedge, but every time I crept closer to the source, it suddenly stopped.
This little hide and seek game ended after a small “stake-out”, when I finally discovered the source of the calls, a small gray tree frog, huddled into the crevices of the pool liner!

You can watch him on my video here, as he slowly makes his way from the water, up the wall, into his hiding space!

Gray Tree frogs are said to be living in forest areas, bogs and swamps, but as you can see this one was quite happy with his living quarters in our small town backyard.

As the days went on I was able to watch, tape and record our visitor, as he went about his evening serenades. Long story short, his daily concerts invited some of his amphibian friends and just the other night, I counted six gray tree frogs, sitting and singing on my pool liner!

They may not be as elusive as you’ve thought!

A few days of frog serenades led to hundreds of tiny eggs, found in clusters attached to the pool cover.

Pictured above are the Gray Treefrog eggs, scooped from my pool cover. These were freshly layed eggs, from the previous night.

Watch the video below, which shows thousands of little Tree frog tadpoles swimming on our pool cover.

The first eggs have now transformed into tiny Gray Tree Frog tadpoles, happily swimming in the rain water, collected on our pool cover.
The tadpoles grew on a diet of fall leaves that had accumulated on the cover. We also dropped the occasional fish pellet and (cooked) spinach and lettuce into the water. They do love their spinach!

Pictured above are treefrog tadpoles in various stages of their metamorphosis, Some of these tadpoles still have their tails but have started to form legs.

Time to move from the pool to our garden pond. These twelve treefrog babies now have “lost” their tails, grown legs and transformed into tiny little frogs, eager to explore our backyard!

Information found on the Ontario Gray Treefrog  (Hyla versicolor)
Habitat

Can be found throughout Ontario along habitats that provide a body of water, woodlands, shrubbery, and even orchards.
Treefrogs like to hide in dark, moist places like tree crevices, logs and near swamps and bogs and apparently backyard pool liners!
Once, I also found a treefrog hidden between empty turned over flower pots in my garden.
Treefrogs are very hard to spot, as they can camouflage and blend in perfectly with surrounding vegetation or tree bark.
Treefrogs do overwinter in Ontario and spend the winter under leaf piles.

source: www.ontarionature.org

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Ontario Chipmunk living in my backyard – Loves Peanuts

June 2015 Update: He’s back from his winter sleep and living in under my rock garden and waterfall!

This little guy showed up in early November on my patio porch looking for food
to fill up his burrow

We have had chipmunks in our backyard for several years now.
There always seem to be at least one or two chipmunks around the garden, and they do become quite tame.
Our backyard has a small pond, several Maple trees and a few bird feeders and chipmunks are attracted to the sunflower seeds and peanuts that may drop to the ground.
Before I installed a squirrel baffle on my feeders they were quite eager to even climb the pole, sit inside the feeders and fill up.
Chipmunks can easily get used to hand feeding if you wish.
You can even get them to respond to signals and sounds. My kids got a kick of imitating the chipmunk chirp when they were tossing them nuts. The chipmunks started to look around and come when they heard the sound, knowing they would receive a nutty treat. It’s really cute.

Our chipmunks even became tame enough to climb our legs and sit on the palm of our hands to pick up a nut.

Along the way, we stopped hand feeding them though.
I thought it would be in their best interest to be more cautious. Being afraid will keep them one step ahead of cats and predators and maybe people who are not that fond of the small rodents.

I have never had any problems with chipmunks causing damage to my garden. You may see the odd very small hole in the lawn that connects to one of their burrows. They have never damaged any of my shrubs, flower gardens or trees. At one time, we even had as many as a families of five chipmunks living in our yard.
They were a cute sight, chasing each other around the yard while hunting for maple keys.

Source: The post Ontario Chipmunk living in my backyard – Loves Peanuts appeared first on Angie's Ontario.

Overwintering Canna lilies – How to Store Canna Lilly Flower Bulbs

photo: Veseys.com/ca

Canna lilies belong to my favourite exotic garden plants
They do come in a variety of colours now, from dark red to pinks, yellow and orange. They look stunning in mass plantings, but also as a backdrop in your perennial garden.  I prefer the red ones, because I found them to be growing faster, higher, and they do attract Ruby Throated Hummingbirds to my garden.  Every May we put up our Hummingbird feeders, and my kids look forward to their arrival.
I have a huge variety of Hummingbird friendly native flowers in my garden, but it appears that the Cannas lilies are voted Number No. by these flying little jewels.

You can buy Canna bulbs in the spring at just about any store.  At Costco, for example, I have seen huge bags, and they come at a decent price.
Don’t wait till summer to buy Cannas at your garden centre, because they cost a premium, like $6-$10 per plant!

That’s why I like to overwinter my own bulbs and save the costs each year on purchasing new ones.

Come fall, I even have enough bulbs to give away additional ones to friends and neighbors.

Overwintering Cannas Flowers is very simple.
I have a good size garden and like to keep about 30-50 bulbs.
For this, I am re-using a big rubber tote. I got it free since it had a small crack and my neighbours threw it into the trash.
For a smaller number of bulbs, any sturdy cardboard box will be fine.  Make sure the bottom is taped, so no soil “escapes.”

How to store Canna bulbs:

I live in Southwestern Ontario and I normally start digging them up around the last week of October. At this time they may still be flowering and it’s so tempting to enjoy them just a little longer.

Canna lilies are not winter hardy, and they will barely survive the first frost. Therefore, keep an eye on the weather forecast and dig them up, before the temperatures fall below 0 degrees Celsius.

Carefully dig up the bulbs, without breaking the long tubers. Gently shake off any excess soil. It’s best to keep smaller, white and healthy looking bulbs. Discard the dark coloured ones. When I dig up mine, I like to let them dry for 1 to two days in the sun (or air), before putting them away

Over the summer, I keep collecting and reusing plastic salad containers purchased from my store.
These are great for separating the bulbs in the container and preventing roots from growing together over the winter.
You could also wrap each one in a sheet of newspaper,
This step is not absolutely necessary, but I found it to be helpful., because the first time I overwintered my Cannas, I had quite a mess of tangled roots in the spring, as bulbs started to grow in my container.
As pictured above, I place a little layer of dry Peat moss (must be dry!) in each container, or place it on the bottom of the box.

Peat moss will keep the bulbs dry, and it prevents mildew and root rotting. I make sure to have a small  layer of peat moss around each bulb too.
That’s pretty much it.

My box has a lid, but if you use the cardboard box, simply use another sheet of newspaper, or cardboard to keep out artificial light or sunlight.

Light will encourage the bulbs to grow, so make sure to avoid this and keep your box covered.
You canna lily box is now ready to be stored in a dark, dry and frost free place like a heated garage or the basement.  I am using the furnace room in my basement.
Enjoy your Canna lilies come summer!

Update:

It’s springtime and my Cannas are ready for a new season!

View the images and spring planting tips to be posted!

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