Repellents & Traps Archives | Arett Outlook Presented by Arett University

Repel: Know Your Tick Types

It’s smart to take precautions against ticks when you’re out in the wilderness, but do you keep an eye out when you’re in the backyard, too? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 70 to 80 percent of the people who contract Lyme disease in the United States get bitten right outside their homes. Learn a little bit about the most common types of ticks you might find in your neck of the woods:

American Dog Tick (Wood Tick)

The American dog tick is common throughout the eastern half of the United States, as well as along the Pacific Coast. Unfed males and females are reddish-brown and about 3/16 inch long; females have a large silver spot behind the head, and males have fine silver lines on the back. American dog ticks are commonly found in areas with little or no tree cover, such as fields, and along walkways and trails. These ticks feed on dogs and medium-sized mammals, like deer, but will bite humans as well. Nymphs and adults can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.

Blacklegged Tick (Deer Tick)

The blacklegged tick is a common transmitter of Lyme disease, babesiosis and anaplasmosis in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. It’s also found in the South but is less likely to spread human disease because of different feeding habits. The adult blacklegged tick feeds primarily on white-tailed deer but will also bite humans and small mammals. Adults are reddish-brown and about 1/8 inch long (about half the size of the American dog tick). It’s found in wooded areas around trails.

Lone Star Tick

Lone star ticks are found in the Southeast and East in the United States. Adults seek larger animals, including dogs, deer, cattle and humans, to serve as hosts. They hide in tall grass or at the tips of branches and twigs. Female lone star ticks have a single white dot in the center of their brown bodies; males have white spots or streaks around the outer edge of their bodies. Nymphs and adults can transmit pathogens that cause ehrlichiosis and tularemia in humans.

Brown Dog Tick

Brown dog ticks are found throughout the entire United States. This tick’s primary host is the dog, but it can also bite humans or other mammals. It is found in kennels or hiding in cracks, under rugs and furniture and behind draperies in homes with dogs. They can spend their entire lives indoors. The adult brown dog tick is reddish-brown and about 1/8 inch long. Although it’s a common carrier of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, this tick only rarely transmits disease directly to humans.

Reduce your exposure to ticks to best reduce your risk of contracting a tick-borne disease. If you’re planning to spend time doing yard work outdoors, use an insect repellent first. Repel® Tick Defense aerosol, for example, is a picaridin-based formula that repels ticks and mosquitoes for up to 10 hours. You can also treat with a lawn insect control like Spectracide® Triazicide® Insect Killer For Lawns & Landscapes Concentrate to take care of listed ticks in the grass.

Order Now Using Program Number: S20F1

ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1

A pest infestation is one of the most disheartening issues a gardener can experience as they tend to their garden or greenhouse. After spending countless hours perfecting the beauty found in one’s home garden or greenhouse, the last thing a gardener wants is a pest infestation that puts the trees, plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables, or shrubs they have worked so hard cultivating at risk. Unfortunately, plants grown outdoors as well as indoors are prone to infestations at any time of the year and gardeners should be ready at all times to battle unwanted attacks from pests.

A gardener can take many different approaches when it comes to dealing with pest infestations. Most gardeners choose to spray their plants, flowers, food crops, and shrubs with an insecticide. Insecticides are substances designed specifically to deter, destroy, or disable pest insects. Insecticides can either be synthetic (poisonous) or natural (non-poisonous) and found in liquid or granular form. As gardeners are becoming more environmentally conscious, more and more gardeners are choosing a natural approach to pest control. Fortunately there are natural options for combatting pest infestations that actually work and will leave any garden or greenhouse pest free. One of those products that actually works is ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1 Garden Spray, manufactured by Organic Laboratories, Inc.

ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1 Garden Spray is an OMRI-listed insecticide, fungicide and miticide. It kills the eggs, larvae, nymphs, and adults of over 25 small soft-bodied insects and mites (including aphids, whitelflies, fungus gnats, etc.) and certain fungal diseases, such as powdery mildew. ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1 Garden Spray is the ONLY organic 3-in-1 Garden Spray that has been proven in laboratory tests to not harm bees. In addition, ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1 Garden Spray does not have any warnings for use around water and aquatic wildlife.

ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1 Garden Spray is available in a quart concentrate (makes up to 10 gallons), 72 oz. and 24 oz. RTU, and a 32 oz. hose end concentrate.

Here is a recap of some of the benefits of ORGANOCIDE® 3-in-1 Garden Spray:

The dense oils suffocate insects by contact, so insects can’t develop a resistance.
Leaves a micro-film on the plant, which repels egg-laying females.
Will not harm beneficial insects such as bees, lady bugs, or butterflies.
Can be sprayed and harvested the same day.
Use in organic gardening on vegetables, fruits, nuts, vine crops, herbs, ornamentals, greenhouse crops, turfgrass, landscape plants, bulbs, flowers, and field crops.
People, planet and pet friendly!

Organic Laboratories, Inc. is one of the country’s leading developers, producers, and marketers of organic and earth-friendly pesticides and fertilizers. Organic Laboratories has been in business for over 20 years and their products are as diverse as the markets (home gardeners, indoor gardening, and agricultural) they serve. Organic Laboratories was founded by an agronomist and all of the products they manufacture are developed and tested by their current Vice President of research, who recently earned his PhD in Agronomy from the University of Florida.

Organic Laboratories prides itself in providing cutting-edge and solutions-oriented products that are tried and true; products that are essential for creating long-lasting vitality, abundant yield and overall healthy plant life.

Order Now Using Program Number: O81E1

Animal Repellents

Arett Outlook April 2016

Are You Capitalizing on this Growth Category?

Bonide Products offers the most complete and extensive product line of animal repellents on the market today. The extensive lineup ranges from deer repellents to mole and vole repellents to snake repellents. All of the Bonide repellents contain all-natural ingredients, which is noted on the front label with the “tan” shoulder, and are included in their Garden Naturals Collection of products. Repellents work through either taste, smell, or as an irritant. The Bonide line of repellents feature anywhere from one to all three of these repellents.

Deer have proven, over the years, to be one of the most challenging animals to keep out of flower beds and vegetable gardens and from chewing on desirable trees and shrubs. Most repellents require frequent applications to the foliage, or around the garden, to even remotely have any success. Knowing the time and effort involved in preventing deer damage to plants, Bonide has introduced Go-Away Scent-inals®. This all-natural product protects new and existing growth from deer browsing for up to one full year without the need to re-apply to new growth. Each plastic Scent-inal® diffuser is filled with the liquid Scent-inal® activator and is attached to the plant with the provided twist-ties. One filling of the Scent-inal® diffuser will last for 3 months. Each kit contains enough activator to charge the Scent-inal® diffuser 4 times, which will give 12 months of control. No mixing, no spraying, no harm to plants. It doesn’t get any easier than using Bonide’s NEW Go-Away Scent-inals® for effective deer control.

Some animal repellents are only labeled to repel one or two animal pests. Bonide’s Repels-All® Animal Repellent is an all-natural product that repels over 15 different animal pests, including deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, and many more. Repels-All® is available in both liquid and granular formulations. This unique and effective formula repels animals using all three repellent characteristics: taste, scent and irritation. Both formulations will repel animal pests for up to two months. Repels-All® can be used on or around ornamental plantings and is labeled for use around vegetable gardens as a perimeter treatment to keep animals out.

Moles, voles, and armadillos have a way of destroying our lawns and gardens. MoleMax® Mole & Vole Repellent is Bonide’s signature product for controlling these burrowing animals. The all-natural castor oil product is highly effective at safely repelling moles, voles, armadillos, and other burrowing animals from lawns and gardens. One application last for 3 months and MoleMax® can be applied 3 times per year. It is recommended to irrigate the granular product after application to allow the castor oil to come off of the carrier for better results.

One does not need to be an avid gardener to run into snakes. The sight of a snake slithering through a yard will create shivers in most people. Bonide offers the most effective snake repellent on the market today. The all-natural Snake Stopper® Snake Repellent effectively repels snakes, by scent and irritation, from lawns, gardens, sheds, campsites, woodpiles, patios, and decks for up to two weeks. Snake Stopper® is safe for use where children and pets play.

In 2016 Bonide Products is launching a new TV advertisement campaign to be featured on the national DIY Network television program. This unique program not only sells products, it builds brands and spotlights categories. Repels-All®, MoleMax® and Snake Stopper® repellents will be part of this campaign, which runs from April through the month of June. Featured spots will run during primetime on Friday through Sunday and reach over 30 million households.

Bonide’s DIY Network TV campaign will compliment their highly successful Garden Show, Home Improvement radio shows, and magazine print advertising campaigns. All of these advertising campaigns feature Bonide repellent products and will drive consumers to your store looking for these top-quality animal repellents. Make sure you have the most complete selection of animal repellents on the market today, from Bonide, to maximize your sales.

Order Now Using Program Number: B70R1

Japanese Beetles on the Attack!

outlook_r30b_header By now most of us should have applied our first application of Milky Spore Granular to kick-off spring. It was a long cold winter and, once the weather warmed up and the snow melted away, hungry grubs began feeding away at the tender roots of our lawns and shrubs. With the coming of June so too come the onslaught of adult Japanese Beetles and without proper care to knock them out our prized flowers and succulent shrubs and trees will be victims yet again.

To get ahead of the Japanese Beetle, the proven method is to kill them at the grub stage of the life cycle. Apply the second application of Granular Milky spore, making sure to water it in so the spores settle into the root system. Once the beetles lay their eggs during the summer months, young grubs will emerge and begin to feed upon a lawn. If left untreated the lawn can stress and die, leaving it full of dirt patches.

Milky spore works immediately, once a grub ingests the spore when feeding. Once ingested the bacteria begin to multiply inside the gut of the grub, causing it to turn a creamy milky color in appearance. It only takes one rod from one spore to infect a grub, but a grub is like a mini factory, producing billions of new spores. Once the grub dies, the spore is re-released back into the soil, ready to attack another grub. This process repeats itself each and every time and that is why milky spore lasts so long. In fact, St. Gabriel Organics guarantees the product to be working in the field for up to ten years. So what does this guarantee mean? If you apply milky spore to kill off the Japanese Beetle and after 7 years they are back, St. Gabriel Organics will replace the product at no cost.

If you applied the powder form of the product, no additional application is required. The powder form is applied using a teaspoon or a St. Gabriel Organics garden dust applicator. A level teaspoon amount is applied every four feet apart in a grid pattern. The inoculated colonies of milky spore will fill the areas in between the colonies by way of the grub. Remember the grubs are like factories – once they are infected they can produce more spore and when they die and decay will release new milky spore into the lawn.

Order Now Using Program Number: R30F1

RESCUE! Products Save The Summer

Summer is here, the barbecues are fired up, and our backyards are in full bloom. The living is easy… except when you’re forced to deal with pesky bugs. To fully enjoy these carefree months, your yard and garden need a few good insect traps!

Want to rescue your roses and other ornamental plants from hungry beetles? The RESCUE!® Japanese & Oriental Beetle Trap is your season-long solution to not one, but two insect pests that damage plants and grasses. Place it 20-30 feet away from the plants you want to protect. The durable, two-layer bag is welded to the bright green panels, keeping it secure as it fills up with beetles. And if it fills up before the eight-week beetle season is over, you can simply use the slide-lock feature at the bottom to empty the beetles and reuse the trap.

From disposable to reusable to sticky traps, RESCUE!® offers many options for you to say farewell to annoying and filthy flies. The best-selling Disposable Fly Trap, Reusable Fly Trap, and the POP! Fly Trap use a food-based bait, irresistible to flies, that activates with water. For use indoors and closer to the house, the Fly Tape and TrapStik® for Flies lure the pesky insects to their sticky surfaces not with scent, but with colors and patterns that appeal to their compound eyes.

Yellowjackets are a frequent summer pest and a bane of the barbecue. With the RESCUE!® Disposable Yellowjacket Trap, you can banish them from your outdoor eating or activity areas, including your campground. As with our other traps, it’s simple to use – just add water and hang!

Wasps frequently build their dwellings – which look like open honeycombs – near human activity. These nests are often spotted under eaves, but they will also appear on a wooden swingset, under lawn furniture, in a mailbox and even in an outdoor electrical box. If wasp nests are where you need weaponry, RESCUE!® has a solution: The TrapStik® for Wasps. Hang it near a nest and watch it lure the wasps to the sticky surface with a color scheme and pattern the insects find visually appealing.

Proving that visual attraction is important for people as well as insects, the OrnamenTrap® enhances your outdoor enjoyment with the visual appeal of metallic copper plastic and a filigree design. Two OrnamenTrap® options – one for yellowjackets and one for flies – offer the same great performance as the Disposable Yellowjacket and Fly Traps, with a decorative element to beautify the landscape.

Fruit flies may be more of an indoor pest, but they hitch a ride on that wonderful summer produce brought in from outside. The newest RESCUE!® trap, the Fruit Fly Trap, uses both a feeding attractant and a red color proven attractive to fruit flies to start catching them within minutes of activation.

Coming in 2016, RESCUE!® will offer yet more ways to battle the bugs of summer with a line of all-natural repellent products. The GoClip™ offers wearable, on-the-go protection from either biting or stinging insects, with a mosquito/biting fly/tick version and a wasp/hornet/yellowjacket version. Pleasant-smelling essential oils protect the space around you from these insects for up to 6 days (based on 8 hours’ use per day).

The same all-natural repellency will be found in the DecoShield™, also new for 2016. Using essential oils, the DecoShield™ protects a 300-square-foot area from either mosquitoes/biting flies, or wasps/hornets/yellowjackets. The mosquito DecoShield™ version has a battery-operated LED to provide a warm glow at night.

Finally, RESCUE!® expands its trap offering to catch creepy-crawlies in the home with a new Spider Trap. Bringing a slim-profile design, copper metallic plastic, and innovative glue dot technology, even something as common as a sticky spider trap has gotten the RESCUE!® touch.

Order Now Using Program Number: R28E1

Arm Yourself Against Summer Ant Invasions

outlook_w75_banner

TERRO® Liquid Ant Bait Provides Long-term Ant Control, Both Indoors and Outdoors

Ants are masters of waiting out the cold winter season, hunkering down in clusters to maintain their body heat and huddling protectively around the queen to shelter their population’s lifeline. Now, the warmer days of spring are in full swing and legions of ants are back at work, in search of food. TERRO®, a leader in ant and pest control products, recommends controlling these hungry armies of ants with liquid ant bait, both indoors and outdoors.

“For effective, long-term control of common sweet-eating ants, you need to bait the worker ants – the ants you see marching in and around your house – with TERRO® Liquid Ant Baits,” says Stew Clark, Director of Research at TERRO®. “As worker ants forage for food, they are drawn to the sweet liquid in the ant bait. While the active ingredient in the bait will ultimately kill the ants by interfering with their digestive system, it works slowly enough that the ants have time to get back and share the lethal bait with the rest of the colony, including the queen. This is the only way to kill the ants you see – and the thousands you don’t.”

Since this is a bait product, you’re going to see more ants at first – lots more. As ants find the liquid bait, they consume it and drop what is called a “trail pheromone” back to the nest that lets all the other worker ants know where a food supply has been found.

So, why bait with liquid? The worker ants you encounter are all adult ants and their anatomy is such that they have no “chewing” mouth parts. The easiest way for them to carry food back to the colony is to drink, drink, drink! And once they have returned to the nest, they can immediately share the liquid with the other ants. If the bait is in a paste or gel form, it would need to go through further processing before it could be shared and take effect.

Since most indoor ant infestations are linked to a colony outside, Clark also recommends setting up an outdoor home barrier. “Treating the perimeter of your house with a TERRO® ant bait product provides an added line of defense against unwanted insects entering your home,” explains Clark.

TERRO® Outdoor Liquid Ant Baits Stakes work just like their indoor counterparts, attracting worker ants with the sweet liquid inside. The sweet liquid they will eventually share with the rest of the colony.

When searching for ants outside the home, look for “ant highways” or foraging trails. These trails are simply a line of marching ants that leads from their home to yours. Often, these trails are most active during the morning or evening. Walk around the perimeter of your house and carefully check for ant trails. Pull back the garden mulch, turn over rocks and look under pieces of wood to locate activity. Inspect potential entry points including windows, doors, exhaust vents, faucets and sliding glass doors. Also check for ants trailing up the sides of your home and along gutters.

“The key to successfully using any TERRO® ant bait product is to make sure the ants find the bait, eat it, and take it back to the nest to feed to the rest of the colony,” says Clark. “Be sure to eliminate all other food sources in the area. This will ensure the ants aren’t tempted to eat anything but the bait.”

Smaller ant infestations can usually be controlled within 24-48 hours. However, where there are very large or multiple colonies in the problem area, it can take up to 10 days to achieve complete control.

Order Now Using Program Number: W75E2

Japanese Beetles Eating Up Everything!

outlook_r30_header Japanese beetles made a comeback especially in the mid-Atlantic region of the country. For every 1000 adult beetles you saw during the summer months last year, there may be up to 50,000 grubs come this spring. The best way to combat Japanese beetles is to attack them at their most vulnerable stage of their life cycle…the grub stage.

Proper education is key to eradicating the beetle. Most consumers don’t realize the grub is part of the life cycle of the beetle and don’t properly treat for the insect. We see adult beetles eating away lush vegetation during the summer months, including crape myrtle, roses, and Japanese plum trees. As fall approaches, the beetles lay eggs in the grassy lawn areas of the yard where they hatch into grubs. The grubs eat the roots of grass to build up body fat to survive the winter months. If a lawn has over ten grubs per square foot it begins to stress, ultimately browning out and creating bare patches in the yard. The following spring, the grubs reemerge to feed for a short period of time, before pupating into the adult beetle, whereby the process repeats again.

One of the most used and successful products to combat the Japanese Beetle is Milky Spore. A natural bacteria, first developed by USDA, it has been used for over 60 years. Milky Spore is applied to the lawn as the grubs feed on the roots and they ingest the bacteria. Once ingested, the bacteria begin to multiply, killing the grub. An infected grub turns milky in color as the bacteria multiply. (see picture) The grub decays and the bacteria is re-released back into the soil to work again. Milky spore has been known to be viable for up to 20 years. Milky spore is safe, not harming man, animal, or beneficial insects.

There are two forms of Milky Spore, powder and granule. The powder is applied in level teaspoon amounts every four feet in rows four feet apart, making a grid pattern. The powder is concentrated and only requires one application. Once applied, it is watered in for about 25 minutes. It can also be watered in by rain if rain is in the forecast for the following few days. St. Gabriel Organics makes a dispenser tube for easy application of the powder. The granular product is used in drop spreaders and is a multi-step program. This form of the product requires three applications over two seasons. It should be applied in spring, summer, and fall for two seasons.

Whichever method is applied, milky spore is guaranteed to keep working for up to 10 years. If the Japanese Beetle grubs continue to be a problem, St. Gabriel Organics will replace the product at no charge. Also, if your customers are not sure they have Japanese Beetle grubs, St. Gabriel Organics provides a free service to assist in the identification of grubs. Please contact the company to inquire about this service at 800-801-0061 FREE.

Order Now Using Program Number: R30E1

Organic Control: Orcon Beneficial Nematode Family Of Products

outlook_o32b_banner Sales of Orcon Beneficial Nematodes benefit from new packaging. By adding Grub Control, Fungus Gnat Control and Fire Ant Control to the already popular Flea Destroyer and Beneficial Nematodes, Orcon has made it easier to sell this natural and organic pest control. With pest-specific packaging, the consumer can easily identify the product that will solve their particular problem, and do it without chemicals or pesticides! They may be tiny, but beneficial nematodes do a big job –moving through the ground, Beneficial Nematodes enter the body cavities of their target pests and release bacteria that kill that pest. They are completely safe for people, pets, plants and the planet, and are compatible with other beneficial insects including earthworms.

Fungus Gnat Control kills the larvae in the soil where they breed. The microscopic organisms seek out and kill fungus gnat larvae, in containers or the ground, and can be used indoors or outdoors. Each container includes seven million live beneficial nematodes and will treat up to 2,000 sq. ft. but faster results are obtained with higher concentrations. Use anytime there is fungus gnat activity.

Grub Control kills grubs and beetle larvae, including Japanese beetle larvae, white grubs, and many more pests in the lawn and garden. Best applied in spring or fall but can be used anytime there is grub activity. Each container includes seven million live beneficial nematodes and will treat up to 2,000 sq. ft. but faster results are obtained with higher concentrations.

Fire Ant Control kills fire ants without harmful chemical pesticides. The beneficial nematodes seek out and kill fire ant queens, workers, and larvae. Easy to use, simply mix with water and drench the mounds. Each container includes seven million live beneficial nematodes and will treat up to 7 mounds.

Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic organisms that destroy pests that live underground. They seek out and kill more than 230 different kinds of soil dwelling and wood boring insects, including Japanese beetles, cut worms, wire worms, weevils, white grubs, fungus gnat larvae, flea larvae, subterranean termites, and many more. Each container includes seven million live beneficial nematodes and will treat up to 2,000 sq. ft.

Flea Destroyer kills fleas in the yard and garden where they breed. The beneficial nematodes actually penetrate the body of juvenile fleas living in the soil. After killing the juveniles these organisms will reproduce and continue searching for more pests. Each container includes seven million live beneficial nematodes and will treat up to 2,000 sq. ft. but faster results are obtained with higher concentrations. Use anytime there is flea activity.

For effective flea control, a three-part program is important: fleas must be attacked on pets and animals, in the carpet and upholstery, and outside in the ground. While many products offer flea control, Flea Destroyer is the solution for the crucial third step – outdoor flea control. It’s easy to use: all you do is mix it with water and spray the affected area.

Order Now Using Program Number: O32D1

Compete With ‘Big Box’ Retailers With Bonide!

With the introduction of their new Diagnostic Center, Bonide Products continues to lead the industry in enabling the independent lawn and garden retailer to properly diagnose their customers’ plant problems. The expert Problem Solver database allows store personnel to search for problems by plant type, an industry first. With the purchase of a pre-determined assortment of products the retailer receives a digital video microscope, a 19″ monitor to visualize the plant problem, the extensive expert Problem Solver database, soil pH meter and supporting P.O.P., such as our Insect & Weed Charts and Problem Solver book. With the “Answer Desk” Diagnostic Center set up in your store, your employees can recommend the right product for the their plant problem on the spot and help distinguish your store from the competition.

As Bonide continues to expand into the Animal Health category, we are introducing for 2015 product assortments that instantly put the retailer into the category or enhance their current offering with top-quality, highly effective animal health products. The assortments feature minimal amounts of our new Revenge® PourOn Fly Control, Revenge® DustOn Livestock and Dog Dust, Revenge® Equine Fly Spray and our proven performers from last year, our Revenge® Horse & Stable RTU’s and the Barn and Stable Concentrate sprays. Each of the two assortments, Basic and Expert, have complimentary free goods included in the purchase, which significantly increase your profit margins for the category.

With the combined purchase of a Diagnostic Center assortment and an Animal Health assortment, dealers will receive increased co-op funds, increased promotional bucks, 4-color custom ad circulars, free goods for added margin, inclusion in Bonide’s print and radio advertisements throughout the season and inclusion on the Bonide Dealer Locator list on our website.

Tired of not being able to compete with the ‘Big Box’ retailers on brand named products? Bonide introduces a way for you to compete and also maintain your margins! The KleenUp® Combo Buy Mega Deal features two (2) sizes of our concentrate KleenUp® and our Pump & Spray applicator. When the consumer purchases a KleenUp® concentrate and the Pump & Spray applicator together, they receive an incredible value after the consumer rebate. The Combo Buy rebate certificate value for the Pint concentrate purchase is $12.00 and the Quart concentrate is $15.00. These rebates allow you to promote a Combo Purchase Net Price after rebate of as low as $10.99!! Plus, the submitted rebate is sent back to the consumer in the form of a Gift Certificate to be used in the retailer’s store where the combo purchase was made. A unique and welcomed way that Bonide works to gets your customer back to your store. The header card, which comes with the product assortment, explains all of the details to the consumer. This exciting new end cap assortment will surely enable you to compete with the brand names in those ‘Big Box’ retailers!

See your Arett Sales or Bonide sales representative for all the details on these new and exciting programs and promotions from Bonide!

Order Now Using Program Number: B70S6

Orcon Sells More Fun Things Than Just Ladybugs!

outlook_o32_banner That’s right. Besides providing home and professional gardeners with 12 different live beneficial insects that can control most pest problems, we also feature live earthworms for soil and compost use, live Mason Bees for pollinating, and the most effective animal repellents on the planet. Plus we have books available to help gardeners learn how to use these tools more effectively.

Why Good Bugs Work

Most people cringe at the sight of any type of insect. But for us at Organic Control, Inc. (Orcon), the creepy, crawly creatures fall into two categories: good bugs and bad bugs. Pests may become immune to chemical pesticides over time, but they can never build immunity against being eaten – which is why our approach is proven effective, season after season.

Our good bugs include the familiar Ladybugs, which love to eat aphids, and Green Lacewings, which eat even more aphids. Then there are Praying Mantids, which eat just about anything that moves, Delphastus, a beetle that eats white fly, and Cryptolaemus that gobbles up mealy bug. And of course there are Predatory Mites, good mites that eat bad mites in droves.

Other kinds of good bugs are parasites, sneaky critters that lay their eggs inside the bad guys. The eggs hatch and eat the villains before they can do their dastardly deeds. These include Beneficial Nematodes, which thrive on grubs, flea larvae, fungus gnats, and other pests that live in the soil. Also there is the mighty Trichogramma, which attacks all kinds of leaf chewing caterpillars, Encarsia formosa, which specializes in white fly eggs, and Fly Parasites, which help ranchers from swatting so much. And there is even Aphytis melinus, which only has eyes for scale.

Why Earthworms can be lovable

Earthworms are one of the gardeners best friends. Our Red Wriggler composting worms (Eisenia fetida), help keep the soil loose, allowing for easier root growth and improving water retention. They also speed up the decomposition process in cold composting. These little guys eat and burrow twenty-four hours a day (imagine that!), which aerates the soil, getting oxygen to the roots. They can be used in the garden or in worm composting.

Pollinating bees that don’t sting?

Yes, our super pollinating Mason Bees, each one capable of doing the work of 120 honey bees, will stay where they hatch and help increase the yield on fruit and nut trees, and increase the blooms on plants and shrubs. They don’t have a hive or a queen, so each one concentrates on gathering pollen and nectar in its local area. And they are willing to work at colder temperatures than honey bees, making them more useful early in the season.

Animal repellents that really work

A researcher for the US Forest Service, Dr. Jerry Walters, got tired of deer eating his experiments. He tried all the common repellents, but after a couple of weeks, or a rain fall, he would have to reapply them. So he invented, and patented, a device that emits garlic vapors continuously for 6 to 8 months, even if it rains. He documented how this Deer & Rabbit Repellent system worked far better than any other product on the market.

With that success, he used the same technology for a Gopher & Mole Repellent. This version is inserted into a rodent’s tunnel, it fills the tunnel with garlic vapors making it unusable for a full year.

He then set his sights on our lovable dogs and cats when they can occasionally become a nuisance. He again used the same technology, but with some additional ingredients, to help encourage our little angels from bothering our plants or leaving unpleasant reminders of their presence. This one is called Dog & Cat Repellent.

For more information about these products, contact your Arett Sales professional.

Order Now Using Program Number: O32S1