Chiggers: the itchiest garden pest!
Paula in Loudoun County writes: “For the past three years, chiggers have made a home in my gardens, and this year is the worst. I have treated my work clothes with permethrin and use insect repellent, but I would like to be able to go into my gardens without such protection, and would also like my one-year-old and four-year-old grandchildren to be able to go into the gardens.”
As the Ohio State University Extension Bulletin on these creatures begins, “probably no creature on earth can cause as much torment for its size than the tiny chigger.” Virtually invisible at less than one-hundredth of an inch long, the little demon mites lurk in weedy brush areas and burrow under the skin of unsuspecting humans they encounter. They don’t take any blood or cause any disease; they just make you itch like crazy.
The permethrin-treated clothing is a good common-sense approach. Permethrin is a synthetic form of a botanical insecticide made from chrysanthemum leaves. Permethrin-impregnated clothing (such as the articles sold or professionally treated by the Insect Shield company) are an excellent measure. Mosquitoes, ticks and mites such as chiggers can’t get near you when your clothing is treated. Good news—there’s no need to also use insect repellent, as the clothing offers total protection. It’s what the American military uses in tick-infested areas.
Long-term chigger solution: beneficial nematodes
Paula also writes: “The person who answered our county extension master gardener call-in line told me to spray Sevin on the garden, but I don’t want to kill beneficial insects.”
Good for you, Paula. The nasty chemical insecticide Sevin would kill your predators and pollinators — and perhaps much larger creatures as well.
The baby chiggers that cause the misery breed right at or below the soil line, much like the flea larva that beneficial nematodes have been shown to control. Beneficial nematodes are microscopic predators that you order. Gardens Alive sells them. They’re alive, so they have a very short shelf life. When they arrive, you water them into wet soil first thing in the evening. Don’t expose them to the heat of the day.
The millions of microscopic predators in a single serving will then go hunting for flea larva, mites (such as your chiggers) and beetle grubs — but they won’t harm earthworms or other good guys. They only get rid of pests.
Beneficial nematodes work best in warm, wet soil. Order a batch ASAP, water them into your mite-infested areas the first evening after they arrive, and then again with a fresh batch after the soil warms up in the spring.
And try to keep your gardens open and dry; chiggers like it brushy and damp.
Blocking the allergenic oil in poison ivy
Will in Silver Spring says his girlfriend has some tall poison ivy plants in her backyard, and he has just discovered that the Ivy Block lotion that I always recommend sensitive people apply to their skin before pulling is no longer being made.
Unfortunately, Will is correct, which is a darn shame as that specialized solution of kaolin clay did a great job of keeping the allergenic oils of poison ivy oak and sumac off of your skin. I did some searching, and some of the products I’m seeing offered to replace Ivy Block look extremely dubious. I warn against them.
Luckily, the basic type of product you need predates Ivy Block: What you want is generically known as a “barrier cream.”
There are many types on the market, from the zinc oxide some people use to keep their noses from getting sunburned to specialized products designed to protect workers in industrial settings — even diaper rash lotions. It seems that Desitin has great potential to prevent poison ivy problems.
Just remember that no barrier cream can offer total protection, and you should never touch poison ivy with bare skin.
Mike McGrath’s patented poison ivy removal plan
- First — don’t waste your time, money and personal health spraying the vines with herbicide. Browned-out, dead poison ivy plants will give you just as nasty a rash as bright green ones.
- Instead, drench the soil right where the vines emerge from the ground with lots of water. Weeds are easiest to pull when the soil is saturated.
- Pull heavy plastic bags over both your hands; reach down low, right at the soil line, and pull each vine up slowly, so the entire root system comes out.
- Drop the pulled plants into a heavy-duty trash bag that’s held open on a stand so you don’t have to touch it.
- Chant “don’t touch your face” while pulling.
- Oh — and don’t touch your face.
- Have a helper scratch your nose if nose-scratching becomes necessary.
- When the final poison plant is pulled, use a third plastic bag to remove your hand bags, drop all three in with the pulled plants, close the bag tightly and put it out for trash pickup.
- Immediately wash up in cool water — no hot water, no soap, no washrag. Cool water alone dissolves the allergenic oil.
- Don’t use gloves to pull poison ivy. Stick with heavy plastic bags, preferably ones that reach high up on your arms.
Hungry deer will eat any tree while it’s still small
Doctor Bob in Arlington is contemplating a massive project — planting thousands of tiny trees in the hope that they will grow tall and healthy enough to block the deafening noise rolling into a Boy Scout camp from very nearby Route 66. Among his many concerns is finding a plant that will survive grazing by the abundant local deer population.
Bad news, Doc — although this is the perfect time of year to plant trees, and some fully-grown plants are unattractive to deer, they are all eaten in the sapling stage before they can become tough or thorny.
So I’d first be looking for large amounts of cheap or free fencing that you can cut to form protective cages for each little tree. Then, plant only as many as you can protect in a season.
Here’s a great list from Rutgers of the plants most and least favored by deer. You only want to consider their “A-list” plants.
