When we bought our country home we were warned about The Wildlife. Town legends had arisen about their powers. I.e.: the deer will EAT ALL OF YOUR 2.5 ACRES, the possums HAD TEETH , loved to invade garages, and WOULD EAT YOU, and ALL the raccoons were Rabid. Just a few of the un-urban legends around our small hamlet, Bloomfield.

So when Bambi first made her appearance, tentatively discovering that our house was the ONLY one in the neighborhood without a huge ‘Barkeybark’ (dog, in my lingo), she in turn was Very Polite. Bill pointed out that deer are browsers. They take generous nibbles and move on. In no way was his prized rosebushes in danger (unlike that underground denizen the Pocket Gopher, who took pride in sucking a 5-year-old fig tree into its Hole of Doom).
 

Bambi, Bill's Other Woman 

My husband Bill (a.k.a. The Peanut Gallery) spoke Bambi’s language. (Indeed, he is the quintessential Wild Animal Whisperer.) They all listened – and all the deer moved on. We had Daily Deer, all of which seemed intent on just appetizer-sized nibbles as they flicked ears to Bill's gentle mantra “Hello – umm - thou shalt NOT eat ALL” (…I’d never heard the traditional ‘om’ convert so easily to ‘Ummm’ before)

One day Buck the Buck came by for a visit. BuckyBuck. He was large. He was majestic in size and antlers. And like many a large, majestic male – he was also RUDE.

BuckyBuck The Rude One 

Shrubbery began to vanish.

Rosebushes featuring their first blushing rose of the season were later found headless. (….I was repeatedly accused of harvesting petals for my salads until Bill personally observed BuckyBuck decimating one of his favorite bushes whilst staring defiantly in the living room window, displaying an obvious middle finger on the deer’s part.)

Rude Eating at Table 

What could we do?

The Deer Patrol took care of it for us. Or maybe Bill did. When Bambi came by for her usual visit later, Bill began a dialogue with her.

Bill (siigh): LOOK at this! (waving to  Headless Rose [nee Prize of Season])

Bambi looked. I could swear she too sighed.

Bill (admonishing): I know you had nothing to do with this…but I simply can’t have this. (pause) I shall have to buy a LARGE BARKEYBARK if this continues.

I swear, Bambi’s eyes widened. Her ears stopped flicking and she stood stock still, stunned by the specter of her best human friend turning on her. She appeared to contemplate the possibilities for a moment, then turned and elegantly walked away, tiptoeing carefully among Bill’s prized garden flowers.

A few hours later, I had to call Bill to the back window.

BuckyBuck was out there in all his pompous rude glory. Surrounded by 5 female deer.

Bill (authoritatively): It must be Rutting Season, and he’s there with His Women.

Me: But, look: they’re moving as a unit towards the driveway!

And we watched, open-mouthed, as five female deer and a majestic, rude male clip-clopped down our driveway to our property’s boundary line and continued moving into the sunset.

Rut?? NOT - Escort Service! 

It wasn’t Rutting Season. It was an escort service.

The perp had been apprehended, lectured in Deer, and summarily escorted off our property.

Buckybuck never returned. We saw him around town and I have no idea what was threatened (“no sex” always works, with rude males), but whatever it was…Buckybuck never again showed antlers on our property and life returned to normal.

Never under estimate the power of a woman to get her way.

I’ve fought flies around the farm for a good chunk of my life, and even though I first heard of Big Stinky fly traps more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t until about a week ago that my first set of Big Stinky fly traps went to work. Big Stinky fly traps use proven science, and a fantastically elegant design, to capture and kill all manner of flies.  That these fly traps are see-through only adds to my fascination – that the Big Stinky fly traps are reusable makes me wince at the thought of the day I need to empty them.

According to the Big Stinky fly traps website, the device was the brainchild of an inventor and scientist by the name of Bill Brown. Mr. Brown created a trap that relied on attracting flies with lean meat – particularly female flies – and a chemical solution that makes the flies that enter the trap release more female fly pheromones. Essentially, the raw meat or fish gets the ball rolling and then the flies do all the rest – to their own demise.

Courtesy Big Stinky

I followed the directions provided with my Big Stinky fly traps more or less to a T. Since I didn’t want to waste any of my good grassfed meat on the traps, I bought some ground beef at the local market (Big Stinky advocates not using ground meat) that wasn’t too fatty and used it to “bait” my traps. Essentially, you drop the meat into a clear bottle, add some water and a capful of the Big Stinky formula and set the traps away from places where you will be annoyed by the smell or convergence of flies. Most notable among the instructions was to place the traps as close to the ground as you dared – considering the local dog pack and the like. I placed one trap at the far end of the pig pen and one on a corral panel. Both are about 2 feet from the ground and thankfully our Border Collies, Gus and Clover, have left the fly traps alone.

Courtesy Karen Keb

The Big Stinky instructions noted that the fly traps would take a while to become active and that heat would help speed the process. We had our first week of high 80s and low 90s the first week the fly traps were out. We had flies in the trap within 12 hours of setting them. The photos that accompany this post show the efficacy of the traps after 5 days. What do you do with all those flies, you ask? According the Big Stinky web site, dead flies make great fertilizer. I guess I will just bury them in the garden, while holding my breath.

Courtesy Karen Keb

Not often have I found myself getting excited about something as seemingly mundane as fly traps. The Big Stinky has changed that. So, your bottom line question should be: Can you tell there are fewer flies around? YES you certainly can. We placed the traps away from the house and notice only a very small fraction of the pests buzzing around the door. One or two flies still manage to make it inside each day, but that’s a far cry from the scores that used to come in uninvited in the past.

I have written about the annual invasion of Asian multi-colored lady beetles a number of times. Remember these are the lady bugs that bite … well, pinch anyway. The introduced aphid fighters do good work during the growing season, but they don’t like to spend North American winters outside. And no matter how well you think your house is sealed, when the cool weather comes, you will find several to vast numbers of these orange, black and cream colored beetles on your ceilings, walls, floors, lights, curtains and virtually every other beetle-friendly place in the house. Although they are little more than a nuisance, if you disturb Asian multi-colored lady beetles they emit an unpleasant-odor-producing liquid that also stains. If you just squash them, they leave a mark on your lovely white walls and ceilings. What to do?

Until now, about the only thing you could use to fend off the Asian lady beetle invasion was a vacuum. I have already dumped several dust-buster-bin sized loads of beetles this year. But, thanks to Agriculture Research Service scientists, I can now add catnip to my limited invasion-fighting arsenal.

According to ARS scientists, catnip oil contains compounds that naturally repel the beetles without harm. In one extensive study, 95 percent of adult male and female lady beetles altered their course when they encountered filter paper impregnated with nepetalactone, one of many compounds found in catnip oil.

So, do you need to purify the nepetalactone, or at the very least extract catnip oil from your catnip to repel the Asian lady beetles this fall? ARS scientists haven’t yet made that jump, however since catnip is easy to grow and lovely to look at in the garden, why not harvest a short ton of the feline-frolic-inducing herb and place dried bundles of it inside your storm windows, and the other lady beetle landing zones that are truly hot? If dried catnip doesn’t work on the beetles, you can always toss the bundles to your feline friends and enjoy a good show.

Read more about the possibility of using plant secondary products to deter Asian multi-colored lady beetles here.

I just read a pest update article in The Michigan Landscape, a horticultural trade magazine, which states that the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) revised its Emerald Ash Borer quarantine to consolidate all 68 counties of the Lower Peninsula into one quarantine level effective immediately. The article is just another reminder of a nearly decade long battle we’ve been fighting in this state – a battle which we’ve seemingly lost.

If you think this might be a localized issue restricted only to Michigan, or have never heard of Emerald Ash Borer, I urge you to please read further.

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is an insect native to Asia which was first discovered in the United States in the Detroit area in 2002. It’s thought this exotic pest gained entry into the country by hitching a ride on wood packing crates loaded on cargo ships and planes. Despite strict regulations and quarantines, the pest has spread to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and most recently was discovered last summer in Wisconsin, Missouri, and Virginia.

The death toll this pest has dealt our native ash species is staggering, (please note that mountain ash is not affected; it is a completely different genus). Since its discovery here less than ten years ago, EAB has killed or infested approximately 35 million ash trees in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula alone, and caused the death of 25 million more in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and other affected states. The effects of it spreading further will be an unfathomable amount of lost trees and money. Emerald Ash Borer has already cost government agencies, municipalities, property owners, nursery operators, and forest industries tens of millions of dollars.

The fatal damage is caused by the larva, which feeds under the bark of the ash trees, effectively girdling the tree, making it unable to take up water and nutrients. The trees die in three to four years. Because the larva feed unseen, damage usually remains undetected until the tree starts showing signs of stress, occurring first in the crown of the tree as it becomes deprived of nutrients.

Scientists at Michigan State University determined through tree core analysis that EAB may have been present in southeast Michigan over half a decade before it was found. It’s possible its range increased undetected for years. But this is not a fast moving insect – the natural dispersal range of EAB is only ½ to 2 miles annually. Because federal quarantine prohibited the sale or movement of nursery stock from infested areas since its discovery, it’s thought unlikely that Emerald Ash Borer will spread so quickly, nor will it spread further through the nursery trade.

So how did EAB continue to spread to nine states, and two Canadian provinces? Its range is greatly increased, and its spread accelerated when it catches a free ride from humans … and firewood is one of its favored modes of transportation.

Consider the following scenario: You help your cousin across state fall trees on his property; as a gesture of thanks, he offers you a cord of wood for your fireplace which you take home to your property. Meanwhile, hoping to make a little extra money, he places a sign out by the road, offering firewood for sale. A family from out-of-state camping in the area, purchases some, and not burning it all ‘round the campfire, takes the remainder home with them for use in their own fireplace. A new pest has just been introduced into previously non-infested areas. Sound like an alarmist’s far-fetched nightmare? Not so.

Ken Rausher, MDA’s Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division Director confirms the transportation of firewood as a major issue in the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer, stating, “Hardwood firewood is (still) prohibited from leaving the Lower Peninsula as it is the leading cause of spreading EAB and other invasives.”

Parks and Recreation Chief for the Michigan DNR, Ron Olson says, “Campers and hunters are reminded to purchase firewood locally when visiting state parks, recreation areas and state forest campgrounds. Bringing ash firewood into state forests, state parks, recreation areas and state forest campgrounds violates state land use rules.”

Interstate and intrastate ash product movement, to include firewood, has been prohibited for years in Michigan; violators face fines of up to $250, 000 and jail sentences up to five years. All other states infected with EAB have instituted similar restrictions prohibiting the movement of all hardwood firewood, ash nursery stock, green lumber, and other material living, dead, cut, or fallen, including logs, stumps, roots, branches, and composted and uncomposted chips of the genus Fraxinus (all ash species). The quarantines include all hardwood species of firewood because when dried, it’s difficult to identify the tree species.

Millions of dead ash trees and the threat posed to millions more, as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ website states, “serve as a stark reminder of how firewood can harbor many different kinds of invasive pests and diseases ... both in forest and urban settings. Gypsy moth, oak wilt, and the emerald ash borer are just a few examples of pests and diseases that hitch hike on firewood, making their way easily into previously unaffected, healthy areas.”

To learn more about firewood restrictions and EAB in your state, or what to do if you suspect EAB in your area, visit www.emeraldashborer.info – a site maintained in a multi-state effort by Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, dedicated to providing the most up-to-date information about Emerald Ash Borer.

(photos 1 and 2 courtesy of www.emeraldashborer.info; photo 3 courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)