AusBonsai

Hi All,

wondering what insecticides everyone who has young children uses?

I'm looking for something thats incredibly safe, very effective and no danger to the environment or to the family.

My Problem is I have twin toddlers and when they are in the garden its imposible to stop them from touching things and putting things in thier mouths.

Are thier any natural alternatives?

Cheers

It's always more work not using chemicals, but is much safer. There are plenty of "home remedies" available for common household pests but most of them are very specific to a certain problem.

There are quite a few 'natural' remedies out there, however you'd still need to be cautious with the kids. Some are made from chilli's for example, so could still wreak a bit of havok if they're touching and tasting everything

http://www.treesrus.com.au/environmenta ... sprays.asp

There a link to a chart at the top of that page that shows what natural pest spray works best for each pest

interestign question.

About the only pesticide I use is Confidor.
http://www.yates.com.au/products/pest-c ... ncentrate/
and I use roundup for weed control if too many present.

The only thing re confidor is not to pick cucumbers within 1 day and tomatoes within 3.
I assume that means after then it is safe to digest .
Roundup according to wikipedea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate ... e_toxicity is safe to touch after 4 hours, so maybe spray that after the go inside in the afternoon.
Should be good by the day after

If you need to use them, pick a time when the bubs are not likely to be chewing on them for a day or 2. or just do a few trees at a time, and put them out reach for a day or 3.

Ken

Hi,

I also have a small human pest problem

I use pyrethrum spray on most of my fruit trees, roses, bonsai and some ornamentals. Pyrethrum is dry within about 2hrs, so as long as I keep my ferals away for that time its OK. The disadvantage is that it needs to be reapplied several times over spring and into summer. I spray in the morning to try and avoid predatory insects (lady birds, spiders etc).

Where it needs some more long term action I use confidor tablets. But be careful which trees you use confidor tablets as they contain fertilisers that may cause issues with some natives. An entomologist friend who does bonsai recommended them to me, and they have been great to discourage borers. Just don't use them on anything with fruit you may eat, lilly pilly, cumquat etc. My azaleas on my patio have confidor for lace bugs. My kids brush past them constantly and have had no rashes etc.

Good luck! I would like to say kids grow out of that touch everything phase, but mine don't seem to be

Meegs.

I'm looking for something thats incredibly safe, very effective and no danger to the environment or to the family.

Sorry to rain on you but I don't think there is any such thing. If there was, everyone would use it and chemical pesticide companies would not exist.
Even many 'natural' pesticides are incredibly toxic. Some are even more toxic than synthetic pesticides so 'natural' does not always = low toxicity or safe.

I have a gardening book that addresses this in a really fun way. They fill water pistols with a relatively tame concoction (i think a bit of dishwashing liquid maybe lemon juice, will double check) and then just let the kids spray the plants. You'd have to make sure youve got a weak water pistol so you dont damage the plants but its such a fun way it get the kids involved.