Natural Born Killers!

Our Tombstone rosebush was growing nicely. Then a few leaves went missing.  I love a mystery! I figured it must be lizards since I had seen what they did with the edible weeds and my startup squash.  Dan didn't think so. How could a lizard snip off the top branches? He thought it might be birds. Suggested that we get a surveillance camera to find out. But it was too late!  The next day they were all gone!

Then the cycle started with our biggest moringa! 

I saw a few ants climbing up the trunk so I poured some used coffee grounds around it as a deterrent. Unfortunately, most of it sank into the mulch. 

Later that night, Dan trained his flashlight on the sidewalk and spotted a trail of ants towing our precious moringa leaves towards this hole... Oh! So that's where all the leaves were going! 

By the next morning most of the branches were bare. I saw tiny ants scurrying up and down the trunk and branches - ready to snip them off and drop them to their friends on the ground. 

I had to work fast!  I did some quick research.  I discovered that some of the leaf eater ants cut the branches and let the leaves fall to the ground.  Then another group of ants carry them back to their hole.  That's exactly what was happening!  Last year I had some luck with cayenne pepper.  A very informative video mentioned mixing cayenne pepper with baby powder. But I didn't have either! Luckily the same video demonstrated a method they use in Guatemala. And it didn't involve any deadly chemicals! 

After watching the video, I looked around the shed for a trash bag. We had long since stopped using plastic kitchen trash bags in the house. There were still two left.

First, I pulled out the draw strap and cut it. 

Next I rolled one end of the bag around two times the size of the moringa trunk.

Then I cut it along that line (about 3 inches.) I made a 4 X 6 inch square.

I wrapped it twice around the tree to test it. It was too big so I cut some off.

I tied the red draw string around the bottom (not so tight as to strangle the tree...)

Then I pulled the plastic down, inverting it. It made sort of an upside down cone . The ants climb into the cone but can't get through. Be careful that the plastic on the sides doesn't touch the trunk of the tree or the ants will climb onto it.

I cut some more on the bottom to make sure it didn't touch the trunk. It was difficult because this plastic was much thinner than the plastic sheet in the video. (Did I say watch the video for better instructions?)

I made funnels on the two trunks coming up. It actually worked for a while. But the wind blew the thin plastic against the side of the trunk. If only we had sprung for heavy duty garbage bags! 

*Note, these are old plastic bags left over from my first marriage. Now we use thin biodegradable bags that wouldn't work at all. Hmm... I wonder if the leftover piece of the recycled sign would work better...?

Then I looked over at the other moringa. We had great hopes for this moringa.  It already had flowers that we hoped would turn into yummy pods this year.  With closer inspection I found that there were ants climbing all over it.  I started pinching them between my fingers. On the ground below there were already some leaves and flowers! How dare they! I ran into the house to get another piece of plastic and sat on the edge of the mulch swarming with ants. As sweat dripped down my head, I pulled off some branches to make room for the protective cone. I wrapped the plastic around the tree as ants climbed up my leg and arms. I started squishing the ants above the cone with my bare hands, suffering from several ant bites. This was all out war! 

Later I brought the branches in the house. Those greedy ants weren't getting these! Over my itchy body! 

I got some cayenne pepper from the store and poured it all over the stump and surrounding mulch. 

The next morning the trees were still there but there were ants climbing up the trunk and branches. Crafty creatures!

I went into the house to get some Vaseline.

I put Vaseline on top of the plastic.

And it worked for a while...

Only later did I register the irony when Dan reminded me that it was "petroleum jelly." Argh! Should I try margarine? Ants avoid it at picnics... 

But these two moringas lived to see another day.

And some new branches sprouted from the nubs left on the leafless branches....

But Vaseline melts. So....

the battle continues...

soap water to remove ant trail through cayenne pepper

That didn't work. I'm so tired of fighting the ants. Today I found an ant hole at the base of the trunk. That is the last straw!

Diatomaceous earth (hopefully) protects the new growth.

Got em! Until it rains at least! 

New growth after two days of Diatomaceous earth.

The idea of making a little "funnels" to keep the ants from climbing up the trunk was a good one. But the black plastic I used was too thin, so it leaned on the side of the trunk allowing the ants to climb up it. So I got some new thicker clear plastic from the big Ace Hardware store on Broadway, and made a new funnel. This worked great. My moringa trees grew tall with lots of new leaves thanks to this method!

*by way of full disclosure... the Vaseline, soap water, and Diatomaceous earth that I applied on the tree itself wounded my poor moringas.

UPDATE May 26, 2021 

I've been using a method that I learned from Spadefoot Nursery. I fill up the ant hole with mud and gravel when I see the ants come out. Eventually they seem to go away.  When I see them heading for the moringa, I put corn meal along their trail to the trees. That at least slows them down. If that doesn't work, I go ahead and harvest the leaves off the tree.    

Information on natural methods to get rid of ants:

How To Get Rid Of Ants: Homemade, Natural Ways To Stop An Infestation

UPDATE July 26, 2021 

I've been able to get my moringa to come back by mitigating the leaf cutter ants before they get to my trees.  If I see ants coming out of the hole, I put cornmeal by the whole. I've also observed that the ants like to come out after the rain. So as soon as it stops, I put cornmeal around the trees.  

Remnants of Hurricane Bud on our Yard: The Agony and Ecstasy

I wasn't sure how our moringa and edible forest would fare while we were away for a two week trip to Lebanon, Missouri. I had left directions on how to water the yard with my distracted son.  Saturday night we came home to this... Our littlest moringa had doubled it's size! The ground was still wet from two days of lovely rain - the remnants of Hurricane Bud.

The next morning I surveyed our terrain. The little moringa seemed to grow overnight. The wonders of a good downpour!

I was delighted to find the "dead" moringa stump (I had given up on after loyally watering it everyday with the rest of the moringa) had finally sprouted a branch! The palo verde/moringa mulch was holding the water nicely. The mulch, along with the native grass in the basin, had also prevented erosion! 

The tallest moringa had grown another foot! It towered over Dan's head. My reward for smuggling three dime bags of my moringa tea in my luggage for my mother? Now we have plenty! 

I found out later that Josh hadn't watered them at all in the two weeks we were gone...

Oh, no! Déjà vu!  Closer inspection uncovered some dead branches. Our old friends the ants were back again wreaking havoc on one of our moringas. 

But right next to it, the morning sun shimmered on some budding blooms offering me a ray of hope.

The effects of Bud's downpour on our desert landscaping caused a roller coaster of emotions!

While watering the young chiltepin, grape plant, and Tombstone Rose, I spotted a line of erosion from the rain dripping off the roof. Before monsoon season starts, Dan really needs to install gutters leading to water barrels to redirect and save that rainwater!  Funny, I never noticed a line of erosion before Dan dug out the Burmuda grass. It seems that the elaborate root system of the die hard grass prevented erosion.

Click on the photo above to see how the little patch of mulch and weeds (native grass and purslane) interrupted the erosion seen on either side of grape plant. (Note: Dan advised that you wouldn't want a big mound of mulch retaining water right up to the foundation of the house.) For the first layer of mulch I used clippings from the native grass I found in the front yard. I didn't worry about the seeds because I knew that the roots from the grass would work with the mulch to create a sponge to retain the water like it did in our street-side catchment basin. I was happy to discover that the sponge also helped prevent erosion.  

My daily watering was doing double duty by nourishing the edible purslane, too. Actually, it's doing triple duty since I planted some cowpeas to add nitrogen to the soil.

I have gleaned from this little patch of purslane three times - leaving the roots and some branches so it can grow back. And it did! Think I'll grab me a little snack now! Yum! Refreshing citrusy greens! (I wash it before I munch. At least I'm secure in the knowledge that there's no herbicide on the edible weeds in MY yard. Hear that city council!)

The nearby Tombstone rosebush is also doing well in it's bed of organic mulch, native grass and used coffee grounds. The cowpea seeds I planted to add nitrogen to the soil also help with erosion. 

Now it's time to water the backyard edible forest with the rainwater collected in our blue rain barrels! 

Unfortunately, the leaves of our loquat tree in the greywater basin got fried despite Josh washing some loads of laundry and dutifully hand watering it two times a day. Maybe I should have given the non-native waterhog more shade to survive the brutal June sun. Live and learn.  

The walls of the basin also suffered some flood erosion near the loquat tree. 

To be honest, there was already some erosion from the rocks Dan put in the greywater basin to slow down the flow. So many lessons learned! We really need more mulch in the basin. But the winter wheat we planted to infiltrate the floor of the basin is helping to prevent erosion and breaking down into mulch.

The heritage fig trees and pomegranate are doing great thanks to Josh for watering them and the welcome remnants of Hurricane Bud. Oh, the agony and ecstasy! 

Directions for Josh

Fill up the water cans at the outdoor spickit.

Double check to make sure you turned it all the way off. 

Water all the mulch in the kitchen garden by the blue water barrel. 

One can in the morning and one after it cools off in the evening. 

Go over the mulch between these two plants a 2nd time

because that's where the potatoes are planted. 

  

See there's a new plant coming up on the left of the squash plant. 

The squash plant has new flowers so it could grow some squash this year!

Don't kill it! 

Water the two curry plants and the loquat tree. Saturate the mulch like a sponge.

Three cans split between the three trees in the morning and at night.

 Be careful not to wash the mulch around the loquat tree into the greywater basin. 

If you aren't washing a load a laundry that day, water the fig trees one can each 

(alternating between them so the mulch won't wash away.)  

Water the mulch around the two tomato trees to keep the soil alive. 

They can share a can with the mint.  Water all around the mint. 

Water the garden behind the fence two times a day. 

Use one can for the two rows of chard and another can at night. 

Water all the mulch around the two new little plants but put more near the plants. It might need two cans to really saturate the mulch. Don't dump the water too fast. It will leave holes in the mulch. Also, don't pour the water directly on these delicate baby plants. Water it in the morning and evening. 

Now the front of the house...

Use one can of water twice a day on the grape, rosebush and chiltapine on the corner of the house.

Don't trip over the cactus rib on the way to the baby moringa in the roadside basin. 

Water the baby moringa one can of water at night.  Water all the moringa at least once a week. 

Don't forget to SLOWLY pour your dish water and rinse water on the Mexican Honeysuckle.

SLOWLY

Pour your coffee water on the rosebush, the mulch around the tomato plants or in kitchen garden.

 

Make sure the animals have food and water. 

Take Pooh out with you when you water the backyard. 

Thanks for keeping our garden alive! 

City Council, Stop allowing City Maintenance to poison Tucson UPDATED

It's no secret my fondness for edible weeds or my complete disdain for Round Up. I hung a sign in the alleyway, "No Poison, Please. Edible Weeds Grow Here." I've done my best to educate the poor, misguided landscapers and maintenance workers who spray Round Up on every little weed and even baby palm trees. (Won't kill 'em anyway...) Sometimes I'm more successful than others. At a recent city council meeting, a woman took advantage of the public hearing period to urge the council to stop weeds from coming up this monsoon season by spraying pre-emergent herbicide all over town. Right then and there I decided to use my time to speak up about it. But Mayor Rothschild, in his great wisdom, had me speak on my other issue instead. That was just the nudge I needed to share my concerns with him and all the city council members in great detail... including links. lol

Feel free to write your Council Member too!

Dear Mayor Jonathon Rothschild and City Council Members:

I've been meaning to speak up at a city council meeting about the transportation department's overuse of herbicides for some time. After my mom got a severe headache from breathing in the Round Up sprayed in a right of way on our street, I spoke to the landscaper about it. He replied, “The city sprays it everywhere, so can we.”

Following the city's example.

Since then I have been very aware of herbicides sprayed on city property. The other day I was stunned to see an entire lot covered with it. Recently I walked by the County Public Service Center building. In the catchment basins - that should be an example of the best water-harvesting practices - there were turquoise patches of weed killer. Right where the rainwater sinks in to restore our aquifer! Even the Pima Department of Environmental Quality's G.I. hand books states that herbicides can sink into our ground water. I brought this up to the Pima Department of Environmental Quality just to be told that was the work of the city maintenance department.

I took this picture to show bad water-harvesting instalation - a native tree planted in the deepest part of basin.
But my camera inadvertently caught the herbicide right by the drain.

I am writing today because I was disturbed by a comment I heard at last night’s meeting. A woman from the “landscape advisory committee” suggested that monsoon season was upon us so the city should spray pre-emergent weed killer everywhere to keep the weeds from coming up.

I have several problems with that. First, it won’t keep the weeds from coming up. We have used so much that the weeds have grown resistant to it, so we need more and more to kill any. Weeds will come up after the monsoon rains anyway. By spraying them with herbicide before the monsoon rains, the poison will just run into our yards, playgrounds and those catchment basins (that are meant to sink the water into our ground water). The post-emergent herbicide, glyphosate, has been proven to cause cancer: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/widely-used-herbicide-linked-to-cancer/. However, there are also concerns about preemergent herbicides. It was once thought that herbicide contamination would be mitigated through filtration, but the active ingredients have been found in our ground water: https://water.usgs.gov/edu/groundwater-contaminants.html.

In response to a comment on facebook:  Yes, Roundup is a postemergent herbicide sprayed on weeds and grasses that have already sprouted. That has nothing to do with preemergent herbicides that are intended to keep weeds from sprouting in the first place. Observing the practice of landscapers and maintenance people around town, they frequently are misapplying Roundup as a preemergent. But preemergent herbicides have a number of issues. One is that any one chemical is only effective on a small subset of weeds, so multiple herbicides have to be sprayed to kill all of the "undesirable weeds." They also just don't work on some of the most noxious invasives, like buffel grass. The other problem is that the application period is very specific in order to kill the seeds when they are germinating. Not all landscapers are going to apply them at the right time to have any effect. Plus, they need to be watered after application to sink the chemicals into the soil. How many right of way sprayings are being watered immediately afterwards. They also shouldn't be used in a landscape with organic mulches because they will bind to the organic mulch and affect the growth of desirable plants. And, of course, just like the postemergents, they also contaminate the soil and the groundwater. Diuron, one of the pre-emergent herbicides recommended for use by the Arizona Department of Transportation has been shown to be toxic to birds, wildlife, and aquatic life and - even worse - one of the biproducts of the breakdown of diuron in the environment is the production of an even more toxic chemical, which stays in the soil and can contaminate groundwater. The European Union has banned its use, but of course it's still being recommended for use in the US.*

I have done my own monitoring on the effectiveness of herbicides on weeds. Every day, I walk by that house where the landscapers insist on spraying every little weed (and sometimes the whole yard) with industrial strength Round Up. I’ve observed that the herbicide works temporarily on the tiniest weeds, but even more weeds pop up by the next month – which get sprayed too. So it’s a never ending cycle of toxic weed killers in our neighborhood. Just wait a week or so for the weeds to die in the desert sun! Herbicides have no effect on Bermuda grass (which would take a bulldozer to get out the whole root system) or the bigger weeds.

We actually moved native grass into our catchment basin to help with erosion and sink in the rain.

We need to rethink what we consider acceptable desert landscaping. The plastic and gravel we use to keep weeds out of the yard also keeps rainwater from sinking in to restore our ground water. Many so-called weeds are planted in road side basins to help the water sink into the ground and prevent erosion. The native grass works with the mulch to create a sponge to soak in the monsoon rains.

We need to reconsider what we call “weeds.” Many Tucsonans glean amaranth and purslane (in Spanish, Verdolagas), my personal favorite. I’ve heard of preschool teachers taking their students on neighborhood walks and having them taste edible weeds. We certainly don’t want to poison children foraging at our neighborhood parks!

Purslane and amaranth I harvested from our alleyway buffet. Yum!

Please, look into the effect of herbicides on the public health and the cost of repeated use. Then ask the maintenance department to stop spraying that ineffective weed killer all over town.

Thank you,
Jana Segal
Sustainable Tucson Core Team

*Updated response added after e-mail to Mayor and City Council. 


UPDATE (April 2, 2019) Steve K wrote: "We'll see the draft on our Integrated Pest Mgmt program probably April 23rd study session. We're not banning Roundup, but what I've proposed is an inverted triangle in which the organic methods are broadly used first, and chemicals only as the last resort."