Getting rid of pests

Ryuuko · 06-27-2004, 09:40 PM

Namaste everyone,

Here's a simple question, but perhaps a simple answer does not accompany it. I have a bunch of grasshoppers in my garden that have decided to destroy the plants and have a buffet. Since I know that buddhism honors all life, what do I do with those nasty grasshoppers that are taking over my garden?

samabudhi · 06-28-2004, 03:32 AM

Allow nature to take it's course. The population of the grasshoppers will rise, the garden will wither, the garden will not be able to support the grasshoppers, the grasshoppers will wither. Be not attached to the idea of a bug-free garden. This is an unnatural state anyway.

If you can't like that suggestion, you could shoo all the bugs off your property and have a zen garden put in.

Ryuuko · 06-28-2004, 04:12 AM

Right, but in the meantime, the wonderful plants that I carefully planted are being eaten away. I don't want to be looking at a barren garden! Bugs are important in the ecosystem of the garden, and I do realize that I won't get a pristine, bug-free garden. I'm not expecting that. I just don't want the plants to die because the bugs ate all the leaves and now the plant is left with no means of renewing itself--it'll just wither.

A zen garden sounds great, but it doesn't smell as nice.

Mus Zibii · 06-28-2004, 05:13 AM

LOL Good thread. Luckily, I hate manicured things so I can revel in my indifference. But good luck with your path.

Mus Zibii · 06-28-2004, 11:14 AM

Didn't mean for my response to seem uncaring. I'm just happy I don't have this problem. Its a quandary

Ryuuko · 06-28-2004, 02:44 PM

Namaste Mus Zibii,

Don't worry--no offense taken. You're right, it's a bit of a quandary. I'm anxious to see what others have to say.

Zenda71 · 06-28-2004, 03:05 PM

Greetings!

I'm a gardener too, although I tend to just put things in and let nature take its course. Slugs eat my plants, mostly the leaves. It isn't terribly pretty sometimes, but I try to remember that they have a right to live and eat too. My favorite technique is to overplant so that not all the plants are decimated in one year. (The rabbits like this too because it gives them great places to nest.) I also put in really hardy things like black-eyed susans, daylilies, salvia ... the stuff that won't die no matter what you do.

My grandfather used to surround his new plants with plants that feeders don't like. (For instance, you can plant marigolds around new plants to give them time to establish before the rabbits find them.)

Another option is to pick the grasshoppers off the plants and drive them to a field and drop them off there. But this probably isn't terribly practical. More would just come back.

Have you thought about dedicating a portion of your garden to just grasshopper plants to draw them away from the rest of your beds? It sounds crazy, but it might work.

I'm curious what the Buddhists do about weeding. I used to just pull them out and toss them into my compost pile. But maybe that isn't compassionate?

With metta,
Zenda

Ryuuko · 06-28-2004, 03:15 PM

Namaste Zenda,

Those are all worthwhile suggestions. I guess what you're saying that applying an organic pesticide to control the grasshoppers isn't a viable solution... I understand that grasshoppers have a right to live and eat too, but so do the plants--and with the ton of grasshoppers that are flying around, the plants are dying. There's an imbalance.

I see this situation pretty much the same to a virus attacking our bodies. Are we supposed to let the virus take its course (which can sometimes make our bodies very sick) or control the virus with medication?

Vajradhara · 06-28-2004, 03:58 PM

Namaste all,

thank you for an interesting topic, Ryuuko.

i think that there are several means that you can use to try to deal with the situation.. with probably the most practicle being a live and let live attitude.

however, there are several home remedies, as it were, that you can use to control the insect population in your garden.

ideally, the solution would be to find a few inscets that happen to find grasshopper palatable. this, then, is a very balanced solution to the situation.

you can try things like Zenda has mentioned... her grandfathers advice is fantastic. there are several plant types that, though attractive, don't make for a good meal, thus, if you use them as a barrier, you can usually protect your plants.

i had this issue this year with the cicadids. they burrowed into nearly all of my new tree plantings.. and really did a job on them. they are pretty sickly looking right now

oh.. another thing i was thinking about... you can spray the plants with natural insect repellent, like citronella oil, though some plants don't react too well with this.

here's a neat link with plenty of ideas for natual pest control in your garden:

http://eartheasy.com/grow_nat_pest_cntrl.htm

now... i just thought i should touch on something that was briefly mentioned so that there is no misunderstand.

it is true that Buddhists value all life and the environment quite bit, however, not all life is sentient. it is sentient life that is reborn... this was in reference to bacteria and the body. i can go into more detail in this should it be desired.

Ryuuko · 06-28-2004, 04:03 PM

Namaste Vajradhara,

Thank you for your suggestions, and for the information. If you wouldn't mind, yes, I would like more information about sentient beings and their rebirth.

Zenda71 · 06-28-2004, 04:23 PM

Vajra: Will your trees bounce back next year from the cicadas? It's amazing, but we've hardly had any in Pennsylvania yet. Yet, my friends in Baltimore told me they had to shovel them off their porches.

Ryuuko: Good luck!

With metta,
ZW

Vajradhara · 06-28-2004, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenda71

Vajra: Will your trees bounce back next year from the cicadas? It's amazing, but we've hardly had any in Pennsylvania yet. Yet, my friends in Baltimore told me they had to shovel them off their porches.

Ryuuko: Good luck!

With metta,
ZW

Namaste Zenda,

from what i hear, the brood in Maryland was the largest single brood of inscets to ever hatch at one. billions of the little new foliage munchers were born.. they actually brought a news truck (lorrie for my Brit friends

) to my neighbors house to show all the cicadids in his yard. it was pretty amusing.

mostly, they are gone now, so i've pruned all the dead branches, which leaves some of them pretty darn bare. i suspect that they will recover well enough as the trunks weren't damaged, though, i won't really know until next year.

Vajradhara · 06-28-2004, 04:34 PM

Namaste Ryuuko,

thank you for the post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryuuko

Namaste Vajradhara,

Thank you for your suggestions, and for the information. If you wouldn't mind, yes, I would like more information about sentient beings and their rebirth.

i am happy to expound on this to the limit of my understanding. however, prior to do that, i think that it may be of some value for you to visit this thread:
http://www.comparative-religion.com/...read.php?t=259

and read the information presented therein as i think that this will provide you with both good information and a wealth of areas in which to derive questions

let me know once you've read that and we can discuss anything in particular that you'd like.

Ryuuko · 06-28-2004, 04:57 PM

Namaste Vajradhara,

Thank you for the information; I'll read it a bit later, since there's uhhh.. quite a bit to read there and absorb. I'll post my questions a bit later relating to the issue.

Mind you, it's a bit difficult for me to rationalize having pests destroy plants. Such as in the case with your cicadas--I would be terribly upset if a swarm of cicadas came and munched on the trees like they did. My first instinct would be to destroy the ones I can (sorry, but I'm just being honest

). If only one or two showed up, the plant can survive that, but a swarm? I just have a hard time seeing a wonderful plant being destroyed by pests. Oh, the woes of a gardener.

If I can present a similar situation, I also have a family of ants that decided to move into the house some time over the winter. At first, there were only a couple. I'd see them go around, and remembered the Buddha's principle that I should honor all life and not kill the ants. So I let them stay, and went on with my life. No big deal, right? Since then, they've grown in population, and I come back from work at night sometimes and I see that they've built themselves a highway on my kitchen counter. Not only is this unclean, but it's kind of embarrasing when I have company over and they see ants all over the place. The ants are thriving--they're getting food from somewhere and a nice climate, so why wouldn't they? If I don't do anything about it, I may soon have ants all over the house, and have much bigger problems. So what can I do? I put an ant trap, and figure, if they go eat the stuff out of their own free will, then I'm not killing them, or am I?

Yes, the garden IS a wealth of knowledge...

juantoo3 · 06-28-2004, 05:06 PM

Kindest Regards, Ryukko! I don't believe we've met, welcome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryuuko

Namaste everyone,

Here's a simple question, but perhaps a simple answer does not accompany it. I have a bunch of grasshoppers in my garden that have decided to destroy the plants and have a buffet. Since I know that buddhism honors all life, what do I do with those nasty grasshoppers that are taking over my garden?

Chinese gardening techniques amaze me. I love the way natural methods and schedules are incorporated into the scheme of doing things. It seems to me the solution to your problem would be in getting a few ducks to take care of your problem for you. Chickens might work, provided you keep them away from tomatoes (chickens love tomatoes).

By chance, are you familiar with the method of terraced gardening I have heard referred to as "teaching water?" I am having difficulty finding information about it. Thanks, and again, welcome!