So Apparently This Is Like A Superfood And Nontoxic Bug Killer. Reading The Amazon Reviews Was Very Compelling!

Homemade Sweet Potato Pie

Homemade Sweet Potato Pie is easier than you think! This classic Southern dessert recipe is perfect for the holidays!

This recipe makes two pies but you could also combine it into one deep dish pie instead. You can use premade crusts like I did or make your own, just don’t bake the crust first. I’ll make this again at Christmas with my own crust recipe…I don’t think I’ve shared that here on the blog either!

How To Kill Bed Bugs in Home

Bed Bugs are biting little insects that thrive in poor sanitary or dilapidated living conditions. The adults are oval-shaped, about 1/5" in length and have a red hue. The younger members of this species tend to be smaller and have a lighter, more yellow color. These insects can reproduce quickly, the females release eggs in batches of up to fifty for a total of up to 500 eggs! These eggs are deposited on uneven textured surfaces with a sticky glue-like substance that allows them to incubate for ten days. They thrive in temperatures between 72oF and 80oF, they love burrowing deep inside mattresses and all types of furniture. Bed bugs are remarkably disciplined, they can survive without a source of food for almost four months at a time.

Like ticks, these bugs love blood and can consume six times their own weight. This huge appetite seems only fitting for an insect that can diet for that long. Fortunately, these insects are not generally disease carriers. The bite sites tend to become inflamed due to a reaction to their saliva. These unsanitary creatures will leave a scent and some feces behind them. These spots and smells will provide a clue to both the state of infestation and their location.

As with other bug management solution, prevention is again the best measure of defense. Make sure all mattresses, linens and bedding are kept clean and free of dust and debris. It would also be wise to seal up cracks in walls, window frames, door frames and anywhere else. Since these guys can't fly and must crawl, so you can impede their movement by coating furniture legs with petroleum jelly products.

If an infection has occurred, it is vital to stem its spread as soon as possible. Try using Diatomaceous Earth (DE), a natural pest control product that is made entirely of the skeletal remains of ocean plankton.

6 tips to prevent common rose diseases

Just like people, roses are susceptible to rose diseases and various other health problems. Many of the problems that come with having roses are relatively easy to take care of, but it is always better to stop them all together rather than having to cure them later. Here are some of the ways that you can prevent rose diseases from reaching your roses.

The easiest way to prevent rose diseases from inhabiting your roses is to buy roses that are low maintenance like shrubs and landscape roses.

Planting your roses properly in areas that have a lot of sun(at least 6 hours in the morning), air circulation and good compost for faster draining can prevent many problems later.

Keeping different types of flowers and plants in with your roses will help to provide your roses with a better and more balanced ecosystem to live in.

Epsom salt is found to be effective for roses. It will provide the enrichment to your soil, which in turn will cause your rose bush to thrive and naturally be healthy.

Fertilizing your plants in the proper manner. Roses need their food too!

Watering your roses correctly and in the morning is a good way to keep fungal diseases from hitting your roses.

A two inch layer of mulch at the base of your roses is a good way to keep soil born diseases at bay.

Ant Facts & Types - Ways to Get Rid of Them

There are countless numbers of ant species. For better or worse, they have adapted to living among humans and taking what they can to survive. Sometimes, their colonies become too large and have to be dealt with accordingly. When not living outdoors, ants love to nest in dry or decaying wood but will settle for Styrofoam or fiberglass insulation.

The Argentine Ant is common to rural and urban areas alike. They are identifiable by their tiny size (1/16" long) and brown color. They are the most common ant species in California and they will bite! They are true survivors and will live in and feed on garbage, dead animals or even toothpaste. Due to their unsavory habits, they often come in contact with disease and can be quite dangerous. They will eat just about anything we do and they thrive in dark, moist kitchen and bathroom areas.

The Carpenter Ant is named for his fine skill in tearing wood and crafting a nice nest for the next generation. They cause the most damage in mountainous and forested regions along the central and northern coastlines of California. They are generally larger than other ants and can range from red to black. They cannot sting, but will use their powerful jaws to bite. Keep an eye out for these ants by looking for their winged scouts and discarded wood particles (sometimes called "frass"). It is vital to determine the location of these nests because they can cause untold damage. Examine any frass for clues as to where they have been practicing their craft. Keep in mind that these ants prefer to feed on the honey dew of certain varieties of aphids and can quickly overwhelm and destroy these plants.

The Field Ant is relatively large at a quarter of an inch. They enjoy the sunny outdoors, but they will eat a cooling pie from a windowsill. These ants are the ones that we have all seen in sidewalk cracks.

The Fire Ant is among the most insidious of all insect species. They have a potent bite that burns like salsa in the eyes! They are generally 1/8" long and can be identified by their light red bodies and brown bodies. They build their nests outside in small mounds or inside in anything from wood to drywall. They will eat anything. They have an unhealthy fascination will electricity and their ignorance of proper safety procedures leads them to cause expensive damage to electrical equipment. We use this shocking tendency to draw ants into an isolation chamber by using a solar panel to generate a small, but fascinating current in the Solar Ant Charmer. Also, boric acid is toxic to ants, but it doesn't work immediately.

The Odorous House Ant is a stinky little pest. They are reportedly identifiable by a distinct odor that is released when they are crushed. This odor supposedly resembles that of rotten coconuts, so if you want to be sure, allow some coconuts to rot and compare the smells. These ants have a preference for sweets and live in the same places as most other ants.

The Pavement Ant is partial to living in and around cement. They are less than 1/8th" in length and range from brown to black. These ants will eat almost anything and are thus a good target for baits.

The Pharaoh Ant is a tiny (less than 1/16") critter and is rumored to have come here all the way from Egypt. They have a wasp-like look to them and a surly attitude that reminds us that they were annoying the ancient Egyptians thousands of years ago. They prefer the indoors and warm areas. These ants are particularly tricky to control because any disturbance of the nest causes them to panic and execute an evacuation plan that would make OSHA proud. They will disperse and readily form a new colony in a new and undoubtedly more inconvenient spot. Pay specific attention to leaving the nest itself undisturbed. Baits work very well this ant, while contact pesticides are usually useless.

The Thief Ant is an unsavory character known for stealing the food supply and nests of other colonies. These sneaky guys are among the smallest ants found. When they manage to raid another nest, they will return the food to their ground and wooden dwellings. They are often found scavenging among dead animal carcasses and have even found themselves involved in the lifecycle of a tapeworm species. They are picky eaters and often won't eat a large enough portion to be poisoned with baits.

The Velvety Tree Ant has a soft, velvety abdomen and a red thorax. These stylish cousins are much larger at 3/8" long and prefer to nest in trees. These ants are reputed to share the rotten coconut smell of the Odorous House ant. They prefer sweets but have been known to eat dead animals and dead insects. Beware, these ants will inflict a painful bite.

The Yellow Ant is about 1/8" long and emits a citronella odor when crushed. These ants love moisture and hate daylight, almost like vampire ants. They will seek out rotting wood and will ignore healthy wood altogether. These ants are particularly picky eaters, with a taste for other insects but not for sweets.

How to Grow Upside Down Tomatoes

•    To grow upside down tomatoes, you would need to use a container.Space for a garden outdoors is not required when growing tomatoes using this method.You wouldn’t need a huge space wherein your growing tomatoes will receive their required daily dose of six to eight hours of sunlight.The plants can easily be relocated to help them get sun exposure because they are in containers.

•    Growing tomatoes upside down will require no more staking. As tomatoes grow heavier, they look for an erect object to lean on.However, because they are upside down, they will naturally grow straight due to gravity.

•    Weeding is not necessary with growing upside down tomatoes.Because they are cultivated in containers, there are many other benefits that you could achieve. Weeding, dealing with pests, and requiring good soil are no longer big problems you have to worry about.

•    Pests find it difficult to climb up to tomatoes grown upside down.Upside down tomatoes should be sufficiently spaces to avoid the spread of disease.

Ant Spray & Ant Traps For Inside And Outside.

There is nothing more annoying than sharing your home with uninvited guests. When you walk into a room and see a few little ants crawling around, it just triggers a feeling of disgust. I don’t mind using ant spray but where did I put it?

You know there can never be just one ant, there are always relatives lurking in the cracks somewhere. I’m always amazed at how they get inside and why they come inside. I keep a very clean and tidy home, so it isn’t like I have crumbs laying all over the floors. However, they decided to move in despite my cleanliness.

I would get rid of a few and more would appear. To me, there was nothing worse than knowing that there were little insects crawling around my home at all hours of the day.

Knowing that there are ants around always makes me feel like they are crawling on my, even if it’s just a breeze that moves a hair over my forehead or neck. I immediately swat at it like it was alive.

I set out to get some ant spray or traps so that I could eliminate the problem before they moved all of the neighborhood ants into my home. With some advice from individuals at the pest control and local hardware store, I bought two kinds of ant spray.

One ant spray was for inside my house and the other one was for outside. They told me that using ant spray inside of the home might not be as effective as what I was hoping it would be. It might just make them seek out other areas of my home to make their nest instead. The ant spray for outside was supposedly very effective. I was supposed to spray it all around my home’s foundation, going out a few extra feet to ensure that the ants would be deterred from even nearing my house to make a dash for it. I also sprayed about a foot up the house, in case they decided to attack from that direction. I was definitely launching a war both inside and outside of my home.

The pest control company told me about several baiting traps to place inside of my house. Once the ants would find them and drink or feed from them, they will be poisoned. I purchased a few of those as well. I was also told to eliminate any anthills that I might find in my flowerbeds or yard that could be a mansion for ants. By destroying those homes, I would be preventing ants from breeding and frolicking around my home.

The pest control professionals told me of not only an ant spray to use on the hills, but a few other powders and such. I was weary of using them because of other wildlife getting into the powders and being harmed. Ever so kindly, they took a few moments to tell me what kinds of prevention I could use outside that would not be harmful to the environment.

One week later, I was once again living alone. No uninvited guests had shown up for days. Right now, I consider myself safe. At least for the time being.

Not only that, but carbon dioxide as well!

How To Bring Back Butterflies: Make Vineyards Sustainable

An unintended but very welcome (and very pretty!) side effect of relying less heavily on pesticides.

Natural Ways To Keep Mosquitoes Away

Female mosquitoes have a long proboscis that they use to pierce the skin and tap the bloodstream. Mosquitoes are dangerous pests that happen to act as disease vectors, creating a nuisance and a health hazard. Humans and animals alike are easy targets for the over 200 species of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are known to carry dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, west nile virus, encephalitis and more. Mosquitoes lay eggs that float on standing water, hence the need for the immediate removal of still water. The larval mosquitoes tuck underneath the water surface to grow, using a snorkel like apparatus (known as the siphon) to breath. They will eventually hatch and reproduce themselves, drastically increasing the size of their population in a short period of time. They are drawn to signs of life including the presence of heat, motion, CO2, humidity and odor. The females must obtain blood as a means of acquiring the protein necessary for egg production and development. Flowering plants and other nectar sources serve as the mosquito's prime food source, so think twice about flower placement if your region is susceptible to mosquito invasion. Also, there are many mosquito repellent plants that you can grow in your garden to get rid of them. Some of them are Catmint, Rosemary, Basil, Lavender etc There are plenty of products available that will kill mosquitoes without harming people, pets or other wildlife. Some store bought products can be just as toxic to people and pets as they are to mosquitoes Mosquitoes can be hazardous to health, so there is no sense in removing with chemicals that can be as harmful. We recommend using multiple methods of pest control to protect yourself, your family and your environment.

How do you get rid of cockroaches?

Cockroaches are hearty pests, they have existed in different forms for millions of years and have become adept at the art of survival. They have continually adapted to most chemical treatments, leaving dangerous chemical residue that harms humans and pets. Cockroaches are anything but clean, they routinely dig through garbage and any other waste imaginable. Then they crawl all over countertops, foodstuffs and kitchenware. Roach droppings and bodies have been reported to act as asthmatic triggers that increase the intensity and frequency of asthma problems. Baits tend to work well with these species because they cannibalize the poisoned bodies of their fallen comrades. An often overlooked solution is to sprinkle infested areas with diatomaceous earth (DE). DE is often used in pool filters, it consists of fossilized marine remains that forms a fine talc-like powder. This substance is completely inert and will not pose any threat to people or animals. DE has an almost microscopic crystalline structure that will perforate and kill the soft bodied roaches. Roaches cannot adapt to this material because it physically harms the abdomen of the roach. As with other pests, it is important to make sure that window and door frames are sealed and all structural cracks are filled in. Make sure to eliminate damp areas, leaks and spills as well as food sources to limit their access to the necessary food and water. In order to use a more specific roach treatment, it is recommended that you place sticky traps in order to allow for more a positive identification of species.