Coffee anyone ?

[Blue Sky]

A couple of after thoughts, excuse me if I’m Captain Obvious. Stock up on screw worm treatments, sprays. Anything related to fly control in general. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were edicts and proclamations about What Must Be Done only to have necessary tools and treatments cost prohibitive or unavailable. I sound cynical but the last few years have left me suspicious.

 

[SageHill]

A couple of after thoughts, excuse me if I’m Captain Obvious. Stock up on screw worm treatments, sprays. Anything related to fly control in general. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were edicts and proclamations about What Must Be Done only to have necessary tools and treatments cost prohibitive or unavailable. I sound cynical but the last few years have left me suspicious.

Not cynical at all. Just like the rest of us (or most of us) we are really good at recognizing patterns. At least that's my thought.

 

[murphysranch]

Another concern I'm bringing to this thread:

I was driving from San Jose, CA to Vancouver WA over the last two days, and I had ordered SiriusXM for the rental car. I listened to a huge variety of channels, including an agriculture one, called Rural Radio.

The most interesting interview that I heard on Rural Radio on XM was that by 2027, spilling over into 2028, fertilizer will be very, very hard to come by. The economic pressure exerted by the Oil and Gas crisis, along with China's political power to forward purchase remaining supplies, will leave farmers in dire need of enough crop fertilizers for the yields that they now enjoy. As it gets more expensive, farmers won't be able to spread at the application rate they need for good yields.

I'm a gardener and pretty much grow organically, but of course I'm in a low pest climate. But I do need fertilizers to maintain the intregity of my raised beds, of which there are 15 (8' by 4'). I'm focusing on longer term storage squashes as a back fill due to the costs of fresh produce being outrageous in the grocery stores. I need to stock up on all types of fertilizer to try to mitigate their increased costs. If stored in a dry, cool place, I wonder what the shelf life of them would be.

 

[Mini Horses]

You burn wood? Save ashes.
You have chickens? Save droppings & egg shells.
You have comfrey? Save leaves.
Cut grass? Save clippings.
Epson salt? Read up on that to use.
Worm farm? Wonderful casings there.
Rabbits? Perfect -- meat & manure.

FORTUNATELY -- my goats & chickens cut grass, clear out bugs, give milk, eggs, meat, fertilizer & a laugh or two.

Yes, the prices are high and supplies questionable for commercial products. But look at what was used in years past. For a home garden you can get by with other products. Before you become over bought -- look around you for options.

And I'm ticked that gasoline went up another $.25 a gal overnight!! At least in my area -- we're all feeling it. We're all hating it. Not gonna get better anytime soon. No magic bullet

 

[fuzzi]

Natural Tick repellents, a study:

The repellent efficacy of eleven essential oils against adult Dermacentor reticulatus ticks - PubMed

Dermacentor reticulatus ticks are among the most important arthropod vectors of zoonotic disease agents in Europe. Eleven essential oils, namely basil (Ocimum basilicum), bergamot (Citrus bergamia), clove bud (Syzygium aromaticum), citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus), creeping thyme (Thymus...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[fuzzi]

You burn wood? Save ashes.
You have chickens? Save droppings & egg shells.
You have comfrey? Save leaves.
Cut grass? Save clippings.
Epson salt? Read up on that to use.
Worm farm? Wonderful casings there.
Rabbits? Perfect -- meat & manure.

FORTUNATELY -- my goats & chickens cut grass, clear out bugs, give milk, eggs, meat, fertilizer & a laugh or two.

Yes, the prices are high and supplies questionable for commercial products. But look at what was used in years past. For a home garden you can get by with other products. Before you become over bought -- look around you for options.

And I'm ticked that gasoline went up another $.25 a gal overnight!! At least in my area -- we're all feeling it. We're all hating it. Not gonna get better anytime soon. No magic bullet

I don't use any chemical fertilizers. I compost any food that my chickens won't eat (coffee grounds, rotting fruit, etc), and throw yard clippings in my gardens and chicken run. My chickens provide eggs and manure. The dirt in their runs is not "hot", and so I add it to my gardens as well.

 

[SageHill]

For my raised beds I put in some bags of soil - miracle grow, cow manure, top soil (all Home Depot) - but the thing that really makes a difference is about half a bushel of shredded alfalfa that the sheep leave behind. I tried the fertilizer route doing tests on the soil and it was a mediocre result compared to the alfalfa.

@fuzzi - I've got most of those essential oils - it would be easy to make a spray or roll on with them.

 

[fuzzi]

I have tea tree oil. Also, I saw that video about chiggers and ticks being repelled by DMSO. That was interesting, she thought it was most likely something about the sulfur.

 

[RR Homestead]

@RR Homestead you might want to step it up and get your cows moved as soon as possible. California is a border state and screwworms are heading your way. I don't know how far they are from the California border, but they are only 57 miles from Texas. Once they enter the state, other states could close their borders to us like we closed our borders to cattle from Mexico. Right now, you can get health papers and it is fairly easy to move cattle interstate. After screwworms hit, it's going to be a lot harder. I don't know your circumstances, but your husband might need to retire now so y'all can get this move done. If he is waiting on a specific date, then you need to go now with the cattle. List your home ASAP and get out of there. He may need to rent an apartment until his retirement date, if the home sells soon. Take the beef cattle, spend a few days getting them settled in, go back for another load of beef cattle until you get them all HOME. Then take the dairy cattle since they need more daily interaction and care. Or maybe he just needs to stay behind until the house sells to keep squatters out. After the meeting I went to last night, this screwworm situation is going to be bad any way you look at it. You are in a border state, it will be worse for you (and me). Because of the squatter situation, you probably need to take the cattle now and husband should stay behind until the house sells. Get your cows out and take them home.

Thank you for the heads up. We're going as fast as we can sadly. Definitely going to keep this on top of my mind. I'd already been thinking about stocking up on screw worm spray since we don't have anything like it. Might bump that order up now.

WOAH -- that's definitely a HUGE HEADS UP -- and fair warning. While @RR Homestead is up north - if they close the border I'm sure they'd do it state wide and not county wide. Though being in the southern most county I'm guessing they will imposed county to county bans - they've done that with the bird flu, and other areas smaller than counties for citrus and such. I hate to say it, but get out while the gettin's good. Yeah - just another added layer of stress until it's all done.

It is another layer of stress.

A couple of after thoughts, excuse me if I’m Captain Obvious. Stock up on screw worm treatments, sprays. Anything related to fly control in general. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were edicts and proclamations about What Must Be Done only to have necessary tools and treatments cost prohibitive or unavailable. I sound cynical but the last few years have left me suspicious.

I was just looking into this when I was making my last order. I may make a special order and just bite the bullet. I've been trying not to spend spend spend but I think it's a wise investment right now.

 

[farmerjan]

Rural King, and I think our co-op, farm supply stores, have the 10% pyrethrin concentrate... A LOT CHEAPER to make your own in a spray bottle... cut it down and spray on any possible open sore... we spray the calves that we band and cut off the sack when it starts to dry up... stops flies for days. Use it in a back rubber also.