Tag: bug control
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PK Reviews: Nylex 1.5L 360° Garden Sprayer
Product ranges get an automatic tick of approval from me if the bottom end of the range far exceeds expectations. The Nylex Garden Sprayer range is the perfect example of this. I am reviewing several of their models starting with the Nylex 1.5L 360° Sprayer which is my latest purchase. See the other reviews here.
I couldn’t be more pleased with it.
This pressure sprayer is perfect for spraying chili plants and tomato plants, for example, where you only want small quantities of solution but you need to get the underside of the leaves too. A trigger spray (although Nylex makes good/affordable versions of these) is not going to suffice as they can’t spray upside down. Turning the leaves is going to end up getting spray on you and also leaf/foliage damage.
Note: This is not a paid post.
Product Reviewed:
- Nylex 1.5L 360° Garden Sprayer
Pros:
- Very good build quality for a very low price
- 2 year warranty on the UV resistant plastic
- Feels balanced in the hands
- Adjustable nozzle from mist to stream
- Lockable trigger
- Easy to read 1.0L and 1.5L marks so you can easily mix your concentrate solutions
- Filter mechanism avoids blockages
- Spare o-rings etc are available
Cons:
- Not as versatile as a pressure sprayer with a wand for plants with dense foliage
- Lack of tag or other method to communicate purpose/type of the contents e.g. fungicide vs insecticide
Availability:
- Available at your local Bunnings https://www.bunnings.com.au/nylex-1-5l-360-garden-sprayer_p2961996
The Verdict:
Great product at a very reasonable price and small enough to store when not in use. Build quality is high and you should get many years out of it.
If you have any questions about the product range I recommend contacting the Nylex team at http://www.nylexwatering.com/contact-us/
Hope this review helps and feel free to send me any comments or corrections.
Enjoy,
PK
Hope this review helps,
PK
Related Links:
- See more Nylex posts here
- See our other product reviews here
- See more growing, catching and cooking equipment here
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Reuse, Recover: Egg Shells
As you know or are beginning to suspect, I am nuts about minimising my kitchen waste. I am always looking to reuse or recover anything I can.
Google is a great help in this but once you get in the mindset of doing it and thinking outside the box, you will start coming up with your own ideas.
So with this in mind please don’t throw out those egg shells :).
For starters, egg shells are composed of approximately 95% calcium carbonate. This is great for the soil and lots of shell goes into my composting bins.
I also crush them up somewhat and scatter them around my vegetables to control moths. You might think this an urban myth but it really works. Now I have read that there are two reasons why people think this works. Either the moths think there are too many moth eggs in the vicinity already and move on or they are laying their eggs on the chicken egg shells and the grubs don’t make it to your veggies.
Lastly, I have heard you can use them to raise seedlings in (as little pots) but I have never done so. On a related note, the egg cartons either go back to the farmers market and reused or they go into the worm farm or compost bins.
What do you use egg shells for?
Enjoy,
PK
Related Links:
- see more ReuseRecover posts here
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Bucket Pond Make And Manage
I just can’t bring myself to like mosquitoes. They suck your blood, make you itch and can give you some nasty diseases. Certainly entry grounds into my BadCritters club :).
So I take much pleasure in my bucket pond’s mosquito killing power. It was so easy and cheap to make. Maintenance varies from rarely to almost never but if you did do a water change you will get some nutrient rich water for your vegetable garden.
Here is how:
- Get two cheap round plastic pots (that are the same size and stackable) and some plastic pond lining from Bunnings or the like.
- Dig a hole and place one pot inside the other, making sure they are flush with the surrounding soil and level.
- Fold the liner over so it is double the thickness, then drape it over and into the top pot.
- Do a rough cut of the excess plastic now but not too much because when you add the water, the pond liner will flatten out and drop further into the pots. Besides, you will want some excess liner to sit under the rocks that you will add later for visual appeal.
- Slowly fill the bucket pond half full with water, letting the liner flatten and even out. You will get a fold, due to the square plastic sheet going into a round pond, so try and place it in a inconspicuous location. When the vegetation grows you won’t see it so don’t worry too much about it for now.
- Add several small water plants and some river stones into the pond’s base. The stones hold the plants in place and are an important part of the bacterial cycle that cleans the water.
- Place rocks around the edge and backfill with gravel, mulch or sand.
- Fill the bucket pond to the brim with water.
- Leave the water for several days or weeks until mosquito larvae are present. This indicates that the water is ready for fish to be added.
- Add cold water tolerant fish and watch as they smash the existing mosquito larvae.
I populated the bucket pond with White Cloud Mountain Minnows to eat any new mosquito eggs and to feed the pond plants with their waste.
They are a hardy fish regarding temperature and water conditions plus they swim on the surface. This is important because that is where the mosquito larvae live and the pond gets very little natural aeration. When I refill the bucket pond (in Perth evaporation can be severe so this action is every few days) I use a strong stream from the hose and make sure it aggressively breaks the water surface. That is all I do as far as re-oxygenation and water changes are concerned.
I don’t feed them as I want them to mostly eat mosquito larvae and the excess algae that grows during the summer months. There are visual signs that this system works. The water stays clear even in the sunny months and minnow fry can occasionally be seen swimming alongside their parents.
My pond also has a metal grill over the top to make it safe for small humans :).
Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Working Garden
A working home garden (or kitchen garden) is one where the emphasis is on the growing of herbs, vegetables and fruit. There may also be areas for composting and hopefully a system of natural pest management aka insecticide free bug control.
They can be just as visually appealing as any other type of garden. However, their beauty may be more in the eye of the beholder and the smile on your kid’s face as you hunt for caterpillars together. If it was up to me I would have one giant vegetable garden, a few benches and a hammock :).
Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult, much to my wife’s dismay, to see where my kitchen garden stops and the “other” garden starts. For now I am getting away with it :).
There is something uplifting in getting an ingredient straight out of the garden as you cook. It is a great way to briefly slow down the pace set by modern life.
Enjoy,
PK
Here are a few photos:
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