Can I just rant for a minute about those awful moths???? I was vigilant about watching for them and using Sevin dust. But they got into the plants anyway. This morning, I was outside with a sharp knife performing surgery on my big, beautiful, luscious squash plants and trying to pull out all the grubs. Maybe they'll live. My Kindergartner planted that squash and she will be crushed if they die. Her Daddy helped her plant them right before he left for Iraq. Oh, how I hate those horrible bugs!!!! :(

You have my sincere sympathy. We had a cat who kept the little critters at bay and that worked well for several years. She passed away a year and a half ago, and it was a nightmare until one of our little Cavalier King Charles Spaniels picked up where she left off. He has become an excellent "mouser" - in fact, he took on three woodchucks last summer - each one at least as big as he is. That was scary (for me). What we have found is that preventing them from getting near our gardens to begin with is really the best way to avoid trouble. The dogs are good, but until the critters get caught, they can do a tremendous amount of damage. Last summer, they chewed everything in our vegetable garden down to the dirt, totally gutted my echinacea and yarrow beds, and started to destroy the rest of my perennials before the dogs decided they'd had enough with these unwanted visitors. Lining our fence with chicken wire has been the biggest and most effective thing we've done to keep little critters out. Our yard is totally fenced with chain link on two sides and a wood picket fence on the other two sides (to keep the dogs in). We lined the fence (on the outside) with 36 inch chicken wire that we unrolled and stapled lengthwise along the lower portion of the fence. We extended it down and below ground. We dug a narrow trench below the fence at least 8-10 inches deep - deeper where the ground allowed it - and buried the lower edge of the chicken wire well below the fence. That has kept most of the critters out and the dogs have taken care of the few that managed to dig their way under. Where you don't have pets, one other thing you might try is a "scarecow". I'm talking about a sprinkler head with a motion sensor. I included a link for one - just to give you an idea of what they are. We got ours at the pond supply store and it is a low to the ground one that was perfect for our needs. We used them when the blue herons decided that our koi pond was the perfect buffet. After they got my blue koi, our local pond store owner/expert suggested we give it a try. You hook it up to a hose and when it sees something move, it shoots a stream of water across a span of ground and you can adjust how far and how wide an area to cover. It was VERY effective, and between that and the dogs, we haven't lost another koi, but we eventually stopped using it as the dogs considered it their personal "sprinkler" and spend many hours a day running back and forth to set it off. You would probably need several, depending on how large of an area you're covering, but it might help. Sorry I can't come up with anything more magical. ;( Cathy (MA) Here is a link that might be useful: Motion Activated Scarcrow Sprinkler

This is not something I'd ever do nor would I ever encourage anyone to do it. It is just so dangerous. Mothballs actually are a registered pesticide and it is against the law to use them in any manner other than the manner specified on the label. I haven't looked at the label on a box of mothballs in years, but I bet there is nowhere on the label that it tells you how to use them outdoors to repel rabbits or anything else. Mothballs are very dangerous and I have heard stories of people who used them outdoors and discovered they had poisoned their own cats and dogs by accident, not to mention contaminating the soil with them. It is your choice and you can try it if you wish, of course, but my philosophy about gardening on this little piece of God's earth that we call "ours" is that we do not want to put anything into the air, ground or water that will harm the wildlife who share this land with us. We certainly don't want to harm our own pets, or for tthat matter ourselves. Prolonged exposure to mothballs is dangerous to humans. Mothballs will kill some of the beneficial insects that help us keep pest insects under control. There are many things that eat sunflowers in my yard and garden, but I've never seen rabbits near them. Usually it is little orange and black caterpillars, and I know Susan knows which ones they are because she tells me the name of them every year since I never can remember it. It might be the Bordered Patch? They demolish my sunflowers. The collars suggested by others are a good idea. Or, if it is an animal and not an insect, sprinkling blood meal on the ground around them usually repels the animal (but you may soon have vultures circling your yard, looking for the 'dead animal' whose blood they are smelling). Or, you can put a couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of hot peppers in a blender with a quart of water. Puree them together. Strain out the solids and spray them on the plants and around the plants as a repellent. Garlic/Pepper spray repels a lot of animals, but you may have to reapply it often. If you really want to know the identity of the critter that is eating your plants, on a calm, still evening (if this wind ever stops blowing) sprinkle a light layer of something white on the ground around the plants.....talcum powder, agricultural lime or all-purpose flour. If it is a small animal, you should see animal tracks. You then can match those tracks to animal tracks on the internet. They are so very many things it could be....squirrels, voles, rabbits, field mice, birds, caterpillars, cutworms, etc. I have a lot of trouble with turtles crawling under the gate and getting into my garden and eating stuff, especially tomatoes. It is a little aggravating, but on the other hand, I often have a turtle take up residentce in the potato bed where it appears he or she eats the Colorado potato beetles. Last year, I had a turtle-proof fence around the potato patch (not intentionally turtle proof, but it turned out he or she couldn't crawl under it) and had a horrible problem with Colorado potato beetles and no turtle to help me with them. Would I ever have thought of a turtle as either a garden fiend or a garden friend? No, but as it turns out, the turtle can be either one. So, whatever is eating your plants might be something you never thought about....just like I never imagined a turtle would want in the garden for any reason. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Info On Hazards of Using Moth Balls In Garden or Yard

Okay, no swimming with sharks. (But, hey, whatever you and the tarantula have going on, well, that's not really any of my business. ;) More seriously, I've got good news and bad news (but both are kind of gross news). The good news is that the worst is probably over. The bugs that came to visit your late neighbor probably laid eggs and then died off shortly after your neighbor left the building for the last time. The eggs probably took a couple weeks to start hatching, and that's why you're seeing them now. Pretty soon, they're going to figure out that they're not going to get the same deal their predecessors did, and head off to greener pastures. The bad news is that if you do have anything at all for them to eat, some of them will stick around. And in order to figure out what they eat, you'll have to figure out what they are. A google image search will probably do the trick, but not without your having to look at a lot of pictures of a lot of bugs. In the meantime, you might try diatomaceous earth. It kills just about every bug I've ever heard of, and it's remarkably safe for humans. You should avoid breathing it in any quantity, but you could eat it without ill effects. In fact, the best place to get it is from pet shops or feed store that sell it for deworming animals. (There's a cheaper, lower-grade form that is sold as a swimming pool supply, but that's not the kind you want.) It's a fine powder made up of little microscopic fossilized shellfish: the sharp edges of the shells are to fine to bother humans & non-insect-sized animals, but are just the right size to do the insects in. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.