You will have creepy crawly things even if you don't have mulch. The live under old rotting wood, rocks ect. Now that your gardening you will see them. Digging a hole you'll find grub worms something I would never have touched before gardening but now I don't want them in my flower beds and if I see one and don't have my gloves on or a trowle I pick it up very fast and then squish it.
Those are the one bugs I don't care for at all and I hate june bugs.
There are a lot of thing's I wouldn't have done before gardening that I do now. Like picking up a garden snake and putting it in a safe place away from the dog's. Look for lady bug's and put it on the roses telling here you go breakfast lunch and dinner now go to town.
We have two types of lizards and the little ones get inside some times and I try to catch them to put them back outside but I rarely have any water bugs or any other bugs inside the house and my guess is because the lizards and birds help keep them down. Now if I could only find something that would eat all me rolly pollies/pill bugs and ANTS. Man, I hate Ants more then water bugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: frequently asked questions

Yes, we got termites in our rr ties, but anything that is wood will attract them. In Texas there are always termites in the soil - I had a bird house fall out of a tree one winter and didn't notice until spring when I started cleaning up the beds. The termites had already eaten a big chunk of it that was in contact with the soil. They are everywhere. The goal is to keep them out of the house, but you will never get them out of the soil.
Around your house the best mulch to use is cedar - because cedar repels many bugs, including termites and water roaches. I seldom see bugs in the beds around my foundation now, but I also have three very large lizards that hang out in the yard, and I'm sure they do a good job of keeping the bug population down, along with the mockers and other birds.
I've never used the termarid mulch. How long do they say it's supposed to last? Sounds expensive. You can look at it this way, as long as the rr ties are there and not near your house, the termites will have plenty to eat and hopefully stay out there instead of coming up to the house.

Hello,

Where in West Texas? Water bugs don't live in my part of West Texas. Use google to search for pictures of termites. Careful and regular inspection underneath your wood will reveal termites. What you probably have are roly-poly bugs, also called by other aliases. They are harmless and resistant to nearly all pesticides. The ones that scare me are the centipedes that grow to 12" and are tougher than the cross ties they live under. Also, cross ties are treated with creosote, and that causes termites to leave them alone, unless they are really, really old and the creosote has leached away.

Gary

Native cedar is the best mulch to repell bugs but keep mulch at least 2-3 ft away from your foundation.PJ

The Term-a-Rid mulch says it lasts longer than most mulch, but I didn't see any claim of a certain amount of time. It was $4.98 a bag at Wal*Mart, the same price as the cedar mulch I probably should've bought. It kills termites by use of boron, which is supposedly safe to use around pets and children.

I should have mentioned that the mulched bed is against the concrete-slab *patio*, not the actual house, and the patio extends about 15 feet out from the house. That doesn't count as the "foundation" does it?

Gary, I'm in Breckenridge. I've seen "water bugs" (actually Oriental Cockroaches, according to the link below) everywhere from Villanova, PA, to Abilene, TX, usually in gas station restrooms or the like. They're N-A-S-T-Y. Maybe you're in *deep* West Texas, where it's too dry for them? Or maybe you go to nicer gas stations? Seriously, they were in my dorm in PA (where I woke up with a BIG one tangled into my long hair!) and in clean, expensive houses, too, which is what scares me. These railroad ties are very old and the creosote is no longer visible on most of them. They're rotting and there are LOTS of roly-polies and other creatures. I haven't actually seen any termites; just trying to be cautious. And if I saw a centipede, I'd RUN. The more legs something has, the more creeped out I get, plus I've heard they have one heck of a sting. The creosote brings me to another question: could the chemicals which are used in the railroad ties be unsafe to use near veggies & herbs? Is creosote toxic?

Barb, you're my hero--I can handle snakes, mice, etc., but to squash a grub with my bare hands--no way. (((shudder))) This girl does NOT do bugs well. In fact, this whole thread is giving me major heebie-jeebies. While I was looking through bug identification websites a few minutes ago, I thought I felt something on my arm and I almost jumped out of my skin! You're right though; the more I garden, the less freaked out I get by them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oriental Roaches, a.k.a.

I stick the grubs in one of the bird feeders when I find them. That is if the mockingbird doesn't shoot in and grab them before I get a chance. She and a couple of gackles get all excited when they see me with a shovel and follow me around the yard. I've had to push her out of my hole I was digging before. Pushy bird!

Creosote can cause some problems, especially long term. I've never heard of any problems using railroad ties in the beds.
Tally HO!

Hello again Bo,

Yes, we have roaches, but not waterbugs. And we have termites.

The best way to see if you have termites is to look for them under any moist wood that hasn't been disturbed in a while, except they won't eat redwood, cedar, and treated stuff. They will even eat the treated wood once the treatment has leached out. That doesn't happen very quickly with creosote-treated ties. That's why cross-ties last so long, the creosote keeps everything that likes to feed on wood away. I have termites throughout my yard, which is unusual in Amarillo. A previous owner of our home had more than a dozen large willow trees and many large, woody shrubs that have all since died and been removed. The willows died from borer infestations. There were stumps and large roots everywhere when we moved in. The termites feed on all the dead roots still in the ground, plus any other dead wood they can find. It will be a long time before I can diminish the termite population in my yard. In the meantime I'll have to get rid of any woods that aren't cedar and I'll have to keep my house protected.

Gary

Tally, how cool! I love mockingbirds, and I hope they'll get accustomed to my presence like yours have to you! I'm not so happy with grackles, though...such pretty birds, but they seem to scare away the other birds and make a mess. Thankfully, we don't have many. I thought my feeders were being taken over by them, but upon closer inspection, those turned out to be red-winged blackbirds. (Duh.) I changed the type of birdseed and the population evened out.

Gary, what a nightmare for you! How do you protect your house from termites? Are there additional things we can do besides using the pest control guy? We have a stone house, so I guess we're not as susceptible, but there's still wood in here. I haven't seen any termites on this property, though I've looked for them, but "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, but I figure I might as well make my home as uninviting as possible to pests.