Hi Ginnibug You might try simply doing a very light dusting of your orchids with cayenne/assorted hot pepper powder. I just put down a hundred crocus bulbs in my lawn (incredible effect when they emerge!) Dang DC tree rats (squirrels) started rustling around and digging for them so I dusted the lawn with cayenne pepper powder. Haven't seen them digging since.

What kind of insects are you trying to kill? If your trying to get rid of Aphids, a mixture of water and dish soap works well.Just spray your Banana plant with this and it will kill them!!! Diana

May be a little gross but, works 100% Ingredients/supplies Quart of human urine, human hair(hair cutting places will usually give you a bag full), Old socks, Old panty hose or produce bags with many holes like bags grapes come in. Cheap sponges that you can cut up and GLOVES. While wearing the gloves, take pieces of sponge and soak up the urine. Put these sponges in a old sock and tie a LOOSE knot. Take a handful of hair and the sock w/ sponge and stuff them into the bags/ panty hose. You can tie them loosely to posts. You can run a single wire suspended from posts around the perimeter of your garden space and tie these bags/hose every 10' to 20' and the deer will "haul ars"! The reason for the sponge and sock is for when it rains. The sponges are already soaked in urine, the socks will soak up the rain and the sponges will just stay saturated for a longer time. The human hair will last about 6 weeks. So, change the hair about 6 - 8 times a growing season (depending on your growing season length). The sponges should be changed every 2 weeks. If you do half of them at a time ie: freshen up every other one the 2nd week and the other half the fourth week and so on. They will stay strong enough to keep them working. I farm over 11 acres of produce. Everything you can think of. I used to have deer eating my crops nightly and had UNBELIEVABLE economic loses. Since I started this, even the ground hogs stay away. I will catch them eating some of my veggies every once in a while (ground hog) but, I just relocate them. (from above ground to below ground if you catch my drift)!!!!

I have lots of ideas for keeping cats out of places, but I'm afraid they'll also affect your own cat. Maybe you can come up with ideas from this list. Please remember that if you use these and your cat leaves the yard anyway, they might deter him from returning. Also keep safety in mind. Some of these can harm an animal if not used cautiously. Think about cats jumping on the from trees, fences, etc. 1. Cats hate walking on sticky surfaces. Good double stick tape along the tops of fences, or balls of masking tape along walls can keep them from using the fence or wall to access a yard. 2. Heavy gauge aluminum foil makes a sound cats don't like when they walk on it. It has to be uncrinkled so it makes that metallic, ringing sound. Once it's crumpled, it's no longer effective. 3. Upside-down mouse traps with newspaper or a towel placed over them will bounce into the air snd scare cats away. It's very effective IF you use enough traps. Do not use them right wsy up, for obvious reasons. 4. There are numerous motion detector products like that spray water or air. Ssscat is a brand name motion detector head that fire on an air can. You can aim the spray at or away from the cat. Usually the spraying sound is enough to scare them away, but stubborn or bold cats might need to feel the air. Similar products are made for hoses. 5. There are numerous products that give a slight shock, like a static discharge, when something puts pressure on it, like when a cat jumps on it. I don't know any outdoor ones, but I'm sure they exist, and... 6. Most home improvement or farm stores sell "electric fence" to keep small animals like rabbits out of gardens. They cost about $25. They will not work if you string a single wire at the top of a fence because a jumping cat won't be grounded as it goes over. Instead of using a ground post, you have to string a ground wire a few inches below the hot wire so the cat will contact both wires to get the shock. Be sure the wires can't contact each other or they'll short out the system. 7. Cheap, battery-powered infrared doorbells, the kind that shops use to hear when customers come in, cost about $5-$10, and often have a switch to go from bell sound to alarm sound. When a cat breaks the beam, the sound scares it. Many outdoor cats aren't that easily frightened, but a few are. Not all are homemade, but most are very inexpensive, and maybe some will give you ideas of your own.