I've got over a 100 trees planted in pasture near forest which is teeming with deer. I've used Plantskydd over the last 4 years during the winter and found it to be the longest lasting repellent for preventing buck rub. If you paint it on the trunks and a few scaffold branches with a brush or cloth glove you'll still see it (and I've found it still works) over 2 months later. I also combine it with spiral trunk wraps for the larger trees during the late fall and winter and have started using harvestman's fencing method on younger trees so that if I forget to reapply (or if a really hungry deer comes along) I don't complete lose a young tree. The fencing circles might look bad in a backyard but they are nearly invisible from a distance in our pasture. During the growing season, I use Plantskydd alternated with Deer Off (egg, garlic, and capsaicin). Another easy method I've added is to fill cloth bags with milorganite (granular incinerated sludge) and hang one from each tree. These should last a few years and a local orchard (Vintage VA Apples) swears that they drastically reduced their rutting damage using this method. When I tried the bags alone, they did reduce my rutting damage, but I still had some damage. I used Plantskydd with trunk spirals for 2 years (without the milorganite bags) and it completely eliminated the rutting damage if properly reapplied every 2 months. I paint the trunks with splotches of Plantskydd and then apply the spirals in late fall and have found that the spirals protect the trunk applied Plantskydd for 3-4 months. Although I'm sure it reduces the smell of blood from a distance, it probably is enough to repel a buck standing right next to the tree. As noted above, I still paint a few splotches of Plantskydd on scaffolds on non-fence trees at least once in the middle of winter.

Understanding where the Tomato, or Tobacco, Hornworm comes from can help in preventing the damage they cause. Since one good method is to keep the Carolina Sphinx or the Five - Spotted Hawkmoth from reaching your plants you can use Floating Row Covers around them. They will need to be adjusted as the plants grow. There are a number of plants that can either repel the adult Sphinx moths or so confuse them that they can not find these host plants, but those plants need to be grown properly, and be the right cultivar, or they do not develop the properties needed to work. Bacillus thuringiensis is a naturally occuring bacterium that infects some cold blooded, leaf eating, insects. When it is ingested by them the bacterium, if it finds the proper digestive system, comes alive and causes that larva to stop eating and that larva then dies of starvation. There are several strains of Bacillus thuringiensis so the right strain must be used and for leaf eating butterfly and moth larva that is Bacillus thuringiensis - Kurstaki, BTK. Contrary to some bad misinformation that floats around the Sphinx moth larva that eat tomatoes, as well as other members of the Solanacea family, are not the same as the Hummingbird Moth even though she is a Sphinx moth. The best way to attract and hold the many predators of insect pests is to plant a wide variety of flowering plants, including many of those we call "weeds", and not spray very broad spectrum poisons around the garden.

Bermuda is a never-ending battle. But you can get a good edge on it. RoundUp works really well at starting the process. Here is how I got mine under control. The first thing I did was to mow it pretty short. I bagged the grass, too. It will be in the way for now. If you want you can put it in trash bags and it will cook pretty quickly in the sun. Next, I sprayed the area I wanted to work in with RoundUp. Spray a bigger area than you will need for the garden. The farther away you can keep it, the better. Once it is good and brown, usually about a week, till it or turn it as deep as you can. A shovel depth is good, that is usually about 10 inches. Be careful not to walk on it after you have tilled or turned it. You don't want to compact the area. Now, water the area well. The soil needs to be moist for this to work. Next, lay clear plastic over the area and cover the edges with soil to hold the plastic down. Try to seal it well, you don't want air to get in or heat or moisture to get out. Last, sit back and watch it cook for 5 or 6 weeks. This will kill just about everything down to 5 or 6 inches. Insects, weeds, fungi, etc. With the heat we are having here in Okc you should be able to get it good and hot. I have used this many times and it works like a charm. I've attached a link to OSU's fact sheet on the process. I've had my garden going for several years now. I run the tiller through it set very shallow just to cut any weeds. I hoe occasionally, too. But the best method I've found in established beds is to lay down a newspaper barrier in the spring and then mulch on top of that with grass clippings. My vegs love it. The last practice I use to keep the weeds out is to only water the plants. If there isn't a plant there then I don't water there. I try to keep the rows dry. Any spot where there isn't something planted does not get water. There aren't too many plants that thrive in dry hot soils. Hope that helps. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Soil solarization

Acetone (fingernail polish remover) is actually a product used in removing stains from granite. Fingernail polish remover has not hurt my porcelain tile or granite counters (or my glass sink). I dropped a bottle of clear top coat on the porcelain bathroom floor/ I was able to scrap it up off the floor once it dried. But, it also go on my practically new dark stained cabinets. I waited till DH got home to discuss the best way to remove it. He said, "I would just leave it. You're the only one that will know it's there and any attempt to remove me will probably do more damage". So until/if someone can offer a tried and true way to remove it, I'll just live with it. I paint my nails in my bathroom and sometimes sitting in bed.