Well we are bearing done on Halloween now and if you haven’t purchased your pumpkins yet - you best get on it.
This year’s crop of pumpkins seems to be plentiful yet the prices seem to be higher than ever.
Okay enough of that - carve up your pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern and you are done – nope. You may have forgotten about our furry friends – the rodents: hairy, scary and very hungry. Once one of the many ground dwelling pumpkin eaters get a hold of your masterpiece(s), all your creative work may lay in ruins.
Skunks, squirrels, rats and mice are always looking for a quick prepared meal once the coast is clear.
Here are a few tricks to protect the fruits of your labor from these creatures:
1) Get into your Halloween costume, stay still until one of the hooligans approach and scream BOO, this will work on rodents as well as trick or treaters.
2) Mix cayenne pepper with water, load up a sprayer and spray the area around the jack-o-lanterns.
3) Windex and Pledge: first spray with Windex, then Pledge.
4) Peppermint or Garlic Spray, google the recipe to make your own, again spray the pumpkins.
5) Spray vinegar on the pumpkins, I recommend pineapple vinegar – smells great.
6) Deer repellent, although very expensive this works well until the rain washes it away.
7) Blood meal, apparently squirrels don’t like this garden fertilizer.
8) Put mirrors around your pumpkin creations, most rodents are tricked by their reflection and will run away.
Editor’s note: Go Green Pest Control owner Randy Bilesky is a long-time South Delta resident. Trained and certified, Bilesky has first-hand knowledge of the pest problems that local homeowners and business owners encounter.
