Permaculture Blog

School is back in session in Miami-Dade and Broward and parents in the Zika zones weren’t taking any chances with their children.

Source: First day of school in Miami brings new ritual: bug spray

Sigh.

ECO-MINDED GARDENERS KNOW to cultivate plants native to their area or flowers that attract pollinators. But backyard ponds for dragonflies and damselflies can further contribute to healthy local ecosystems—and it can be a lot of fun.

Source: Living Lightly

One of my pool clients gave me an article to read. I looked it up online and there was a copy and so I post the link here for everyone to enjoy.

www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-08-16/we-got-lucky-with-ebola-but-will-our-luck-run-out-with-zika

Ummmm really? Zika and Ebola are somewhat different.

Bob www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

I also just recently found out what mosquito dunks are. https://summitchemical.com/products/mosquito-dunks/
And they are simply BT toxin –not good for pond wildlife. They poison the base of the food chain and are toxic to dragonfly larvae, diving beetles, tadpoles, damselfly larvae and all the little cyprids and fun stuff in your pond. Likewise mosquito fish are incredibly bad for ponds. They are not native in California although in some of the southern states they are, but they will eat the little native frog tadpoles preferentially to mosquito larvae.

Certain common species of Dragonflies when they are laying eggs dip their tails into the water and flick water droplets so that it is hard for fish to see which water droplet the egg is in. But mosquito fish swarm them. I have a general policy not to work on ponds that have mosquito fish in them. Goldfish are bottom feeders and much more likely to miss quite a few of the scattered eggs.

Even in a small pond there are little solar pumps that you can put in that work well in keeping mosquitoes out. Mosquitoes do not like agitation of the water surface. You don’t need to have it actually be a fountain as long as it is stirring the top of the water. Enjoy your water feature!

Oh I just saw a post on X and now I’m annoyed. The post said that BT toxin will not kill dragonflies. Technically, in a twisted, word manipulation, way this _might be_ true. However while it _may_ not kill adult dragonflies (would love to see some long-term data by the pesticide industry since they make this claim in the first place. Like so many who say it can’t hurt something but don’t provide any data) the manufacturer of this product knows perfectly well that it will kill dragonfly larvae.

The general idea behind the term “lying by omission” is if the _intent_ is to deceive …. There is no doubt in my mind that their intent is to deceive you. Mosquito dunks will kill dragonfly larvae, damselfly larvae, and water beetle larvae. It is also particularly not helpful to Tadpoles, and bees.

Search this site for bees and you will find me discussing how they cool their hives by evaporative cooling. BT toxin in this water will dry on, and in their hive. This is not good for them. It may not be enough to destroy the hive but if the hive is being slowly poisoned….
Pesticide manufacturers are very careful with the words that they choose to use to mislead you.

Bob www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

Have I mentioned that bats would love the flight path over a pool conversion in order to drink?

Permaculture principles state that one of the desires of a permaculture location is to provide habitat for native animals. Habitat should include:

Food: Native plants provide nectar, seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, foliage, pollen and insects eaten by an exciting variety of wildlife.

Water: All animals need clean nontoxic water to survive.

Cover: All wildlife needs sheltered places.

Places to Raise Young: Wildlife needs resources to reproduce. Some species require substantially different habitat in their juvenile phase.

Which brings us back to bat houses and providing places to raise young. I don’t think the house needs to be particularly near the pool. In SoCal it probably would be better to have it in a coolish location. So many places I looked at on the internet had a one-size-fits-all attitude toward installing them saying that they need to be in the Sun 6 or so hours a day which is insanity in a hot area such as ours. You want a nice even temperature out of direct sunlight. The best location in my opinion would be one that got some morning Sun in the winter but not excessive. Here is one of the better sites I found.

www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/batboxes/whyfail.html

Best

Bob

www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

Source: “[Breast] Size Matters” billboard down, controversy over

So I decided to post this because I’m amused. I’ve been hanging out a lot lately with non-“old white guys” and I love it.

I unfortunately am an old white guy. I never grew up with the situations that many of my new friends describe. I have no clue how many minorities are treated.

Still I think in this case both sides are right. Yes both sides. The young woman complained because she saw it as sexist. Good for her.

The doctor didn’t take it down because he didn’t believe he was being sexist and he was being funny. And he was able to defend his point of view meaning he has thought about it. Good for him.

Many of the comments on the site were right on. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. No one is going to hand a woman or a man – minority or not -self confidence. If you are giving up your values or changing your values or appearance in order to impress someone else you have a bit of a problem that no one else is going to be able to cure for you.

The best to everyone

There are many reasons there are no genetically modified oats. But the main one is money.

Source: Why There Are No GMO Oats (and Probably Never Will Be) – Modern Farmer

Never is a long long time. We will certainly have GMO oats somewhere down the road. The question then is whether we will do the genetic modifications for good or just simply increase the use of pesticides on oat fields.

In my pool conversions. One in particular has a huge range of different sizes. That is probably mostly a difference in ages but there may be different species as well. The bottom of the pool is probably in the neighborhood of 20 x 40 and there are probably more than one larvae per square foot plus those hanging on the walls so I guess that there are probably close to a thousand which is amazing zika protection. And I have multiple pool conversions! Don’t you wish you were contributing to a non-toxic mosquito defense shield. :-) Bob 310 429 8477 www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

By the way, if you were not aware of it, the “genetic literacy project” is a Monsanto funded research laboratory whose mission is to scientifically show that smoking does _not_ cause cancer. Just so you know

After a decade of debate, the causes of the mid-2000s spike in bee deaths is coming into focus. Culprits are multifactorial, a rebuke of simplistic fingering of pesticides. Time for targeted solutions.

Source: Beepocalypse Myth Handbook: Dissecting claims of pollinator collapse | Genetic Literacy Project

Oh wait, contrary to the grandiose sounding “genetic literacy project” lower case letters intentional :-)

– smoking does cause cancer and insecticides do kill bees. Just my two cents :-)

A new type of genetically engineered crop {sold by Monsanto ed:note} is tempting farmers to use a weedkiller illegally. The illicit chemical use has damaged nearby crops and provoked conflict among neighbors.

Source: Crime In The Fields: How Monsanto And Scofflaw Farmers Hurt Soybeans In Arkansas

What a wonderful marketing strategy :-) . The neighbors will “just have to” buy Monsanto’s seed in the future.