Moth balls - any toxin risk to palms?

[ThunderSRQ]

I have seen moth balls suggested as an effective squirrel repellent but, when I did a search on this forum, the only post that mentioned a toxicity risk to the palms was referring to moth balls placed in the crown of adult trees (and there was no answer or definitive input re: if the "melting" moth balls could/would damage a palm).

Does anyone here know if it safe to put a moth ball in your palm pots or will the same toxin that kills moths have a detrimental effect on young palms? (I figured one moth ball per pot should suffice for the seedling and one gallon sizes -- maybe two balls for the larger pots).

Thanks...

Tim

[DoomsDave]

(ThunderSRQ @ Jan. 13 2008,20:40)

QUOTE

I have seen moth balls suggested as an effective squirrel repellent but, when I did a search on this forum, the only post that mentioned a toxicity risk to the palms was referring to moth balls placed in the crown of adult trees (and there was no answer or definitive input re: if the "melting" moth balls could/would damage a palm).

Does anyone here know if it safe to put a moth ball in your palm pots or will the same toxin that kills moths have a detrimental effect on young palms? (I figured one moth ball per pot should suffice for the seedling and one gallon sizes -- maybe two balls for the larger pots).

Thanks...

Tim

TIM!

Nice to meet you!

Wow, you can still get napthalene mothballs,  in Floridy?

Dang, old woman, hear that?

"What?"

"Never mind"

Sorry gettin' silly.  

Far as I know, no danger to palms.

Tell us more about you, pix of your garden welcome, gettin'g ready to scream.

dave

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.  They repel a lot more than moths.  

Much more.

My little baby brother (he's now 45, six feet four, and I'm not so large . . .) liked to eat them.

Barf City!

Other than that, I wouldn't worry.

"Dang, baby brother, why'd you eat them?"

"They were there . . . "

dave

[DoomsDave]

The best sqirrel repellant, is a gun, followed by dressing out, currying, and eating those [expletive explextive] little [expleteives].

Expletive!

dave [expletive]

[Tad]

putting them in the pot I see no problem, putiing them where they could leak their goo down in the crown I would not recomend.

try crushing and powdering them and sprinkle them like a top dress, may be last less time but better for stink application,

[Kris]

I usually store fresh seeds in a transperant closed container with one or 2 moth balls to see if any pest is their they come out of the seeds and if left like that for a week,they all die out.then these seeds are stored in baggie back for later use or Air-mailing..

And Dave its surprising that moth balls are not avaliable in floridia ? here we get them dime a dozen !

love,

Kris  

[sonoranfans]

I would investigate the use of cayenne pepper, or concentrated capsaicin.  The red pepper is not "solvent fumes", but a granular powder.  I think moth balls were meant to work in a closed area, and they are not really safe for humans(napthalene is not what you want to breathe).  The capsaicin will work anywhere, and be safe around humans and pets.

[MattyB]

little tins of ammonia works great too.  Animals and insects don't like it.  It's cheap.  And apparently ammonia just breaks down into nitrogen.

[gsn]

I would be careful with the pure ammonia,if it gets to the roots it will definately burn them!

It very well might break down into nitrogen ,but it will burn roots before it does! That is why if a dog or cat continually pees on a containerized (sometimes in ground plants as well) plant, it will kill it.

[tatsuofl]

I tried Moth balls in my pots last summer and the squirrels still dug in the pots.

I ended up buying two live traps and a jar of peanut butter and relocating the squirrels on my way to work.

Tatsuo

[ThunderSRQ]

Thanks so much for all that input -- I did a few more internet searches re: moth balls effectiveness as a squirrel deterrent and it seems the "consensus" is that they don't work (although all the info. I found was in regard to keeping them out of attics -- not the "up close & personal" exposure that would occur from them having to stick their nose right next to it in a pot).

However, since it appears that this method in the pots has been tried (and failed), I did buy a squirrel repellent from Ace Hardware that is a capsaicin product (so I'll give that a try).

On one of the commercial animal relocator sites, it said that the only squirrel repellent product they had seen work well was one with the brand name "Squirrel Repel"; but I've been unable to find this exact product (?)

Aa an FYI -- I have been trapping squirrels (& relocating them 10 miles away -- per the advice that they will return to your yard from quite extreme distances) for several years (on & off) but got very aggressive with my program this past year when I started my (extensive, ever-growing, obsessive...) palm & tropical plant collection.  I generally keep two traps set at all times and often catch two squirrels at once since they tend to "play" (AKA seek out and destroy things that are valuable to me...) in pairs.  

Additional FYI, the best bait I've found is using peanut butter as "glue" on a piece of pine bark and then pouring bird seed (with a high sunflower content) onto/into it and then using a few sunflower seeds and small pieces of peanuts as a trail to lead them to the main bait (I also put leaves in the trap so it looks natural and often put a few bricks around the outside where the bait is located so they don't trip the trap trying to reach in)

Although, overall, I have been very successful trapping them, there is at least one varmit that avoids all traps and all baits and takes great pleasure in rooting up my yard (literally almost as bad as an armadillo & sometimes up to 100 holes per day!) and he does his dirty work in pre-dawn hours.  

And, of course, I realize that squirrels will keep coming in from adjacent property so I know there is never any real end to the problem but my current concern is that I have a few pots now on the back perimeter of my yard (at the edge of the woods) and the squirrels are digging in them very regularly (so it's just a matter of time before they do real damage to something very significant -- which would probably result in a "return fire with fire approach" by me -- AKA a pellet gun    -- unless I can find another option that can be counted on as an absolute cure)  

I'm fairly sure there's probably some "redneck remedy" that will do the trick but I just haven't found it yet (and I have yet to see how the pepper product works -- I'll post the results as well as if I find a better deterrent option).

[oppalm]

This whole moth ball thing is interesting.  

One question,  How do you get their legs apart?