I LOVED this! Thank you for a Great Start to my day! This is why "Preppers" MUST BE homesteaders. There is no way to "prep" for being a gardener. You HAVE TO actually get your hands INTO the DIRT -where you are-& start 'experimenting' with growing. My friends, 2 miles away, grow great squash & tomatoes. I'm under trees & if I get a couple of squash to mature it's like a miracle. Great advice! See what works where you are!
I agree.... used to call myself a prepper, but what good is it when the preps run out, or God forbid , get taken from you..... you need to be able to grow a few basic veggies, from seed if possible, this is ONLY my 2nd yr of gardening, and I have a teeny garden, if I can do it.... you can do it too
Super Easy....Add Diatomaceous earth to the mix in the mulch. It is good for the ground, it will kill the GROUND insects, which would leave your pollinators alone :) It is pretty cheap for a huge bag at a farm store. Get FOOD GRADE only, and you can put it UNDER the mulch if you wish, no matter what type of mulch you use. A small amount goes a long way. Hope that helps!
DE Doesn't kill fire ants. I lived in Florida where these ants are a huge problem. Even the conventional any killer doesn't kill them. It takes strong chemicals to knock those ants out and if course we don't want that in our gardens. But I now live in North AL and still there's fire ants here but I still use the BTE garden method. I put down black plastic in areas on outside of the garden that has wood chips and the ants seem to always go under it. So I've been successful for giving them an area where they're not in the garden to do their thing. But after they build mounds under the plastic for awhile I uncover it and they don't like that and lucky for me they move on somewhere else Other the garden. BTE has been a blessing for me. Getting older and can't pull weeds or till but still can grow healthy food. 😊
Paul says he would welcome termites, as they would help breakdown. As long as they are away from the house, it doesn't seem too bad. As for the ants, I have them in N. GA and I just break up the mound with a rake or pour boiling water. Again, not too bad for the benefits.
Hey y'all! We're in south Arkansas and tried the Back to Eden method for the first time this year. We used old hay in place of wood chips and have had really good success. We've had a few fire ant mounds come up, I knock them down as soon as I see them and it's worked great for us. We'll definitely continue with old hay.
Danny and Wanda, I live in North Mississippi, just 4 miles from the Tennessee state line. We have the very same problems. This humidity is about to kill me!!!! Yesterday the heat index here got to 103. I can walk outside and sit in the shade and within 10 minutes I have sweat rolling everywhere!! Love watching your channel as well as starry. Wish I could move to a cooler climate, but we have kids and grandkids here as well as my parents and a grandmother. Love to you all, Gale
I know how you feel ~ the humidity here in S Texas is horrible ! Wish we could move to a cooler climate too.... but like you have kiddos and grandkids .. it's so miserable here though.
Southern gardener here. Before i started back to eden gardening, our new suburban home came with a garden bed that had been laid with woodchip mulch. That is when i discovered the termites. I came to discover that the reason the termites enjoyed our beds so much, was that the woodchips became compacted. If you regularly go out with a rake to move and break up the woodchips, it brings more oxygen into the soil that the termites hate. It also makes the soil more hospitable for vegetables since there is more bacterial, rather than fungal (more anaerobic) growth. If you look at Pauls garden how loose his top layer is, that is what you want and i have not had issues with them since implementing this technique. It makes this method much more work having to rake the woodchips, but its worth it.
Danny does the back to how method… LOL… I loved that video. It was great having Danny and Wanda on the story Hilder homestead. Love you guys have a blessed day
Nice meeting your friends Danny & Wanda. Their garden is lovely and they are good people. I know about termites, lived most of my life in Louisiana. :) We lived in a duplex that we were renting for a few years... this was many years ago, I was a teen and my mother discovered termites in the wall, anyway she saved the owners house because termites can destroy your home. They are nasty. God bless you all. tfs.
I planted no till beans 3 kinds of squash and turned out . I also did plant about 75 pepper plants and 85 tomato plants no till and I have been picking a ton of veggies the last 2 week's. good luck to all.
Also I wanted to say… I think a lot of people have watched the back to Eden film with Paul… But there is a TH-cam channel L to survive… Where he goes to Paul's and does lots of videos. There is a lot more information in those videos. Just thought I would put that out there. I love those videos… Paul talks about how God talks to him in his garden. And he gives a lot more information. He talks about his chickens and how they compost the garden. And a lot of stuff. He answers our questions and I'll kinds of stuff. So if some of you need more information maybe you could go look at those videos.
What if when you first plant your garden, you roll out a sheet of plastic (such as drywall vapor barrier type plastic) & punch small hole in a row only where you want your vegetables to grow (plant your seeds in these holes) that way nothing should grow between the rows so you should never have to til or weed between your rows. You may have to also put some small pinhole size holes near your plants to allow water to get in. Maybe even keep the dirt between the rows slightly higher so any rain water etc. will flow towards the plants to make it kind of an automatic watering system.
I was so excited about trying the Back To Eden garden, but after watching this I am a little discouraged. I am in the Florida panhandle and we also have the problem with termites and ants EVERYWHERE in our yard. After four years, I still haven't found a great success in gardening with all the sand. We spend a fortune every spring trying to amend the sandy soil. Not giving up though. Loved this video and I really love seeing all your homesteading videos, Starry. Your place is beautiful!!
I live in Arkansas. We have the same conditions of steam heat etc. I am doing part Back To Eden with the Woodchips and then I use a lot of straw. Straw is the best thing for blocking Bermuda grass between rows and around raised beds.
Gr8 video!! Here in southern Virginia, we share the same termite and ant problem as the folks in Mississippi. I have both methods going on, however, I have my raised beds further away from my log home (potential termite target) and surrounded by attack chickens that love to eat insects.
(Old district Niles) Fremont, East Bay, greater SanFran .... We wood chipped (old and fresh tree trimmer company drop offs) on a 15-20 years neglected, bare soil, 3 foot tall weeded (and unpruned) orchard, vineyard, and garden, on 1+ acre of land. 12-15 inches of chips across the orchard, 6-8 inches in the vineyard, and 3-4 inches in the garden area, ... all with viable fruit trees (peach, figs, apples, cherry, apricot, plum), blackberry patch, grape trellis, and garden of all kinds (asparagus and other vegs). In the first year cycle in the orchard (I was shocked) we had nearly 1 inch of black gold soil. In that first year cycle, the weeds were down to minimal growth areas and small, ... and any weeds could only grow roots in the chips, and easy to pull out (versus pulling out hard pan soil rooted weeds). With continued reapplications back up to the maximum depth, weeds went down to "pffft !" while the fruits, grapes, and garden had greater production. The 3 factors of soil composition, bacteria, nematodes, worms, red worms, pin worms, night crawlers, and mushrooms came into the area in force, helping in the decomposition and processing of the topsoil. The soil was noticeably moist and cool, and protected the fruit tree (et al) roots from sunheat and burning, sucking up the excess rain and moisture keeping the soil properly watered, but not soaked, so cooling insulation in summer, and warming insulation in winter. It does work, for those who want to work it ... but your climate (and critter issues) just need to be taken care of. The ancestors did it ... if they could do it across the landscape of north, south, east, and west, ... then it can be done.
I have a large farm, organic, no-till or minimal till. Also have Wood chip gardens on the farm based on Paul's videos. I am in North GA in the mountains and have found that in my large corn fields etc, I will interplant cover drops such as buckwheat, sorghums, clovers, sunflowers between crop rows to keep weeds suppressed. Buckwheat works wonders, esp with corn. Plus it helps keep the crows from pulling the young plants from the ground. Heavy wood chips for gardens work well most of the time, as my goal is for the above-mentioned bacterias and fungis, etc, for soil building. However, the only problem I have in the wood chips is the all- invasive Bermuda grass and, worst of all, nut grass! I simply cannot control either in my wood chip gardens.
Starry, have you seen a little channel called Robbie and Gary? They have wood chips and are doing the back to Eden gardening! They are putting wood chips on their whole property, because it's just shale and hard dirt. Now she is able to garden! If you want, check it out! Pretty interesting!
I live not too far from Danny and Wanda, and I have a Back to Eden garden as well. I know exactly what they're talking about, because I had termites EATING MY CABBAGE! Go figure! I put almost 2 ft. of wood chips down last year. This spring, the level of the wood chips was almost level to the ground! I'm sticking with it for now because I remember Appalachian Homestead saying that she had a problem until the soil was built up. Then her ants and the like left her garden.
I have to till and I have to pull weeds. I don't like the weeds, however I get a wonderful harvest from my garden every year. Even when I don't think that I will, I'm always pleasantly surprised. Thanks Starry because not all of us can do back to Eden gardening, its just not possible. By the way, I do love to watch your videos. I will be making myself a solar dehydrator with some recycled screens I got for free from a lady. I'm looking forward to that. It's so much bigger then my little electric dehydrator. Have a wonderful day and God bless :)
Thanks for sharing...I know the BTE method is great if you can do it but as you said not al of us can! The good old fashion way has worked forever...and look what you get back!!!
I live in Queensland Australia, we also have termites in our humidity, so we use a lasagna method with wet news paper, manure, soil compost then sugar cane mulch or straw on top. it breaks down quickly builds the soil and keeps out weeds. maybe you could try this Danny and Wanda. we also use composted chicken manure and straw. We would not use woodchips or sawdust as it attracts termites.
Paul from (back to eden gardening) said you can use various types of ground cover. It doesn't have to be wood chips. I believe he mentioned rocks in one of his videos, or palm leaves in tropic areas etc.
Because of an acquired condition I spend some time at the local Easter Seals center. They have a wonderful garden put in by those less fortunate than I. Theirs is not an Eden garden, but a "Garden of Eat'n".
Three parts are missing in this equation of ancestral Back to Eden soil composting and building. Proper soil bacteria, beneficial nematodes, and mushroom spores. Soil bacteria will deal with ants and termites - growing all over them and their nesting material. Beneficial nematodes (tiny-tiny worms) will also predate and drill into and eat ants and termites. Mushroom spores also infest ant and termite hives and take over, spore-up and grow mushroom mychorrizia on the eggs and adults. Admittedly, if you build it, loose soil housing, ... of course you will create housing for the ants. Termites also come to decomposing wood (duh!). But, incomplete soil and wood products without soil bacteria, nematodes, and mushrooms creates critter habitats. When you have proper soil, you won't have bugs. And DON"T use cedar, cypress, sequoia, redwood, or juniper chips or bark fibers. All these (admittedly) are essential oils, but they are also toxic poisons to the soil. Keep these away from any/all garden, vineyard, and orchard soils. AND, there is no micro-fraction inches of scattering chips. 12-15 INCHES of chips in the ORCHARD. 6-8 INCHES in the VINEYARD. 3-4 INCHES in the GARDEN. And you won't have weeds ... and bugs ..... Took a local lady's neglected orchard, vineyard, and garden, and within 1 year (on the West Coast SanFran) and turned it into a vastly luxurious soil-building environment, (in a Mediterranean climate zone), and no ants or termites.
These are all the genus species of Thuja, and family Cupressaceae (cypress). One could also mention the conifers, firs, hemlocks, and pines, ... but they WORK for all the West Coast and mountain regions, even as acidic ph.
YIKES YIKES !!!! It was said to pile on the wood chips (especially those of conifers). and mentioned the depth here (of a successful orchard, vineyard, and garden on the West Coast). With a deep depth of chips, and getting any termites or fire ants (carpenters et al), then having a loose "soil texture" (chips) you can rake out the nest, disturb the critters, and potentially kill the queen of each nest. Then the nest implodes without a laying queen - like honey bees. If you have barren soil, then of course, the ants and termites go into the ground, (or into your house ...) and make such underground cavern colonies of 6 foot deep fire ant nests that others show in YT vids. Having a shallow source of malleable soil, makes them more amenable to staying in the soft topsoil versus digging down and creating a cavern colony. Also by raking, then scattering a heavy layer of baking soda, and then spraying vinegar (enough to make YOU gag ...(the old foaming carbon dioxide soda bottle effect), you can truly drown, and asphyxiate the majority of the nesting colony. The vinegar also burns the egg larvae, and the esophagus and lungs of such ants and termites, destroying the current and future workers. And do this repeatedly every 1-2 weeks of their restoring their colony in the chips, and the remaining vinegar will also gas them, chase them out, or permanetly kill them off. Having captured a termite queen in my young age, she was (in my case) 2-3 inches long in an old stump. Given to my brother, taken to high school biology class - this was a major cause celebrity for the class. The colony was not able to reproduce and eventually died out. The same vinegar against termites on their vastly softer skin, and egg larvae, and vinegar gassing them works wonders - in the nest. Anybody (with experience ...) knowing of the Black Hills of South Dakota being totally covered in pine needles (depth ...), that the problems of the Black Hills is not the secondary issue of dying pines, and pine beetle infestation (like termites), is that the ground hasn't been burnt off since the known times of the Indians doing that to keep down the needles. The needles cover the ground, suck up any moisture (especially the rain), leaving dry soil, dying trees, ... and then the pine beetles and termites come in for a feast. Burning the soil debris leaves all the post-fire carbon, and potash (potassium et al wood salts) leaving a sweeter soil, that the first appearing plants are the legumes (lupines and vetch) and meadow clovers). Then the fire-burned pine cones and cedar pods release their seeds into the ground for the new generation of growth. The ancestors with their steam tractors, also used discing of the soil, then using the steam exhaust, put the exhaust pipes near the discs (or used a dragging tarp on the soil), and steamed the soil, killing off bugs, larvae, bacteria, worms, virus blights, etc. creating a (semi-)stelrized soil and texture as well. Anybody with a steam pressure washer could also gives them hell with such steaming option. With a steaming nozzle, then pressed into the soil, the nest can be steam cleaned, and guaranteed there won't be 3-4-5x after-treatments. (More complex) if you raked, then tossed down a tarp, and 5 minutes of steam cleaning under the tarp (steam coming out from all sides of the tarp, you would also take down such nests. The Back to Eden method, with rational maintenance, and natural biodiversity in the soil can work very easy.
Sarry here in North Georgia we have the real red Georgia clay and also have ants and termites.For example when U pour your slab for your house U used 2" stirafoam under the slab, here In North Georgia we cant do that due to termites we use 4" of 57 stone (#5 #6 #7) then place 24 mill poly plastic for insulation and moisture barrier getting the same results as the 2" strafoam. Now the wood chips and everything related to the Back to Eden Garden Susan and I have went right by your teaching and have had no problems with either ants or termites and have done very well with this no till type garden. Think U again for all that U do for all of us. Blessings Paul & Susan North Georgia
Starry, I'm 30 minutes west of Atlanta (or Hotlanta if your from the south) and its hot and humid here as well. termites are an issue if their in your house, in fact they will destroy a house but anywhere else they are great. they don't cause any other issues that I know of except in dry wood that you have purpose for. here's my point, when you put the mulch down on the ground, what is the eventual out come you want? I want the mulch to retain water and eventually decompose and build my crappy soil. hello? that's what the termites do naturally. you put it down, they break it down. now, I don't know but I have heard that its not the termites that break down the wood but the bacteria or something in their gut (sounds like something else that I want in my garden). you will get more bugs in your woodchips than you ever imagined but they are there doing the job God gave them to do. if your from the south, you protect your home from termites, that's a given. if you don't, your going to get them whether your garden has chips or not. If you have termites, I say you put the mulch down anyway, let them decompose it and reap the benefits from this lil devil. Ants, yeah, they suck. they are here wether you have mulch are not. now what stinks is that you cant see them in the mulch and you will find yourself standing or digging in a nest of them before you know it. at least in the grass you can see them most of the time.
CINNAMON detours Ants and vinegar will help p/h of soil and kill ants and termites at lest her in New Mexico .I have good results so far over the pats 19 years
Great video! 2 of my favorite TH-cam channels together at once! Ky here, just beginning BTE ... termites are a worry of mine as well. I'm thinking , if they become a problem, I'll try landscaping fabric, or possibly a low growing, non combative ground cover. Time will tell. :).
Lovin this colab.... Here in the UK, its mostly slugs n snails... I don't think I could handle termites as well ..... Danny and Wanda do well to harvest what they do given the termite / fire ants they have..... more colabs plz
We have the same problem here in South Carolina, termites and fire ants. Fire ants have destroyed a whole crop of potatoes on me a few summers back and I have not planted them since. I also have tried different methods but there are still more to try. Oh I even had trouble with slugs, open cans of beer did help with those. Planting marigolds all around your garden also helps to keep some bugs out. Enjoyed the video and God Bless.
DID YOU CUT THE POTATOES AND PLANT THEM THE SAME DAY? I DID THAT A FEW YEARS AGO AND THE ANTS ATE THEM ALL AND IT WAS A NIGHTMARE JUST WALKING IN THAT AREA. I SAW A VIDEO THIS YEAR THAT MENTIONED CUTTING THE TATERS AND THEN LETTING THEM SCAB OVER BEFORE PLANTING THEM.
You know I think I did cut them and then plant them, I will try them again and let them scab over this time. We love potatoes so I hope it works this time. Thank you for the info.
Do any of you use Diatomaceous earth? I use it to keep my chickens worm free, put a little in their feed and spread it around the coop and yard. Have been thinking about using it in my garden. From Goggle; (Diatomaceous Earth (often referred to as "DE") is an off white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. When sprinkled on a bug that has an exoskeleton (such as bed bugs, ants or fleas) it compromises their waxy coating so that their innards turn into teeny tiny bug jerky).
Chickens eat fire ants. Make a chicken tractor and move it around, and they'll get rid of them. They also pick high energy areas - in the old days, people used to place ants down before they built houses, if they plants stayed where they wanted to build, they put the house somewhere else - usually wherever the sheep would lay down and rest.
How about using straight vinegar sprayed on your weeds. Take out a skunk cabbage in 3 days. Must spray on a sunny day at warmest time of the day Will get of their weeds.
Trying putting rocks with magnetic properties in your garden. I know it helps keep animals away from your garden , I'm not sure if it will keep bugs away but it's worth a try ...?
Something else must be at work on your farm. I've been using woodchips for 3 years now. I have termites and fire ants and everything else that will poke, stick or stab ya But NOT in my garden. I have sandy native soil topped with sweet gum tree leaves then my compost and then the woodchips. The only thing I add is some biochar and rock dust. I keep the soil covered with some type of crop covering and I say a prayer on every planting. Oh and I sing in my garden....maybe its my singing that keeps them away I don't know but God provides for me. May he provide for you as well.
Entomologists will tell you that wood chip mulch does not cause a termite problem. Here is a quote from home inspectors who cite two university studies instructing that wood chip mulch does not attract termites. "Research studies by both the University of Florida and the University of Maryland entomology departments found that, while termites will eat most varieties of wood mulch sold at garden centers while in the process of underground foraging around a yard, it is not their favorite diet; and, the incidence of termites under areas of mulch was found to be no higher than under areas of bare soil or pea rock ground cover. In fact, the University of Maryland study found the most termite activity under pea rock." I'm not sure of the motivation to try to "debunk" the BTE method, but it's just one method of gardening among many. No one is harmed if someone chooses to use the BTE method, so I'm confused with the messaging and tone that is taken with anti-BTE proponents. For adding organic matter to soil that is poor in OM, it's hard to find a better way of fast remediation than woodchips, even given the controversial opinion that it robs nitrogen from the soil, about which there is plenty of contrary opinion.
Could they add something to the wood chips or just on their regular soil that would eat the ants and termites? There are other kinds of bugs that eat termites. Chickens also eat termites and such. Perhaps there is a method they could use to eat up the bad bugs.
Ants and termites cannot stand vinegar, so would it work to soak some of the chips in a 1/2 and 1/2 white and apple cider vinegar...and then spread it on the garden chips?
Normally I would just say to move...but I know that is not an option for Deep South....as for ants...they are the cheapest and easiest pests to deal with...Nothing like some hot boiling water to cook them in...Then you can do chocolate covered ants like in the old days...lol.... We generally have two kinds of ants to deal with here in southwest Idaho...sugar ants and fire ants...sometimes carpenter ants show up depending where you are....but none can withstand a few doses of boiling water....
lol oh this is so wonderful it makes me want to cry a bucket full of happy tears. plus look how good the "old farts" are getting with computer's oh you 3 were the perfect break on a hard day. Thank you i can pick my chin up and get back to work with a smile from my face to my heart. You make me proud to be in the generation of lol over fifty lol ya I'm only 55 and my kids are having a very hard time with me minding all the things they say I'm to old to do lol. i think they are just getting out of helping with packing up the childhood house. now that the last one turn 18. Ya i asked all 5 kids to help cuz off grid is my financial hope. lol I'm not minding there NO MOM U CAN'T. I'm staying firm parents don't mind kids at any age they will know I'm old when they have to cook my food and change my dipper and i sure hope they do it better then helping me now. This is allot of stuff for one person especially still working a job. lol oh k back to work not the grind stone. lol
I understand their frustrations but but but I live in south Florida. My garden wood chips stay moist so no fire ants or termites yet. Just get rid of fire ants(hot water) or DE- and DE would kills termites. Have to work it. But sounds like they have a HUGE garden area. Don't know how to think about that. But back to Eden with wood chips or leaves or draw or whatever mulch you use is the key. Too bad they have such a huge problem with termites. But their method seems to be working for them!! So be it then!! I just think it's an ingenious way to garden with difficult soil such as sand and clay. Last words-" use DE " to kill unwanted pests. It doesn't hurt the worms😊👍
The carpenter ants ruined my garden last year. They ate 90% of my garden. I have problems with them in my bird food and come into my house all of the time. I am in South Carolina. Mimosa weeds are a pain here too.
I'm in the south and I have carpenter ants in the house, but not my back to Eden garden. That's really peculiar to me. one would think that companion/permaculture planting methods would help to alleviate some of the pest issue. And Diotomaceous earth takes care of any hard bodied insects I've come across here. I also have mimosa weeds, but NOT in my back to Eden Garden... did they layer cardboard or newspaper prior to the wood chips/leaf mulch?
Starry Hilder Off Grid Homestead this video definitely was an eye opener to me! Now I want to go do some research on the termite life cycle and find out what's going on in their soil and why they're so darned prolific. great collaboration, Starry, Danny and Wanda!
I have a question. for someone who knows nothing about starting a vegetable garden (I'm retiring in January and plan to move to my property immediately after), where do you recommend I begin? is there a resource or course that you know of to get me started? I have been watching clips, but I thought I'd ask an expert. thanks!
Maurice Gatdula one of my favorite books which is comprehensive is called Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond. it's an oldie but a goodie. I'd also recommend Paul Gautschi's Back to Eden video. I started the back to Eden with just 6 tomato plants and used my rabbit's litter box leaving as the cover and it worked fantastically. I did it this year on a much larger scale in east TN and I've had prolific veggies! I just wish I would've planted more. The return is so worth the effort.
Loaded question but yes get a good book. You wil need to locate the best garden spot...then you need to figure out a plan. How much food do you want to grow. you want to look at planting successive so you can harvest all season. Then the method. HANDS does for someone getting older this Back To Eden no til is so minimal when it comes to LABOR. The hardest part if harvesting! AND ithe soil sustains itself. No adding tiling weeding. You wil just need to locate a good source of lots of wood chips and also some good manure if you can....Keep us posted..baby steps
if ants are your primary problem the solution is to hatch praying mantis eggs near your garden. fire ants or otherwise, a single mantis can depopulate an entire anthill by itself in a remarkably short time.
you can put fresh wood chips right out the chipper. you have to understand what it is your doing with wood chips. fresh chips are used as mulch and help retain water. put them around established plants as deep as you want (within reason). as it decays it reverts back to soil, good soil. if you put fresh chip down just be careful you watch the temps, the deeper you put it, the hotter it gets till it goes thru its cycle. if your covering virgin ground go deep just keep in mind you dont want to plant in just chips, so youll have to pull back the mulch and plant in the dirt.
Funny teacher, wow, interesting discussion! I live in the deep south, Carolina, and I have two other problems. One is the heat! It absolutely DRIES the wood chips out! I told my wife JUSTyesterday , that I have discovered that I need to do more watering. It will require a LOT more watering than Pauls. Next, is the ants, Argentina ants are far worse than the fire ants. They make their nests anywhere they can find cover. if I were retired I might be able to keep up with them, but oh my, they multiply by the millions overnight! But as we have termites here too, the Argentina ants taken over evrything else. Even our Palmetta bugs that are like cock roaches, but much larger. these ants even clear out fire ants as they are smaller and that mean. only good thing about them is that they dont bite? Whew! I am expanding my BTE/raised bed garden to hopefully get better and better soil built up. In my lot next door, I am brining in more and more wood chips to hopefully get the soil more fertile so I can make a permaculture food forest. Maybe our blessing is the super hard packed clay soil here, uh? As long as I have an endless water source at our front door, and electricity, I can keep the plants watered well. I only need to retire next year so I can finally get rid of these ants. I think that is too much to ask for!
I have that devil weed mimosa weed to! Under each leaf on there are herds of MORE SEEDS! UGHHHH I do the BTE here but it's not as good as yours Starry. It is BAD Starry with the termites here in MS.
And so grass clippings will be ok with leaves?I'm in south Tx and we have the same problems.Our garage has termites and we'll have to tent the whole house and don;t have the funds right now.
Moviestar Memories I have lots of oak leaves. I use the as mulch as is and ground up also . I even took bags off the curbs-36 bags and used them to fill up my strawberry beds! I use goat 🐐 poo as fertilizer.
Telling you this: the video i am watching is very informative while the videos on the right all has theme of "Why i don't use woodchips in the garden" and many similar things. They are trying hard because they will lose money and they will loose more slaves.
I LOVED this! Thank you for a Great Start to my day! This is why "Preppers" MUST BE homesteaders. There is no way to "prep" for being a gardener. You HAVE TO actually get your hands INTO the DIRT -where you are-& start 'experimenting' with growing. My friends, 2 miles away, grow great squash & tomatoes. I'm under trees & if I get a couple of squash to mature it's like a miracle. Great advice! See what works where you are!
I agree.... used to call myself a prepper, but what good is it when the preps run out, or God forbid , get taken from you..... you need to be able to grow a few basic veggies, from seed if possible, this is ONLY my 2nd yr of gardening, and I have a teeny garden, if I can do it.... you can do it too
Super Easy....Add Diatomaceous earth to the mix in the mulch. It is good for the ground, it will kill the GROUND insects, which would leave your pollinators alone :) It is pretty cheap for a huge bag at a farm store. Get FOOD GRADE only, and you can put it UNDER the mulch if you wish, no matter what type of mulch you use. A small amount goes a long way. Hope that helps!
DE Doesn't kill fire ants. I lived in Florida where these ants are a huge problem. Even the conventional any killer doesn't kill them. It takes strong chemicals to knock those ants out and if course we don't want that in our gardens. But I now live in North AL and still there's fire ants here but I still use the BTE garden method. I put down black plastic in areas on outside of the garden that has wood chips and the ants seem to always go under it. So I've been successful for giving them an area where they're not in the garden to do their thing. But after they build mounds under the plastic for awhile I uncover it and they don't like that and lucky for me they move on somewhere else Other the garden. BTE has been a blessing for me. Getting older and can't pull weeds or till but still can grow healthy food. 😊
Plus DE gets wet it under wood chips. I dont believe it works wet or does it ? I'd love to know the answer.
Good Morning .....Awesome is as Awesome does
Ahhhhh:))
Paul says he would welcome termites, as they would help breakdown. As long as they are away from the house, it doesn't seem too bad. As for the ants, I have them in N. GA and I just break up the mound with a rake or pour boiling water. Again, not too bad for the benefits.
awesome video five stars
ahhhh thank you!!! I h ope I can be your hero again!:)))
What a great video... Thanks for sharing...
Shared! ;-)
LOVE you!!!!
Hey y'all! We're in south Arkansas and tried the Back to Eden method for the first time this year. We used old hay in place of wood chips and have had really good success. We've had a few fire ant mounds come up, I knock them down as soon as I see them and it's worked great for us. We'll definitely continue with old hay.
Enjoyed the visit, Starry. Danny and I love spending time with you. Wanda
I love you guys..wish we l ived closer to each other...two peas in a pod!!
Danny and Wanda, I live in North Mississippi, just 4 miles from the Tennessee state line. We have the very same problems. This humidity is about to kill me!!!! Yesterday the heat index here got to 103. I can walk outside and sit in the shade and within 10 minutes I have sweat rolling everywhere!! Love watching your channel as well as starry. Wish I could move to a cooler climate, but we have kids and grandkids here as well as my parents and a grandmother. Love to you all, Gale
I know how you feel ~ the humidity here in S Texas is horrible ! Wish we could move to a cooler climate too.... but like you have kiddos and grandkids .. it's so miserable here though.
Starry please do a video on herbal medicine, making, old recipes.
Fabulous! I love you guys!!!! xoxo
Amen! Wonderful video guys!
Thanks, Danny and Wanda! And Starry. Love the geographical perspective.
Great Show Starry! Really enjoyed you having guests on your channel especially Deep South Homestead! Great!!
Enjoyed this!!
We have some teramites mound in the Philippines Chicken help get rid of teramites.
and the garden lol
Rubie Knapp yes! my chickens are great at taking care of pests
Southern gardener here. Before i started back to eden gardening, our new suburban home came with a garden bed that had been laid with woodchip mulch. That is when i discovered the termites. I came to discover that the reason the termites enjoyed our beds so much, was that the woodchips became compacted. If you regularly go out with a rake to move and break up the woodchips, it brings more oxygen into the soil that the termites hate. It also makes the soil more hospitable for vegetables since there is more bacterial, rather than fungal (more anaerobic) growth. If you look at Pauls garden how loose his top layer is, that is what you want and i have not had issues with them since implementing this technique. It makes this method much more work having to rake the woodchips, but its worth it.
point well taken
Danny does the back to how method… LOL… I loved that video. It was great having Danny and Wanda on the story Hilder homestead. Love you guys have a blessed day
Starry you & Deep South Homestead Rocked this.. Love it... thank you for all the info... Big hugs :)
Nice meeting your friends Danny & Wanda. Their garden is lovely and they are good people. I know about termites, lived most of my life in Louisiana. :) We lived in a duplex that we were renting for a few years... this was many years ago, I was a teen and my mother discovered termites in the wall, anyway she saved the owners house because termites can destroy your home. They are nasty. God bless you all. tfs.
This was awesome, great living lesson, one shoe doesn't fit everyone. Do what works.
There are 2 kinds of houses in Texas, one that has termites and the other that will have termites.
HOW TRUE!
Brothers house (built in the eastern Houston swamps, only has fire ants in the newly created meadow lawns. You build it, ... they will come.
Fire ants invaded NC and I hope we can find a market to sell them.
That is true everywhere I work for a pest control company.
It's called build your house from stone / cement with metal or cement roofing. Earthship would be a great house for that type of environment.
I planted no till beans 3 kinds of squash and turned out . I also did plant about 75 pepper plants and 85 tomato plants no till and I have been picking a ton of veggies the last 2 week's. good luck to all.
Love Danny and Wanda!
Grass clippings on top of newspaper to help keep weeds down sometimes helps.
This is awesome stuff! Do what works!
Also I wanted to say… I think a lot of people have watched the back to Eden film with Paul… But there is a TH-cam channel L to survive… Where he goes to Paul's and does lots of videos. There is a lot more information in those videos. Just thought I would put that out there. I love those videos… Paul talks about how God talks to him in his garden. And he gives a lot more information. He talks about his chickens and how they compost the garden. And a lot of stuff. He answers our questions and I'll kinds of stuff. So if some of you need more information maybe you could go look at those videos.
What if when you first plant your garden, you roll out a sheet of plastic (such as drywall vapor barrier type plastic) & punch small hole in a row only where you want your vegetables to grow (plant your seeds in these holes) that way nothing should grow between the rows so you should never have to til or weed between your rows. You may have to also put some small pinhole size holes near your plants to allow water to get in. Maybe even keep the dirt between the rows slightly higher so any rain water etc. will flow towards the plants to make it kind of an automatic watering system.
I was so excited about trying the Back To Eden garden, but after watching this I am a little discouraged. I am in the Florida panhandle and we also have the problem with termites and ants EVERYWHERE in our yard. After four years, I still haven't found a great success in gardening with all the sand. We spend a fortune every spring trying to amend the sandy soil. Not giving up though. Loved this video and I really love seeing all your homesteading videos, Starry. Your place is beautiful!!
I live in Arkansas. We have the same conditions of steam heat etc. I am doing part Back To Eden with the Woodchips and then I use a lot of straw. Straw is the best thing for blocking Bermuda grass between rows and around raised beds.
NICE idea..I love it!!!
now I am so happy I just get slime mold on my mulch😀
Gr8 video!! Here in southern Virginia, we share the same termite and ant problem as the folks in Mississippi. I have both methods going on, however, I have my raised beds further away from my log home (potential termite target) and surrounded by attack chickens that love to eat insects.
(Old district Niles) Fremont, East Bay, greater SanFran ....
We wood chipped (old and fresh tree trimmer company drop offs) on a 15-20 years neglected, bare soil, 3 foot tall weeded (and unpruned) orchard, vineyard, and garden, on 1+ acre of land. 12-15 inches of chips across the orchard, 6-8 inches in the vineyard, and 3-4 inches in the garden area, ... all with viable fruit trees (peach, figs, apples, cherry, apricot, plum), blackberry patch, grape trellis, and garden of all kinds (asparagus and other vegs). In the first year cycle in the orchard (I was shocked) we had nearly 1 inch of black gold soil. In that first year cycle, the weeds were down to minimal growth areas and small, ... and any weeds could only grow roots in the chips, and easy to pull out (versus pulling out hard pan soil rooted weeds). With continued reapplications back up to the maximum depth, weeds went down to "pffft !" while the fruits, grapes, and garden had greater production.
The 3 factors of soil composition, bacteria, nematodes, worms, red worms, pin worms, night crawlers, and mushrooms came into the area in force, helping in the decomposition and processing of the topsoil. The soil was noticeably moist and cool, and protected the fruit tree (et al) roots from sunheat and burning, sucking up the excess rain and moisture keeping the soil properly watered, but not soaked, so cooling insulation in summer, and warming insulation in winter.
It does work, for those who want to work it ... but your climate (and critter issues) just need to be taken care of. The ancestors did it ... if they could do it across the landscape of north, south, east, and west, ... then it can be done.
I have a large farm, organic, no-till or minimal till. Also have Wood chip gardens on the farm based on Paul's videos. I am in North GA in the mountains and have found that in my large corn fields etc, I will interplant cover drops such as buckwheat, sorghums, clovers, sunflowers between crop rows to keep weeds suppressed. Buckwheat works wonders, esp with corn. Plus it helps keep the crows from pulling the young plants from the ground. Heavy wood chips for gardens work well most of the time, as my goal is for the above-mentioned bacterias and fungis, etc, for soil building.
However, the only problem I have in the wood chips is the all- invasive Bermuda grass and, worst of all, nut grass! I simply cannot control either in my wood chip gardens.
Starry, have you seen a little channel called Robbie and Gary? They have wood chips and are doing the back to Eden gardening! They are putting wood chips on their whole property, because it's just shale and hard dirt. Now she is able to garden! If you want, check it out! Pretty interesting!
I live not too far from Danny and Wanda, and I have a Back to Eden garden as well. I know exactly what they're talking about, because I had termites EATING MY CABBAGE! Go figure! I put almost 2 ft. of wood chips down last year. This spring, the level of the wood chips was almost level to the ground! I'm sticking with it for now because I remember Appalachian Homestead saying that she had a problem until the soil was built up. Then her ants and the like left her garden.
Dont give out maybe nature will balance it all out!:)
I'm one of the ones with FIRE ANTS galore here in S . Texas ! Ugh :(
So glad you had them explain this .....
I have to till and I have to pull weeds. I don't like the weeds, however I get a wonderful harvest from my garden every year. Even when I don't think that I will, I'm always pleasantly surprised. Thanks Starry because not all of us can do back to Eden gardening, its just not possible.
By the way, I do love to watch your videos.
I will be making myself a solar dehydrator with some recycled screens I got for free from a lady. I'm looking forward to that. It's so much bigger then my little electric dehydrator.
Have a wonderful day and God bless :)
Thanks for sharing...I know the BTE method is great if you can do it but as you said not al of us can! The good old fashion way has worked forever...and look what you get back!!!
I live in Queensland Australia, we also have termites in our humidity, so we use a lasagna method with wet news paper, manure, soil compost then sugar cane mulch or straw on top. it breaks down quickly builds the soil and keeps out weeds. maybe you could try this Danny and Wanda. we also use composted chicken manure and straw. We would not use woodchips or sawdust as it attracts termites.
Paul from (back to eden gardening) said you can use various types of ground cover. It doesn't have to be wood chips. I believe he
mentioned rocks in one of his videos, or palm leaves in tropic areas etc.
Because of an acquired condition I spend some time at the local Easter Seals center. They have a wonderful garden put in by those less fortunate than I. Theirs is not an Eden garden, but a "Garden of Eat'n".
Three parts are missing in this equation of ancestral Back to Eden soil composting and building. Proper soil bacteria, beneficial nematodes, and mushroom spores.
Soil bacteria will deal with ants and termites - growing all over them and their nesting material. Beneficial nematodes (tiny-tiny worms) will also predate and drill into and eat ants and termites. Mushroom spores also infest ant and termite hives and take over, spore-up and grow mushroom mychorrizia on the eggs and adults.
Admittedly, if you build it, loose soil housing, ... of course you will create housing for the ants. Termites also come to decomposing wood (duh!). But, incomplete soil and wood products without soil bacteria, nematodes, and mushrooms creates critter habitats. When you have proper soil, you won't have bugs.
And DON"T use cedar, cypress, sequoia, redwood, or juniper chips or bark fibers. All these (admittedly) are essential oils, but they are also toxic poisons to the soil. Keep these away from any/all garden, vineyard, and orchard soils.
AND, there is no micro-fraction inches of scattering chips. 12-15 INCHES of chips in the ORCHARD. 6-8 INCHES in the VINEYARD. 3-4 INCHES in the GARDEN. And you won't have weeds ... and bugs .....
Took a local lady's neglected orchard, vineyard, and garden, and within 1 year (on the West Coast SanFran) and turned it into a vastly luxurious soil-building environment, (in a Mediterranean climate zone), and no ants or termites.
John Lord
Knew it was what youre saying Great info. For every predator theres a prey
John Lord Also, I do remember learning about different types of wood have oils that negatively affect the soil for growing.
These are all the genus species of Thuja, and family Cupressaceae (cypress).
One could also mention the conifers, firs, hemlocks, and pines, ... but they WORK for all the West Coast and mountain regions, even as acidic ph.
John Lord: I'm in San Francisco. Where abouts is this garden/orchard? I'd love to see it.
YIKES YIKES !!!! It was said to pile on the wood chips (especially those of conifers). and mentioned the depth here (of a successful orchard, vineyard, and garden on the West Coast).
With a deep depth of chips, and getting any termites or fire ants (carpenters et al), then having a loose "soil texture" (chips) you can rake out the nest, disturb the critters, and potentially kill the queen of each nest. Then the nest implodes without a laying queen - like honey bees. If you have barren soil, then of course, the ants and termites go into the ground, (or into your house ...) and make such underground cavern colonies of 6 foot deep fire ant nests that others show in YT vids. Having a shallow source of malleable soil, makes them more amenable to staying in the soft topsoil versus digging down and creating a cavern colony.
Also by raking, then scattering a heavy layer of baking soda, and then spraying vinegar (enough to make YOU gag ...(the old foaming carbon dioxide soda bottle effect), you can truly drown, and asphyxiate the majority of the nesting colony. The vinegar also burns the egg larvae, and the esophagus and lungs of such ants and termites, destroying the current and future workers. And do this repeatedly every 1-2 weeks of their restoring their colony in the chips, and the remaining vinegar will also gas them, chase them out, or permanetly kill them off.
Having captured a termite queen in my young age, she was (in my case) 2-3 inches long in an old stump. Given to my brother, taken to high school biology class - this was a major cause celebrity for the class. The colony was not able to reproduce and eventually died out. The same vinegar against termites on their vastly softer skin, and egg larvae, and vinegar gassing them works wonders - in the nest.
Anybody (with experience ...) knowing of the Black Hills of South Dakota being totally covered in pine needles (depth ...), that the problems of the Black Hills is not the secondary issue of dying pines, and pine beetle infestation (like termites), is that the ground hasn't been burnt off since the known times of the Indians doing that to keep down the needles. The needles cover the ground, suck up any moisture (especially the rain), leaving dry soil, dying trees, ... and then the pine beetles and termites come in for a feast. Burning the soil debris leaves all the post-fire carbon, and potash (potassium et al wood salts) leaving a sweeter soil, that the first appearing plants are the legumes (lupines and vetch) and meadow clovers). Then the fire-burned pine cones and cedar pods release their seeds into the ground for the new generation of growth.
The ancestors with their steam tractors, also used discing of the soil, then using the steam exhaust, put the exhaust pipes near the discs (or used a dragging tarp on the soil), and steamed the soil, killing off bugs, larvae, bacteria, worms, virus blights, etc. creating a (semi-)stelrized soil and texture as well.
Anybody with a steam pressure washer could also gives them hell with such steaming option. With a steaming nozzle, then pressed into the soil, the nest can be steam cleaned, and guaranteed there won't be 3-4-5x after-treatments. (More complex) if you raked, then tossed down a tarp, and 5 minutes of steam cleaning under the tarp (steam coming out from all sides of the tarp, you would also take down such nests.
The Back to Eden method, with rational maintenance, and natural biodiversity in the soil can work very easy.
Sarry here in North Georgia we have the real red Georgia clay and also have ants and termites.For example when U pour your slab for your house U used 2" stirafoam under the slab, here In North Georgia we cant do that due to termites we use 4" of 57 stone (#5 #6 #7) then place 24 mill poly plastic for insulation and moisture barrier getting the same results as the 2" strafoam. Now the wood chips and everything related to the Back to Eden Garden Susan and I have went right by your teaching and have had no problems with either ants or termites and have done very well with this no till type garden. Think U again for all that U do for all of us. Blessings Paul & Susan North Georgia
Starry, I'm 30 minutes west of Atlanta (or Hotlanta if your from the south) and its hot and humid here as well. termites are an issue if their in your house, in fact they will destroy a house but anywhere else they are great. they don't cause any other issues that I know of except in dry wood that you have purpose for. here's my point, when you put the mulch down on the ground, what is the eventual out come you want? I want the mulch to retain water and eventually decompose and build my crappy soil. hello? that's what the termites do naturally. you put it down, they break it down. now, I don't know but I have heard that its not the termites that break down the wood but the bacteria or something in their gut (sounds like something else that I want in my garden). you will get more bugs in your woodchips than you ever imagined but they are there doing the job God gave them to do. if your from the south, you protect your home from termites, that's a given. if you don't, your going to get them whether your garden has chips or not. If you have termites, I say you put the mulch down anyway, let them decompose it and reap the benefits from this lil devil. Ants, yeah, they suck. they are here wether you have mulch are not. now what stinks is that you cant see them in the mulch and you will find yourself standing or digging in a nest of them before you know it. at least in the grass you can see them most of the time.
I'm in Central Georgia, I use Cyprus chips, termites do eat Cyprus, I know I'm a pest control specialist.
Have you tried Vinegar on the mulch????
what does that do?
CINNAMON detours Ants and vinegar will help p/h of soil and kill ants and termites at lest her in New Mexico .I have good results so far over the pats 19 years
Great video! 2 of my favorite TH-cam channels together at once!
Ky here, just beginning BTE ... termites are a worry of mine as well. I'm thinking , if they become a problem, I'll try landscaping fabric, or possibly a low growing, non combative ground cover.
Time will tell. :).
Lovin this colab.... Here in the UK, its mostly slugs n snails... I don't think I could handle termites as well ..... Danny and Wanda do well to harvest what they do given the termite / fire ants they have..... more colabs plz
Will Epsen salt stop the bugs from keeping the bugs away, or using chickens.
We have the same problem here in South Carolina, termites and fire ants. Fire ants have destroyed a whole crop of potatoes on me a few summers back and I have not planted them since. I also have tried different methods but there are still more to try. Oh I even had trouble with slugs, open cans of beer did help with those. Planting marigolds all around your garden also helps to keep some bugs out. Enjoyed the video and God Bless.
DID YOU CUT THE POTATOES AND PLANT THEM THE SAME DAY? I DID THAT A FEW YEARS AGO AND THE ANTS ATE THEM ALL AND IT WAS A NIGHTMARE JUST WALKING IN THAT AREA. I SAW A VIDEO THIS YEAR THAT MENTIONED CUTTING THE TATERS AND THEN LETTING THEM SCAB OVER BEFORE PLANTING THEM.
You know I think I did cut them and then plant them, I will try them again and let them scab over this time. We love potatoes so I hope it works this time. Thank you for the info.
would heavy mil plastic lining the walkways help ?
Do any of you use Diatomaceous earth? I use it to keep my chickens worm free, put a little in their feed and spread it around the coop and yard. Have been thinking about using it in my garden.
From Goggle; (Diatomaceous Earth (often referred to as "DE") is an off white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. When sprinkled on a bug that has an exoskeleton (such as bed bugs, ants or fleas) it compromises their waxy coating so that their innards turn into teeny tiny bug jerky).
Lu ODell I just used it on my corn to take care of some giant golf ball sized beetles.
Wow! Good to know.
Hey, termites want to eat too!
Chickens eat fire ants. Make a chicken tractor and move it around, and they'll get rid of them. They also pick high energy areas - in the old days, people used to place ants down before they built houses, if they plants stayed where they wanted to build, they put the house somewhere else - usually wherever the sheep would lay down and rest.
For carpenter ants, I put borax and sugar mix in their environment
How about using straight vinegar sprayed on your weeds. Take out a skunk cabbage in 3 days. Must spray on a sunny day at warmest time of the day
Will get of their weeds.
Trying putting rocks with magnetic properties in your garden. I know it helps keep animals away from your garden , I'm not sure if it will keep bugs away but it's worth a try ...?
river cane and bamboo works well for stakes. termites don't like the high silica content.
Something else must be at work on your farm. I've been using woodchips for 3 years now. I have termites and fire ants and everything else that will poke, stick or stab ya But NOT in my garden. I have sandy native soil topped with sweet gum tree leaves then my compost and then the woodchips. The only thing I add is some biochar and rock dust. I keep the soil covered with some type of crop covering and I say a prayer on every planting. Oh and I sing in my garden....maybe its my singing that keeps them away I don't know but God provides for me. May he provide for you as well.
Entomologists will tell you that wood chip mulch does not cause a termite problem. Here is a quote from home inspectors who cite two university studies instructing that wood chip mulch does not attract termites. "Research studies by both the University of Florida and the University of Maryland entomology departments found that, while termites will eat most varieties of wood mulch sold at garden centers while in the process of underground foraging around a yard, it is not their favorite diet; and, the incidence of termites under areas of mulch was found to be no higher than under areas of bare soil or pea rock ground cover. In fact, the University of Maryland study found the most termite activity under pea rock."
I'm not sure of the motivation to try to "debunk" the BTE method, but it's just one method of gardening among many. No one is harmed if someone chooses to use the BTE method, so I'm confused with the messaging and tone that is taken with anti-BTE proponents. For adding organic matter to soil that is poor in OM, it's hard to find a better way of fast remediation than woodchips, even given the controversial opinion that it robs nitrogen from the soil, about which there is plenty of contrary opinion.
Could they add something to the wood chips or just on their regular soil that would eat the ants and termites? There are other kinds of bugs that eat termites. Chickens also eat termites and such. Perhaps there is a method they could use to eat up the bad bugs.
Ants and termites cannot stand vinegar, so would it work to soak some of the chips in a 1/2 and 1/2 white and apple cider vinegar...and then spread it on the garden chips?
diatomaceous Earth for the termites in the wood chips and other insects in the wood chips
Normally I would just say to move...but I know that is not an option for Deep South....as for ants...they are the cheapest and easiest pests to deal with...Nothing like some hot boiling water to cook them in...Then you can do chocolate covered ants like in the old days...lol.... We generally have two kinds of ants to deal with here in southwest Idaho...sugar ants and fire ants...sometimes carpenter ants show up depending where you are....but none can withstand a few doses of boiling water....
hi starry, chicken love the fat young termites. Release the chicken into the garden! the termites will diminish!
lol oh this is so wonderful it makes me want to cry a bucket full of happy tears. plus look how good the "old farts" are getting with computer's oh you 3 were the perfect break on a hard day. Thank you i can pick my chin up and get back to work with a smile from my face to my heart. You make me proud to be in the generation of lol over fifty lol ya I'm only 55 and my kids are having a very hard time with me minding all the things they say I'm to old to do lol. i think they are just getting out of helping with packing up the childhood house. now that the last one turn 18. Ya i asked all 5 kids to help cuz off grid is my financial hope. lol I'm not minding there NO MOM U CAN'T. I'm staying firm parents don't mind kids at any age they will know I'm old when they have to cook my food and change my dipper and i sure hope they do it better then helping me now. This is allot of stuff for one person especially still working a job. lol oh k back to work not the grind stone. lol
It is a natural product.
I understand their frustrations but but but I live in south Florida. My garden wood chips stay moist so no fire ants or termites yet. Just get rid of fire ants(hot water) or DE- and DE would kills termites. Have to work it. But sounds like they have a HUGE garden area. Don't know how to think about that. But back to Eden with wood chips or leaves or draw or whatever mulch you use is the key. Too bad they have such a huge problem with termites. But their method seems to be working for them!! So be it then!! I just think it's an ingenious way to garden with difficult soil such as sand and clay. Last words-" use DE " to kill unwanted pests. It doesn't hurt the worms😊👍
😊🌻
The carpenter ants ruined my garden last year. They ate 90% of my garden. I have problems with them in my bird food and come into my house all of the time. I am in South Carolina. Mimosa weeds are a pain here too.
Thanks for chiming in I know its a real issue
I'm in the south and I have carpenter ants in the house, but not my back to Eden garden. That's really peculiar to me. one would think that companion/permaculture planting methods would help to alleviate some of the pest issue. And Diotomaceous earth takes care of any hard bodied insects I've come across here. I also have mimosa weeds, but NOT in my back to Eden Garden... did they layer cardboard or newspaper prior to the wood chips/leaf mulch?
Thanks for chiming in, maybe this will give Danny And Wanda a new perspective. However it does seem like t heir termites are just horrible!!!
Starry Hilder Off Grid Homestead this video definitely was an eye opener to me! Now I want to go do some research on the termite life cycle and find out what's going on in their soil and why they're so darned prolific. great collaboration, Starry, Danny and Wanda!
I have a question. for someone who knows nothing about starting a vegetable garden (I'm retiring in January and plan to move to my property immediately after), where do you recommend I begin? is there a resource or course that you know of to get me started? I have been watching clips, but I thought I'd ask an expert. thanks!
Maurice Gatdula one of my favorite books which is comprehensive is called Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond. it's an oldie but a goodie. I'd also recommend Paul Gautschi's Back to Eden video. I started the back to Eden with just 6 tomato plants and used my rabbit's litter box leaving as the cover and it worked fantastically. I did it this year on a much larger scale in east TN and I've had prolific veggies! I just wish I would've planted more. The return is so worth the effort.
Loaded question but yes get a good book. You wil need to locate the best garden spot...then you need to figure out a plan. How much food do you want to grow. you want to look at planting successive so you can harvest all season. Then the method. HANDS does for someone getting older this Back To Eden no til is so minimal when it comes to LABOR. The hardest part if harvesting! AND ithe soil sustains itself. No adding tiling weeding. You wil just need to locate a good source of lots of wood chips and also some good manure if you can....Keep us posted..baby steps
if ants are your primary problem the solution is to hatch praying mantis eggs near your garden. fire ants or otherwise, a single mantis can depopulate an entire anthill by itself in a remarkably short time.
I have no idea but have to ask do termites bother your plants.
NOPE, JUST DRY WOOD. WONT MESS WITH SAPPY WOOD.
Then just compost wood chips like Paul G. does with his chickens then put on the garden.
you can put fresh wood chips right out the chipper. you have to understand what it is your doing with wood chips. fresh chips are used as mulch and help retain water. put them around established plants as deep as you want (within reason). as it decays it reverts back to soil, good soil. if you put fresh chip down just be careful you watch the temps, the deeper you put it, the hotter it gets till it goes thru its cycle.
if your covering virgin ground go deep just keep in mind you dont want to plant in just chips, so youll have to pull back the mulch and plant in the dirt.
Cinnamon mite help to
Try using metal sticks instead of wood.
Funny teacher, wow, interesting discussion! I live in the deep south, Carolina, and I have two other problems. One is the heat! It absolutely DRIES the wood chips out! I told my wife JUSTyesterday , that I have discovered that I need to do more watering. It will require a LOT more watering than Pauls. Next, is the ants, Argentina ants are far worse than the fire ants. They make their nests anywhere they can find cover. if I were retired I might be able to keep up with them, but oh my, they multiply by the millions overnight! But as we have termites here too, the Argentina ants taken over evrything else. Even our Palmetta bugs that are like cock roaches, but much larger. these ants even clear out fire ants as they are smaller and that mean. only good thing about them is that they dont bite? Whew! I am expanding my BTE/raised bed garden to hopefully get better and better soil built up. In my lot next door, I am brining in more and more wood chips to hopefully get the soil more fertile so I can make a permaculture food forest. Maybe our blessing is the super hard packed clay soil here, uh? As long as I have an endless water source at our front door, and electricity, I can keep the plants watered well. I only need to retire next year so I can finally get rid of these ants. I think that is too much to ask for!
use vinegar water in the wood chips and ants termites don't like it . I tried it with my tomato plant to get rid of ants and it will work on all bugs
I have that devil weed mimosa weed to! Under each leaf on there are herds of MORE SEEDS! UGHHHH I do the BTE here but it's not as good as yours Starry. It is BAD Starry with the termites here in MS.
once again " one size does not fit all" and in Mississippi I bet they get a foot more annual rain vs Boundary County ID
Straw may help to if it was me I wood do all 3
Plus, with straw there are no termites😡
And so grass clippings will be ok with leaves?I'm in south Tx and we have the same problems.Our garage has termites and we'll have to tent the whole house and don;t have the funds right now.
Moviestar Memories I have lots of oak leaves. I use the as mulch as is and ground up also . I even took bags off the curbs-36 bags and used them to fill up my strawberry beds! I use goat 🐐 poo as fertilizer.
Try putting the chickens to work. Won't they eat these yummy bugs?
Do not complain, eat them
mladen1000 , dipped in chocolate?
but not a bad idea😉
Telling you this: the video i am watching is very informative while the videos on the right all has theme of "Why i don't use woodchips in the garden" and many similar things. They are trying hard because they will lose money and they will loose more slaves.