How to 'bug-proof' stands, tables, monkey-poles etc?

[SU2]

I've got 1 monkey pole but two more (out of driftwood ) that are about to be erected, and have 1 table now but just finishing the build on a second one.

I'd been intending to do this for reasons of aesthetics (and general culture - my house causes my plants to lose sun after 5p, they get an extra hour if they're raised 3' in the air!), but recently had an outbreak of (caterpillars?) that I'm dealing with now but had noticed that only on-ground plants were affected, anything raised was *not* affected by these caterpillars, so have prioritized getting all my plants off the ground!

I've made this thread for ideas on how to 'bug proof' my poles & tables, like how to keep it so bugs can't just crawl up! I know nothing is fool-proof, but for instance I know that if I slathered the bottom 6" of a pole (or table leg) with petroleum jelly, my guess is no bugs could crawl over that! Have also been thinking of dusting the ground around the poles/legs of tables with diatomaceous earth powder (or boric acid powder) to make those areas pretty insect-free. I know that things will still get up on these stands/tables somehow but figure there's things I can do to seriously limit how many get up and would greatly appreciate any suggestions!!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend

 

[Stickroot]

Bugs do not crawl up my poles. They are treated wood and with combo of Malathion and Neem I don't know that I would see them anyway.
There are also other risks when setting trees on the ground.

 

[Anthony]

A simple coat of baby oil [ mineral oil ] works on furniture indoors, not sure
how well it would hold up outdoors.
Test ?
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Smoke]

Most of the bad bugs fly, so treating the legs is not really productive. A one inch band of copper wire or tape like the old window tape for burgler alarms around each leg will keep snails and slugs from eating leaves though. The copper reacts with their slime and turns them into a battery electrocuting them. Really cool.....

 

[sorce]

I'm going with spiders.

I'm with Smoke...
Not worth the effort.

But here is something worth the effort.

Before those caterpillars were eating your trees..

They were eggs, just sitting around...waiting for you to smash them!

Happy Preventing!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

Most of the bad bugs fly, so treating the legs is not really productive. A one inch band of copper wire or tape like the old window tape for burgler alarms around each leg will keep snails and slugs from eating leaves though. The copper reacts with their slime and turns them into a battery electrocuting them. Really cool.....

That is cool.

 

[SU2]

Bugs do not crawl up my poles. They are treated wood and with combo of Malathion and Neem I don't know that I would see them anyway.
There are also other risks when setting trees on the ground.View attachment 156548

Firstly, that is a beautiful setup you've built there!!

How/where are you applying this malathion/neem combo? Am unsure if you're referring to the plants having been treated, or are actually smearing that on the poles as a perimeter-barrier!

Great job though I mean that's a really beautiful little nursery/path/area there!!

 

[SU2]

A simple coat of baby oil [ mineral oil ] works on furniture indoors, not sure
how well it would hold up outdoors.
Test ?
Good Day
Anthony

Am going to do so, in fact I wish I did this beforehand as I'm sure it'd have some weather-proofing properties as well, can't hurt! I dislike the idea of a constantly-gooey layer, like a ring of petrolatum, but at least that'd ensure bugs couldn't crawl-up!!

 

[SU2]

Most of the bad bugs fly, so treating the legs is not really productive. A one inch band of copper wire or tape like the old window tape for burgler alarms around each leg will keep snails and slugs from eating leaves though. The copper reacts with their slime and turns them into a battery electrocuting them. Really cool.....

That's very good to know, would've guessed the other way around ie most of the concerns come from the ground!

 

[SU2]

I'm going with spiders.

I'm with Smoke...
Not worth the effort.

But here is something worth the effort.

Before those caterpillars were eating your trees..

They were eggs, just sitting around...waiting for you to smash them!

Happy Preventing!

Sorce

Oh I crushed tons and tons of those eggs!! The eggs were the easiest way to locate caterpillar activity actually, I'd just look around for the black dots and then look above (the dots were always on the leaf below where they'd try to setup cocoons with two leaves touching / acting as walls) Am very happy to be rid of them, though I've now got a black-death thing happening on the foliage of a bunch of cuttings

 

[Stickroot]

Firstly, that is a beautiful setup you've built there!!

How/where are you applying this malathion/neem combo? Am unsure if you're referring to the plants having been treated, or are actually smearing that on the poles as a perimeter-barrier!

Great job though I mean that's a really beautiful little nursery/path/area there!!

Thank you!
I spray the ground and around the poles with Mathion and spray plants with Neem.

 

[SU2]

Thank you!
I spray the ground and around the poles with Mathion and spray plants with Neem.

I'm having trouble googling to find what's in this Mathion product would you mind telling me the active ingredient? And re neem, if I didn't know better it almost sounds like you preventively spray your trees! How many trees in your garden have neem oil on them?

[edited-to-add: is neem 'bad' for plants? I mean obviously it's ok to use it to kill bugs, but just because it's safe for that doesn't make it safe/inert for the tree]

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I'm having trouble googling to find what's in this Mathion product

He means Malathion (link)

 

[SU2]

He means Malathion (link)

Good stuff, thanks

 

[StoneCloud]

I used to be against using chemicals (I still don't on certain trees...the ones with fruit)

But here in Florida? F*** That!!!!!!!

Systemics will ease your stress about your trees better than a xanax

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayer-Ad...75035&wl11=online&wl12=17043705&wl13=&veh=sem

Anything eats my trees, they die. Don't have to think about it anymore and frees up TONS OF MY TIME and that is priceless!

And like others have said trees in pots on the ground is usually bad

 

[SU2]

I used to be against using chemicals (I still don't on certain trees...the ones with fruit)

But here in Florida? F*** That!!!!!!!

Systemics will ease your stress about your trees better than a xanax

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayer-Ad...75035&wl11=online&wl12=17043705&wl13=&veh=sem

Anything eats my trees, they die. Don't have to think about it anymore and frees up TONS OF MY TIME and that is priceless!

And like others have said trees in pots on the ground is usually bad

Yeah I've been getting everything off the ground, built a 10' table <2wks ago and am going to either build another or setup more 'monkey poles' (have some great deadwood I want to use for this )

I'd be very very interested in a systemic if it were totally safe / appropriate to use, I took a look at the ingredients is that the best product of its type you'd recommend or was it just an example? Want to buy whatever's best! Absolutely love this idea, I imagine you just use as directed and adjust your fertilizer downward a little (as it's got low-level fertilizer in it already)

 

[SU2]

Oh and since it's completed I figure this is as good a spot as any to show it and hope for some opinions/thoughts on what I did right/wrong! FWIW this thing is screwed-up very strongly, I really went overboard/redundant with screws and put 3 everywhere that 2 would've done, using 4" screws in most of the important joints:

(poor pic but it gets it across I think! It's around 10' long, I used a wire-shelf as the top (screwed-down of course) and the thing is just strong as hell, I'd be comfortable jumping up&down on it w/o it breaking!! Really think I erred in not treating the bottom-most parts with poly before making it, guess I could always go back and do it..)

 

[StoneCloud]

Not bad that will give them good air flow. If you want the legs of the bench off the ground you could always put it on bricks. Just a thought.

As far as the Bayer goes, I don't know if I can say it's the best just because I haven't tried them. But, it's always worked for me so I never had to buy anything else. Many ppl on here will attest to it also.

It's not deadly but..........Definitely follow the instructions carefully, wear gloves even when just opening the bottle. and use a disposable spoon to measure out the dosage. You will need very little mixed with water.......

I use the concentrate that you apply by watering the trees. They also have a granular I believe but I like the concentrate.

Don't worry about the fertilizer in there. Pretend it's not even there. Keep fertilizing like usual as it's so minute, it won't make a difference.

 

[just.wing.it]

I got so many little critters running around here, I'd be totally freaked out!...to leave my trees on the ground.
All mine are on table height benches, which are on the deck, which is 12 feet off the ground.

Still get lots of bugs....lots.
Gotta roll with the punches...
One thing I do that has definitely been effective is, I put every spider I find in my trees.
Got jumping spiders on patrol everywhere...
Got orb weavers with webs in the trees, or between trees...

Some big spider came through all my trees a few weeks ago, and systematically murdered and cannibalised all my orb weavers....
I caught it, wasn't able to ID it 100%, looked like something between a wolf spider and a brown recluse...
It wasn't a fishing spider....I know that, for sure...but it was large and a few shades of brown.
It left one thick string of web from tree to tree, along which I followed it's path of destruction... till I saw it chilling on the siding of the house, near my last tree in the row.
Since it killed all my good spiders, I threw him into the woods, probably should have killed his ass...but I felt merciful that day.
Anyway, more orb weavers came back, and I saw like 5 or ten little tiny jumpers the other day, like they just hatched...
They're like my little babies

 

[StoneCloud]

I got so many little critters running around here, I'd be totally freaked out!...to leave my trees on the ground.
All mine are on table height benches, which are on the deck, which is 12 feet off the ground.

Still get lots of bugs....lots.
Gotta roll with the punches...
One thing I do that has definitely been effective is, I put every spider I find in my trees.
Got jumping spiders on patrol everywhere...
Got orb weavers with webs in the trees, or between trees...

Some big spider came through all my trees a few weeks ago, and systematically murdered and cannibalised all my orb weavers....
I caught it, wasn't able to ID it 100%, looked like something between a wolf spider and a brown recluse...
It wasn't a fishing spider....I know that, for sure...but it was large and a few shades of brown.
It left one thick string of web from tree to tree, along which I followed it's path of destruction... till I saw it chilling on the siding of the house, near my last tree in the row.
Since it killed all my good spiders, I threw him into the woods, probably should have killed his ass...but I felt merciful that day.
Anyway, more orb weavers came back, and I saw like 5 or ten little tiny jumpers the other day, like they just hatched...
They're like my little babies

I also harvest the spiders. They get big here and the morning is so nice seeing webs everywhere. Art.....

My wife hates it lmao but I love them