It WORKS!!! No Presticide Bug Control! It REALLY works!

[bvar22]

It WORKS, and its FUN!
Dirt Devil Hand Held, Cordless Vacuum, with the "Quick Flip Crevice Tool".

Since we don't use chemical pesticides in our garden, Starkraven and myself were resigned to handpicking nasty bugs off our plants and drowning them in little jars of soapy water....time consuming and unpleasant.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x8711

Yesterday, we tested the Dirt Devil Cordless Vac (with the "Quick Flip Crevice Tool")

Sqaush Bugs, Leaf Footed Bugs (Stink Bugs), Cucumber Beetles, Bean Beetles, small grasshoppers.....sucks them right up and traps them in the clear plastic canister where you can WATCH these little pests struggle and DIE without ever getting your hands dirty! (WOO HOO DIE MotherFucker!)

This works so well that we were unable to find a single nasty bug in our veggie garden this AM, and had to use the HollyHocks for the Photo Shoot.

The best method we have found is to slowly sneak up on the victim (Leaf Footed Bug), get close, and pull the trigger. The pest disappears up the chute... Very few misses, practicly zero energy consumed.

One of the cool features or the Dirt Devil is the spring loaded trapdoor at the end of the chute. When the power is off, the door closes. No escape for the bugs in the chamber. They can't crawl out.


Starkraven wanted to let the bugs die a lingering, painful natural death inside the canister, but I needed to empty it for the photos, so I sprayed a very brief whiff of Flying Insect Killer up the spout, and within several minutes, everything inside was dead.

We are going to mount a weatherproof mailbox in the VeggieGarden and keep the Dirt Devil in it so it will be handy whenever pests appear.

AFAIK, "Dirt Devil" is the only Hand Held Cordless Vac that has the fold down "Crevice Tool" that makes it so effective against bugs. The one we purchased is the most powerful (15.6 volts), and retails for about $40 all over the web. I did see some less powerful Dirt Devils in the $20 range that appeared to have the fold down crevice tool, and they should be effective.

I don't expect this tool to work so well with the smaller aphids and mites. We haven't tried it against them yet. Starkraven's potion seems to be working well, but the vac does have a brush attachment, so we will give it a try if the opportunity presents itself.

I was especially delighted to see this thing suck up a Cucumber Beetle. Those little bugs (and Bean Beetles) carry & transmit plant diseases that I was never happy having on my hands.

[Kolesar]

1. Ew. I have been crushing cucumber beetles with my hands

Do they sell Dirt Devils at Wal*Mart?

[bvar22]

2. Yes, Wally World has the Dirt Devil.

Hand crushing Cucumber Beetles is unpleasant, and I've read that that can spread the Wilt Disease.
Never Again!

[asdjrocky]

3. Wonderful idea bvar.

If I had more bugs, I'd get me one of those.

[bvar22]

4. I ran across the idea on another forum....

...about Squash Bugs and Organic/non-pesticide ways to deal with them.
One poster to the thread mentioned the Dirt Devil, and swore by the results.
I thought it was worth a try, but I never expected the results to be THIS good.

The only other method mentioned on that thread (besides hand picking) that claimed effectiveness was Row Covers, but they have the downside of preventing the accumulation of Good Bugs, and if the bad bugs ever get under the row covers, they are useless.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Brilliant!

This is one of those ideas where after you hear of it you go, why didn't I ever think to do that?

Thank you!

[hippywife]

6. I bet that works really great

for those bugs that sit there like they are too stupid to be afeared of you. The grasshoppers just jump away as soon as you come near them and the hornworms hold on for dear life. Ugh!

[Kolesar]

7. My brother in law can suck a hornet's nest dry with a Shop-Vac (tm)

Just puts the wand right up to the opening and gets 'em. Puts rice in there next to beat them up in the canister.

[jillan]

8. A shop vac is the greatest invention - I put my other vacuums away.

At Lowe's I found an attachment for carpet and bare floors, and it does a much better job than a regular vac.

And does it all outside too.

[jillan]

9. Excellent idea!

[DUgosh]

10. This reminded me of fond memories from yesteryear

My daughter using our trusty dust devil on her 4 H show pig before showing. Ah country life is good.

[NJCher]

11. Excellent!!

What a terrific idea. I researched it a few years ago and found there are actually backpack vacuums for large organic farms. Expensive, though. This sounds like an excellent solution for the home garden.

Loved the pictures: thanks for sharing this organic technique.



Cher