Millipedes and Kangaroos

[Paul B]

I have had an invasion of millipedes over the last few months, predominately worse after a rain. I hate the little buggers, they have no place on this planet, with their climbing up my walls and finding their way inside, only to fall from the ceiling when you least expect it. I have collected thousands of late and disposed of them via the bin. It doesnt seem as their is any chemical other than Napalm that will stop them.
I am now getting them in my beloved orchids and bonsai plants....any suggestions as I dont think Napalm or nuclear activity is conductive to the health and wellbeing of my collection.

I was also having issues with the tops of some plants being eaten, it would happen overnight, affected my strawberries too, I had such a lovely crop going!
Turns out to be Skippy and his mates, comming in from the vineyards next door on a nighttime jaunt. Cant do much about the Strawbs, but have moved the Bonsai collection up onto the balcony.

[harry]

For the millipedes try spreading talcum powder and bicarb soda around all the entry points to you home. This is a very good deterrent.

For the kangaroos a led pellet fired at high velocity.

Harry

[paddles]

dogs for the roos, and snailbait is supposed to work on millipedes

[GavinG]

The only thing that kept the wallabies out at Kurrajong was a 1.5m. fence. My exasperated neighbour watched them, at 2am, coming in to feed on his prized orchids - they took a long run-up, jumped, turned sideways, screamed a little, and slid at high speed BETWEEN the top two strands of the electric fence! For them it was worth the quick shock. Cunning little buggers...

Gavin

[Paul B]

I have tried snail bait with no success.it just seems to make em grow bigger and meaner

[Jan]

No ideas for the millipedes, but for the strawberry raiders I’d suggest making a “tunnel house” out of fencing netting; Buy fencing netting wider than your bed so you can arch it and either peg it to the ground along the strawberry bed, or tie the edges into place with lengths of wire the same length as the bed width (to maintain the arch) so that you can lift it easily to tend the plants and harvest. Might still require a couple of pegs to stop the interlopers moving it to help themselves.

I use a system like this on my kitchen garden, but I use bird mesh over arches of poly pipe held in position by pushing the poly pipe ends onto pipe (which is hammered into the bed corners and at intervals along the bed). I close off the ends of the synthetic bird mesh by sewing them together to form a bag shape. I’ve found that light fishing line (for thread) works through the sewing machine and lasts as long as the bird netting.

This works well for me but your strawberries are a lot shorter than my tomatoes!

Best of luck,

Jan