My Experience With Growing an Organic Container Garden: Pesky Pests 2

I have been writing a series of blogs about my expereiences in starting an organic container garden, and some of the problems I have run in to. One of those problems has been pesky pests. In addition to the fungas gnats another type of pest has been causing some problems. These particular pests are quite loveable and adorable but can cause some damage to my plants.  

The first problem I had was that I use an orgainic fish fertilizer and my dogs love fish.  They get fish oil capsules every day and they love them, they also eat a salmon dog food. I didn't think about this the first time that I fertilized in the large containers which are right at the dogs level.  

 

Several hours after fertilizing, my husband called me into the Florida room and two of the newly transplanted and fish fertilized zuchinni were lying on the ground and another was knocked over.  I wasn't sure which one did it. They look so innocent it's hard to believe they would cause any problems but the plants on the ground said otherwise.  I didn't allow them to be alone with the plants for a while and when I was with them around the plants anytime they were sniffing around the plants I told them "no."  There were a couple of more incidents where plants were knocked over and ended up dying. 

 

I looked online for ideas.  Lemon wedges in the soil was suggested.  I put some lemons on top of the soil and the dogs were taking them out and then dropping them on the floor because they didn't like them.  I ended up with lemons and dirt on my floors. I took the rest of the lemons out and looked for a better idea.  I found that bitter orange and used coffee grounds is a good detergent for the dogs, so I ordered some bitter orange online. When it came, I smelled it and I thought it smelled pretty good.  I called my chocolate lab who is normally a little angel but has been the main culprit I in ruining the plants. He won't look at me when I call them in after the plants are damaged, and looks really guilty. I held the bitter orange out in front of his nose and he jumped back to get away from it. I poured it on top of the used coffee grounds, let it sit for a while and put it on top of the soil. It seems to be working.