The Bank Holiday DIY thread.

[MrGongGong]

On the contrary - people are wising-up and not accepting the BS from the political elite

Hummm

All a bunch of donkeys imv

[Anna]

SOS - My weekend has just turned from a peaceful one, spending time with friends into a major DIY operation. Anyone know anything about getting rid of rats?

Pick them off with an air rifle as they venture out as a work colleague did. (However, he lives off a country lane with no neighbours plus it's illegal to discharge firearms within 50ft of a highway) Best solution is to contact your Council's pest control section, some Councils still provide this service for free if it's rats, others charge but at a lower rate than commercial operators. I wouldn't advise buying rat traps and messing with poisons yourself. There are electronic devices but how effective they are I have no idea where there is an established burrow.

[MrGongGong]

Feral Cats are what you need
We had no rats at our allotment site until the "nice" cats protection people
decided to neuter the feral cats
and now we are over run with them ........

[Beef Oven]

Feral Cats are what you need
We had no rats at our allotment site until the "nice" cats protection people
decided to neuter the feral cats
and now we are over run with them ........

It's quite shocking what the chattering class has to put up with these days. Even Waugh would sympathise!

[umslopogaas]

#68 Boilk, a few observations on glyphosate. First, the EPA in the States and the Pesticides Safety Directorate in the UK consider it safe enough to be sold on the amateur market where the wearing of protective clothing may be recommended but cannot be enforced. This is in contrast to the vast majority of pesticides, which are only available to those who have the professional qualification to apply them, and on whom compulsory wearing of protective clothing can be enforced. In other words, it is considered so safe anyone can use it, without training and without protective clothing.

Second, it has been on the market for at least thirty years, which is long enough for adverse effects on man or the environment to show up. Had that happened, by now there would be restrictions on the availability of the product, but last time I was in Homebase a few days ago it was still on the shelf.

Third, it is always possible to show adverse effects of pesticides in laboratory studies, after all, pesticides are poisons and wouldnt work if they werent (so, incidentally, are all pharmaceutical products - ones that work, I mean, I dont include homeopathic nonsense). However, the lab is not the environment. To show adverse effects in the real world, they must be demonstrated in the real world, at the dilution and application rate recommended by the manufacturer. I'm not party to any studies, but again, I feel that if such effects could be demonstrated, we would not have the unrestricted access to the product that we do.

Of course, Monsanto will try to present their product in the best possible light, but set against them are many anti-pesticide campaigners, with the government licencing agencies weighing up the evidence for and against. In the case of Roundup, it is not the active ingredient that is causing controversy, but one of the formulating ingredients. While I've no reason to doubt that adverse effects CAN be demonstrated, the important point is that the regulatory bodies consider these effects to be sufficiently unimportant when the product is used correctly that the public can have unrestricted use. Of course, I could kill myself if I drunk a pint of Roundup concentrate, just as I could kill myself if I swallowed the nicotine content of a packet of cigarettes, or a whole pack of paracetamol. But that doesnt mean I shouldnt have access to cigarettes or headache cures (actually the world would be a safer place if no-one had access to cigarettes, but some chance).

That Scientific American article presents some of the controversies, but seems to leave much unresolved.

On balance I feel that Roundup as sold to the general public has been around long enough and used sufficiently widely with no serious ill effects that I, at least, will go on using it with confidence. Finally, a disclaimer: I worked in crop protection during my working life, but have never had any connection with Monsanto.

[Quarky]

Pick them off with an air rifle as they venture out as a work colleague did. (However, he lives off a country lane with no neighbours plus it's illegal to discharge firearms within 50ft of a highway) Best solution is to contact your Council's pest control section, some Councils still provide this service for free if it's rats, others charge but at a lower rate than commercial operators. I wouldn't advise buying rat traps and messing with poisons yourself. There are electronic devices but how effective they are I have no idea where there is an established burrow.

Thanks for advice Anna and Mr GG. I may have them cornered, but I doubt whether they will leave under their own free will. So I will speak to the Council next week - got to speak to them anyway, some thoughtful person left a leather arm chair by the roadside.

[teamsaint]

Thanks for advice Anna and Mr GG. I may have them cornered, but I doubt whether they will leave under their own free will. So I will speak to the Council next week - got to speak to them anyway, some thoughtful person left a leather arm chair by the roadside.

Wiltshire charge about £50 for a treatment programme for rats. Hertfordshire looks like it might be free.
The service from Wiltshire is pretty good. Rentokil are looking at around £300.
The council is a good bet IMO.