Ridding your home of roaches

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To kill the roaches that still manage to squeeze in, get some powdered boric acid and a good dustblower (you can get preloaded plastic roach-dusters at hardware stores). Be sure the dust contains nothing but boric acid and perhaps a desiccant to keep it dry. Empty a prefilled duster bellows to no more than 2/3 full. (To keep dust in the bellows fine and airborne, include a few marbles, small rocks, washers or pennies.) Puff gently to finely coat surfaces at roach entry points. You'll also need to cover some spots that are hard for you to reach, but easy for them: Drill holes down the centers and at the corners of backs and closed floors of cabinets and puff powder in. Apply the boric acid powder so thinly that it is barely visible. Wipe it up and reapply frequently to keep it from absorbing moisture and losing effectiveness. The powder must be bone-dry so the roaches pick it up on their feet, then ingest it and die. Never apply boric acid onto countertops or other exposed surfaces, especially those used to prepare food. Any visible residues should be wiped off with a damp cloth.

Boric Acid Boric acid is a white, inorganic powder chemically derived from water and boron, which is mined from vast mineral deposits in the ground and used in consumer products such as laundry additives, toothpaste and mouthwash. Deadly to cockroaches, boric acid is low in toxicity to people and pets, and is even used as an eyewash. It is also odorless and contains no volatile solvents. Boric acid has been a favorite weapon against roaches for more than a century, and is one of the most effective cockroach control agents ever developed, provided that it is used correctly.

Ambush in the Raspberry Patch

We are having a problem with the new shoots on our eight-year-old raspberry plants. They seem to be under attack by some sort of worm. Right now we are burning the tops of the plants away so that neighboring plants don't get infected. Is there anything else we can do to get rid of the problem, or do we have to get rid of the plants all together?

GEORGE
Rawdon, Quebec

Your berry plants are being attacked by cane borers - probably the larvae of the black and orange raspberry cane borer beetle or of the raspberry crown borer. Both species produce a single generation of offspring each year and have a two-year life cycle: eggs and larvae the first year, adult phase in the second. There is no way to get to larvae once they hatch inside a cane, so you're doing precisely the right thing: breaking off and burning borer-infected canes as soon as you notice damage. Keep it up for the next two years, even if your crop is severely diminished. Your eight-year old plants are close to the end of their ten-year prime.

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