How
to use Baar Castor Oil with an In-ground Sprinkler System
The following is an interview with Mr. Harper discussing
how he set it up his sprinkler system to dispense the Baar Lawn Mole Castor
Oil:
Bruce:
You had mentioned you had great success with our Lawn Mole Castor Oil
...
Mr. Harper: ...I had been looking for something that I could put
in my sprinkler system and not have to tote around a hose and sprayer.
Bruce:
Is this a sprinkler system installed in your home lawn?
Mr. Harper: It's at our home, it is an inground sprinkler system
fed by a deep well.
...On one side of the pump, on the delivery side of pump, we hooked up
a PVC pipe that sucks air and helps to distribute water among the different
cycles. While the water is being distributed we can tap into the air flow
and put some kind of substance; fertilizer, Miracle Grow, and even your
Baar Lawn Mole Castor Oil. It goes through there and instead of having
to use a lawn hose we can turn our sprinkler on, use a 4 min or 5 min
timer and do each one of our sections. We have 7 sections to our lawn
sprinkler system and its done. All I have to do is sit there and read
or relax in a chair! When the timer goes off I start the next section
and do this until I'm finished. You see, what I do is put your Castor
Oil in a bucket and at the end of the bucket is a hose that is suctioning
up the material and sending it and out through the sprinkler with the
regular water I am using to water the lawn.
Bruce: I see,
so you have this hose hooked up to a pipe that sucks air in...
Mr. Harper: It's kind of like siphoning gas from a car then redirecting
the gas out of the bucket into another pump delivery and distributing
it all the way through the yard. It has also kept my squirrels away, my
neighbors yards are running rampant with squirrels and I haven't seen
a one since I started using your castor oil.
I put in new grass seed in the late fall and I was concerned about it.
I was also concerned because we have a lot of maple and oak trees - the
squirrels like to bury acorns and so forth. When the acorns grow the squirrels
dig them out of my yard and leave 1 inch holes. When you have a hundred
of them it looks like a mess and the grass starts to die. So I needed
a way to keep the squirrels away without annihilating them. I also needed
a way to keep the moles and mole crickets away. I heard about the Baar
Products Lawn Mole information from a friend and I was wondering if I
could broadcast it through my sprinkler system.
Well I did it, it worked and there was another benefit. It seemed to absolutely
keep the bugs down - that we weren't counting on. Bugs, like those little
flying spiders, whatever the heck they are, and gnats and most importantly
mosquitoes. Before I did this I was getting eaten alive until I got to
that section, and then the bugs went away, it was like "OK we'll
stop bothering you". I hate mosquito bites. The other factor is that
I am disabled. I am not able to move around quickly. I use a walker around
the house but that's not speedy either. The next time I used your Lawn
Mole Castor Oil product I noticed a lot less bugs. But I decide I was
going to try to change the location so I could get to my timer on my Rain
Bird faster so I got the hose longer and brought it to the end of the…
Bruce: Rain Bird, what's that?
Mr. Harper: My sprinkler system, that's the sprinkler heads that
I'm using.
As I got into the foot of my garage where my sprinkler system timer was
I could go from one cycle to another by advancing it manually. My neighbors
would come over and sit and talk and ask me what I was doing and I'd tell
them I was putting Miracle Grow or whatever I has broadcasting at the
time, on my lawn.
Me and my neighbor across the street have the greenest, prettiest yards
in the neighborhood. While we've always had healthy good looking yards-
they look like golf course yards now. Our other neighbors are envious
and have been asking what were doing. Were not telling them just yet anyway,
about your product - we're still keeping them at bay. And a few days ago
I was with my son-in-law from Spartanburg SC and I showed him how to hook
it up and I gave him a quart from the gallon I just purchased from you
and told him to try it, and he said "are you sure" I said 'sure,
just mix it with some dish detergent, and he said what kind and I said
the cheapest is the best'.
...I'm using
a 50/50 of the Baar Lawn Mole Castor Oil with the dish detergent. I have
a cup and I'll use 8 oz oil vs. 8 oz of dish detergent and put it together
and stir it with a stick before I even add water to it, and then I add
water to it cause I want it a little thinner, and then I'll just add that
to about 5 gallons and broadcast to about 4 areas and then I'll need to
do another mixture. If I have any mixture leftover Ill put it one of those
pump up sprayers and if we have areas that the sprinkler system could
not get to or areas that are more persistent, like the fences, the squirrels
like to run the fence and I figure that's their mode of transportation
from one place to another, so I spray to fence post and they don't even
run that one any more.
Bruce: Nice- So it's keeping away the squirrels, the moles and
keeping down the bugs. Has it eliminated the gnats and mosquitoes?
Mr. Harper: And it's not something we expected but we're really
happy to have learned about and it seems to be, we haven't had any harm
to our lawn, and that's another good side bar, you can apply it and not
lose grass, people are afraid to put stuff down for fear of losing grass
and it will die. We haven't had any consequences like that.
Bruce: How often do you apply it?
Mr. Harper: Depends on the squirrels, usually once every 6 to 7
weeks.
Bruce: Once every 6 to 7 weeks?
Mr. Harper: Yeah, and the first time I applied it again in three
weeks and now we are up to 7 so I suspect that each time we make application
I can wait that much longer. I can start in harvest season when acorns
start to fall and that will keep them out of the yard, and that will help
me tremendously, for me I have to [have my lawn] look [good] and its imperative
for me to find a way to do my lawn because I still like to do my lawn,
but I have kidney problems, liver problems, and major heart problems.
So it's something if I'm going to be able to do anything I got to find
some way that I can get it done because of my condition. Just because
I can't do it the way the instructions say doesn't mean I can't figure
out another way to get it down on to the lawn - because I can't drag a
hose, not even an empty one, let alone a full one.
... it is even better - my timer is set for to go off at 7:00AM
& 7:00PM for irrigation. Now if you wanted to, you can preset a timer
for 4 minutes, or as low as you want it, that's all the time it will take
for each section and then it will automatically move to the next section.
Now my neighbor has 9 sections and he presets his timer and then after
its done he'll reset again for time he actually wants to water, he does
it that way, I don't cause I have nothing else to do, but he is a working
man and has things to do so he'll actually irrigate without having to
stand there, so he can, what do you call it multitask, and not worry about
the timer, he just needs to watch the bucket and make sure there is material
in the bucket, cause you don't want to suck that dry. As you see it half
way down then you start adding some material, its pretty simple to do.
If you know basic arithmetic you'll know how to do it.
Bruce: How
did you hook it up in the very beginning? With your inground sprinkler,
is there something common where there is an air inlet that the average
person could hook up?
Mr. Harper:
Yes, the air inlet pipe that comes out on the water side of the pump.
What we did was drill a 1/4 inch hole and then took a 1/4 tap and tapped
it in and then got a plastic pipe with thread that matches the threads
on the tap, screwed it in with PVC pipe glue making sure that nothing
is in the way of the hole. Then we got clear hose and ran it from there
to the bucket with the Baar lawn mole mixture in it. You can also regulate
the flow if you add a nozzle to it. We added a nozzle and now we can regulate
how much of the mixture we want going to each area of the lawn from our
small bucket. If you want more in one area then dial it up, depends on
what you want.
Bruce: You
have your own well water. Would this be the same for someone who has city
sewer and water connected to their underground sprinkler system?
Mr. Harper:
It can happen. All you would need is the city people to come out and show
you where the inlet line goes in. You can't tap into that inlet line but
they can attach a pipe to it and attach an air let line into their own
pipe.
Bruce: Can
the average homeowner do this themselves?
Mr. Harper:
Oh, gosh yes, it only cost about 3 dollars worth of parts and that included
the PVC glue and I got the pressure gas hose with little whites lines
running through it, when my wife went to store first time she got regular
gas lines, but it was regular gas hose without any pressurization and
our pump pumped to much and sucked those lines closed. The regular gas
line is a lot cheaper, than the other, but we got 10 feet of the other
and we have not have had that problem since. I wanted the clear so I could
see the material as it moves through the lines and make sure there is
not obstruction.
Bruce: That's
great, that's a neat idea, to be able to see the lines.
Mr. Harper:
I don't mind if people write me and ask me, they can send an e-mail, you
should have my e-mail, you can put that out, if they have questions I
will try to answer them, at least I get to know them better maybe I'll
call them direct, if I can help them directly I'd be happy to do that.
Bruce: All
right.
Mr. Harper:
... I looked up the University of Georgia section of pesticides to be
well informed and looked up different things to get rid of squirrels that
would not kill them. I have 3 grandchildren and didn't want them to come
see grandpa and have a bunch of dead squirrels in the yard.
Bruce: Plus you don't want your kids to end up with a rash or something
from your lawn.
Mr. Harper: Yep, and I have a Basset hound that I love immensely.
Our dog has a tendency to run out the doggie door and run right into one
of the sprinklers.
Bruce: It's safe for the animals.
Mr. Harper: I've seen him with the water running over him with
the castor oil, and I yell, Big Red get out of there and all we do is
take a blanket to him, we don't give him a bath or anything like that,
and he has never been hurt, his coat actually looks better. I'm sure it's
the Baar Castor Oil.
Bruce: The oil is not harmful and even beneficial as long as it's
not to thick or greasy. How about the squirrels on the fences?
Mr. Harper: There are none anymore.
Bruce: So, if you use it, are they gone for 3 weeks or so?
Mr. Harper: The first time, my wife noticed a squirrel on the fence;
it was about three weeks and that was a red flag for me, knowing that
the material is probably being soaked out or whatever. And so that means
we need to do this again, then it was about five weeks and then we started
seeing squirrels again, only one or two, not masses of them or anything.
Before we started this process we would have a freight train of squirrels
going around the house on the fence and getting up on the roof and sky
windows, they weren't doing any harm, but they weren't making things peaceful
either, my big concern was the yard. Now we are up to 7 to 8 weeks, that
we are applying, it looks like 10 weeks will probably be our mark. Once
we get settled in with it.
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