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HOW TO APPLY GREASEBANG

GREASEBANG is beef + mutton fat formulated into a grease-like consistency for easy application onto trees and seedlings that need protection from herbivore browsing pests. GREASEBANG is supplied in a 2 litre container and is ready to use with no mixing required. It should be in a soft grease-like state, so if there is any melted grease visible then just leave it to cool back to a soft solid greeny state.  Any streaks or discolouration in or on the grease is perfectly fine as this is merely ...

Autumn + Winter Carnage?

Ok we have had a few angry customers! But it's all to do with deer or hares dining out on their nice newly-planted seedlings without any form of repellent or fencing or prowling dogs on the job. The solution is to apply protection BEFORE planting and walking away...NOT AFTER they have paid you a visit. A newly planted row of seedlings is like a beacon, an invitation to have a munch at your expense. Sadly the seedling may never recover, or will set its growth back several years, or will result in...

What is the best rabbit or hare repellent?

There are 2 types of repellents - either animal protein or animal fat - both do the job of protecting trees and plants from grazing herbivore pests.  Protein repellents will naturally degrade over a month or so, and so protection will fade - it will then need to be reapplied. Just mix BANGBANG with water at 1:9 ratio and apply with a hand-held or backpack sprayer.  Animal fat repellents like FATBANG last longer (4-6 months) as the fat coating is more resilient to weathering. The fat ha...

Is the damage from a rabbit hare or possum?

Where one or more pest species are present, a concerted control programme is recommended immediately prior to planting. Regular follow-up control efforts may be necessary until seedlings exceed one metre in height.  Monitor the planting site regularly for pest damage and be prepared to enact control quickly if new damage is detected. The presence of rabbits, hares or possums can usually be differentiated by the damage they cause. Rabbits generally leave tell tale diggings; hares typically s...

How do animal repellents work?

Repellents generally rely on fear, conditioned avoidance, pain, or taste...or a combination of several. Fear-inducing repellents contain compounds that emit sulfurous odors such as predator urine or faeces, animal proteins, or garlic. The avoidance of these odours can be considered a fear response, suggesting herbivores perceive sulfurous odours as indicators of predator activity. Conditioned avoidance occurs when ingestion of a food is paired with nausea or gastrointestinal distress. Animals ...

How long are these repellents effective?

Animal-protein based repellents like BANGBANG work by slowly oxidising and releasing a sulphurous odour that repels through smell as it decays. They do work, but over time will breakdown in air and sunlight which limits their effectiveness. This applies for any animal protein based repellent. That's just the way nature works...protein will naturally decay and rot away. So a 4-6 week effective protection period is about the most you should expect and it will need to be reapplied, especially ...

How to apply FATBANG and will it harm my trees?

STORAGE AND CARE Keep stored in a cool place out of sunlight. Do not mix with any other liquid. Do not ingest the fluid. Do not store where children may reach. There is no real expiry date, however if storing for long periods then give it a decent shake-up every 60 days or so to keep it emulsified and ready for use. INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE Due to its viscosity FATBANG should be ideally applied via a backpack/knapsack sprayer. A hand-held sprayer would not have the power to propel the fluid. Viscosi...

How to apply BANGBANG and will it harm my plants?

BANGBANG is a 1:9 part concentrate, so for the 1 litre BANGBANG 500 container just add 9L of water to make 10L of final spray which will protect about 500 seedlings.   Best practice is to NOT spray when plants-trees are stressed, and that goes for the application of any spray. So avoid direct sunlight, hot weather, strong winds and also when the plant has already been sprayed in the last week with any other chemical. Best to spray early morning, evening or in cooler cloudy we...

Are imported repellents better?

As you know kiwis are the worlds most innovative number-8-wire inventors! No-one makes electric fences better than us, and we export to the world. Yet some animal repellent products are still imported - mostly from either the USA or UK...ridiculous!  Firstly, the energy and CO2 footprint to make the stuff, package it, transport it across the world then retail it here is ridiculous. Consumers now demand natural alternatives made locally for our conditions, not imports from the other sid...

Systemic repellents

Systemic sprays (like Grazers which someone imports from the UK) are designed to be absorbed by the target plant...so for systemic repellents the idea is that the plant will be sufficiently saturated with the repellent that when eaten its taste will do its work. Well that's a load of bollocks! Firstly, the animal has to bite and chew the plant to get a taste, but by then it's too late as the plant will be stuffed, especially if they ring-bark or munch the young shoots and juicy growth points. Se...

Plastic tree guards?

You may have seen thousands of those chinese-made tree guards staked-out alongside state highways, local roads and lifestyle-blocks, etc. The version that is either coir mat or some sort of recycled cardboard-fibre product are ok and do the job, although they can be expensive and cumbersome. However the green plastic ones don't make sense. You may think we're biased and pushing our own product...well of course we are...but why not use a natural repellent instead of plastic? I mean why plant a tr...