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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Leaf Cutter Ants

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  • From: "Kelly Lockamy" <garden_muse@bellsouth.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Leaf Cutter Ants
  • Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:26:35 -0400

thanks marsha!!! i was wondering if or when anyone would point out the pc
principle of working with nature - not against it!
now for those fire ants...any suggestions??
kelly
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marsha Hanzi" <mhanzi@yahoo.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 7:32 AM
Subject: [permaculture] Leaf Cutter Ants


> Leaf cutter ants have a role to play in an ecosystem.
> They appear in the transition from a rather poor
> grass-shrub system to the beginnings of a forest.
> Their immense compost heaps are very fertile, and the
> bed for the trees of the future.
>
> They are our allies and not our enemies, and deserve
> to be treated as such. Making war on them is no use-
> we all know who will win!
>
> If you supplant their function by working with immense
> quantities of organic material, they will disappear
> from the system in about a year's time.
>
> If cooperation is one of the pillars of Permaculture,
> we need to apply it to our relationwhip with Nature.
>
> So, to recap- in the case of undesirable leafcutter
> action, you should-
> 1. Verify if you planted the wrong thing at the wrong
> time (i.e. trees which belong to a more evolved system
> in an early stage of succession)Ants are janitors,
> removing weak plants from the system.
> 2. Increase biodiversity
> 3. Go really heavy on mulching.
>
> I usually tell our farmers that if they do these three
> things and still have ant problems after one year, I
> myself will jump into their bonfires on St. Johns feast!
>
>
>
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