North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dianne Stephany" <iluvdanc@rochester.rr.com>]

HI,  When I take house plants out on the patio during the summer I use diatomatous earth as a dirt topping--any ant or insect that walks on it or tries to dig through it will get tiny little cuts in its exoskeleton that cause it to "bleed" to death. You can find it at Loews, probably Home Depot also. The one that I have also has bait, so you might want to circle around the outside of the plant pot to prevent them from even getting to the plant.   

 

I started this when I would have Thrips colonize my potted plants on the patio - no thrips anymore; never did have ants.

 

Good Luck. 

Dianne Stephany, zone 5 where we are in a 4 day heat wave of 92 degrees and 80% humidity. It is supposed to rain Tuesday and we expect the temps to go back to a seasonal 74..

----- Original Message -----

From: John S

To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 10:56 PM

Subject: [NAFEX] ant colonization of containers

Personal circumstance requires me to grown a number of fruits in containers.  Ants have a tendency to take up residence in the container.  I would not care much if it were not for the aphid farming that takes place, but that can eventually hurt the plant and the fruit.

I'll periodically transplant in hopes of finding the queen, but this is not always successful.  What's the best way to get ants out and keep them out?

Thanks

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