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  • From: "Marjory Glowka" <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Ants & how to make them go away
  • Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 15:34:14 -0500

We use a mix for fire and cut ants made of compost tea, orange oil, and molasses. The compost tea contains bacteria the ants don't like. The molasses feeds the bacteria so they last a while. And the orange oil irritates the ants exoskeletons. It will definately make a mound move, but not really eradicate the problem. I don't mind if they are around as long as they move from where I am working.

We've tried Anti-Dote which is nematodes specifically grown to target fire ants. It seems to work if the area stays moist - but if the soil dries out then the nematodes die out and the ants come back.

Finally, I've found that by being barefoot I've gotten less fire ant bites than by wearing shoes all of the time. The ants will give small test bites before attacking en-mass. So when barefoot I easily move or shift my feet to avoid them. While wearing shoes you don't get that inital gentler inforamtion, and by the time you notice them they are waging a full out attack. They seem to have telepathy - a bunch of them getting on you and getting in position, then on command they all start biting at once.

Good luck,

Marjory




----- Original Message ----- From: "KNat" <knat@sprintmail.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Ants & how to make them go away


Jody Troupe wrote:
The boric acid usually has to be mixed with something they would want to eat, not just straight. Ghost ants are picky eaters (or so I read) and for the most part they seemed to avoid anything that was tainted. Smart little guys I guess.

J. Troupe
Most ants are finicky (sometimes it seems they split the kitchen
resources so sweet ants can nest in one end, grease ants in the other
and mingle freely.) Anyway, it is always worth a bit of observation
before spreading poisons to make sure you know your intended audience.
We use bottle caps with favorite foods to ID which will be effective
then add boric acid to the appropriate one. Samples are: grease, sugar,
honey (honey and and sugar ants not the same), meat. Takes very
small/short application (and allows dialog for understanding first.)
Though one large nest out West we wound up using a dead bird as bait so
your big nest may be larger scale for application.

Anyone have methods with carpenter bees? My honey bees cleared the front
but back seriously overrun.

Peace,
Kathyann

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