We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1101141/
Practical Matters For Physically Challenged Gardeners #5
ok i made it to this one too
Sarge
Well, like how the new digs look. Hehe!!
I'm back!!! Everybody head for cover!!!
I love the new digs, the old digs and the trail of ants in between. LOL
Vickie
Vickie, speaking of ants, I have had an infestation of them since spring. I have tried sprays, and stuff that supposedly they carry back to their nests to kill them, and they may work for awhile, but then they are back.
If anybody knows a good remedy, I am almost ready to move out and let them take over, since they seem so intent to do so.
defoecat,
Natural Citrus Oil Cleaner one day sprayed on the mound soaked good .
And the silica gel crushed and sprinkled on the mound will dry the mound out from the inside out .
Either one will work well . Both you must disturb the mound using a yard rake to break open the top so the ants will come to the top of the ground .
But be ready to spray or dust them and then leave the area . th next day they will be dead. ; > )
Sarge
That is a problem, because they are coming into the house, and we don't know the source. If I knew where the mound was, it would have already been sprayed and destroyed and the pesky little critters with it.
are you talking about the Big Black ants if so try this ---vvvv
there is A big Bag of stuff called Sevin Made by : Garden Tech it is spreadable by a seed spreader and a big bag will cover about 8,000 sqft area it will kill 30 diffrent kinds of bugs in cliding several types of ants. the big black ants are Sugar ants wal-Mart has the sugar ant baits for them and the spray too.the Raid type is best spray the door seals in and outside good until you get the yard done with the graniuals it will last for a year or longer .
Sarge
Welcome back, Vickie! I wish the negotiations with your DD had come out better for both of your sakes. I suspect she will regret all of this at some point in the future. Sooner or later, most of us realize what is really important in life.
I slept from the time I came home from church to now. I love my GC's, but they exhaust me these days. Nadine is home and settled back in. I was afraid she would melt when the heat hit her and want to get back on the plane to CT. But, she said if she has to deal with 100+ summer heat, she might as well do it at home where people are prepared for it. She said the recent New England heat wave was worse because many homes, even affluent homes, don't bother to install AC.systems.
We thought of you, Bonnie. LOL. There was a hurricane named "Bonnie" this season. I'm safe this year. I think they alternate male/female names now so "K" will be male.
Be careful with your thyme, Debra. I just discovered thyme attracts ALL sorts of little people. It seems a gnome has taken up residence in my front yard. Oh well, as long as it doesn't attract pink plastic flamingoes. LOL.
Susan, you've created a convert. Jim tried marinating chicken in buttermilk before frying and buttermilk biscuits. He is now reading the new cookbook put out by "Southern Living" magazine. Luckily, it has some reduced fat southern recipes in it.
Carrie, you should receive some plants in a day or two.
Glad you are still with us, Sarge. Kay* .
Bonnie, have you tried the brand Amdro? It is a little expensive, but we have fireants so it is worth it to us. (Jim)
Never heard of it Jim, but will look for it and try it. Thanks bunches.
Kay,
I was checking the New Thread links for Deb when she was making them now I have to cypher the ones to stop watchen lol from the past . I guess I'll let them get old then get rid of them .
but the old heat like to have got me the other day but I am doing much better.
Sarge
Hi y'all ...
Kay, sooo ... we're slowly converting him? grin
Vickie ... sending prayers ...
Debra ... how are your helpers and your yard? :-)
Carrie, are you getting over your trip?
I might not be posting too much for a bit. Next week I'll be leaving to get a new guide dog.
^_^
I have a thread over in the prayer forum I'll be keeping updated if you want to know what's going on. :-)
~ing to those I've missed.
RE ants in the house- I have used (can't remember the name of it) some liquid and bait that you put a drop on a piece of cardboard placed in an area along their path that will kill and deter them. I think it was poisen so it would need to be somewhere out of reach of pet or children.
Sheri
Sheri, that is Taro, and I have tried that, only to have a new generation to return. Guess as bad as I hate it, I will have to go into the crawl space and see if I can find their nest.
Maybe spread some boric acid?
An idea that I hadn't considered. But where would you buy it?
I've seen it in hardware stores and some big box stores. You can order it online, too. Amazon has it listed from several vendors, including Ace Hardware.
Yes! We survived another visit from the grandkids and our house is still standing. Hey, with 3 and 5 year old boys that isn't necessarily a given. lol.
Bonnie, sometimes, you can find boric acid very inexpensively in dollar stores. It is marketed in one of those containers with a spout to run along crevices. to deter roaches. Often it has "roach" as part of the brand name, like "RoachAway", but if you look at the label you'll see it is boric acid.
Susan, the guidedog school in Michigan? Excuse me! Leaderdog School. lol. I know from experience owners who go thru that school will often correct you, if you call their dog a guidedog. I'm told "guidedog" implies a different school. Usually the one in NY. I've heard there is a school somewhere in the south, but I don't know anything about that one. Kay's dog, Stanley, was a Leaderdog.
Debra, did the top growth on your glads go brown? That happened to all the large ones I moved. Kay said they aren't dead and will come back stronger than ever next year. I would like to find the secret of moving them without that happening though.
Carrie, the other plant in the package was a 'Spicy Globe' basil, in case the label was damaged. I didn't know if you had a long enough growing season to grow basil from scratch. It is good basil for eating. I say that because I sampled the cinnamon basil in Kay's fragrant garden and discovered some basils are more for aroma.
Vickie, the next cassette is on its way. Think I have a future as a harmonica player? lol.
Do be careful of the heat, Sarge. It is wicked right now. It has landed several people in the ER down here.
Kay and Nadi have been calling the gnome "Julius". I think that means he gets to stay where he is and will not be relegated to the bottom of the creek bed with the flamigo someone gave her. (And, no, it wasn't me that time.) But, still, what kind of name is Julius for a gnome. (Jim)
Photo: Julius in front of his house.
Bonnie, I think Amdro works by being taken back to the queen as food by the worker ants so you don't have to know where their bed is. The worker ants just have to know. It sterilizes the queen. It takes a few days to work and, as Jim said, is a little expensive. I guess in the end the method you choose will depend on how badly you want to avoid that crawl space. (grimace-y grin) Kay*
Thanks Kay, I think I will look for the Amdro, and hope that it will do the job.
Sgt, take care in this heat. Many people here are suffering heat exhaustion.
Jim, the tips of the growth did brown up, but the bases are still green. Kind of like my iris. But they will be fine come next Spring.
I like Julius. May have to see if his cousin will come to Texas for a visit.
Good grief ... I'm not doing good at keeping up. LOL
Jim, I'm off to FL this time. My dogs have all come from Leader, but the way it worked out I would have been there in the cold and didn't want to be without a dog that long so am headed south.
Kay, what year were you at Leader? I didn't know about Stanley?
Bonnie, looks like you've gotten plenty of suggestions on your ant problem. LOL
~ing to everyone. I'm just trying to keep things living. The tomatoes are history now. They sure were good though. I still have peppers. The neat thing about those is, I did them in the homemade Ebuckets, so if my new baby decides to bother them I can move them. In fact, that might not be a bad plan. Part of them are hot. :-)
What is an Ebucket? Might need to try here. :-)
Debrah, let me find my pics. Will be back in a sec. In the meantime, here's a link to a great forum. :-)
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/boxgardens/all/
Of course, those are back this spring when they were baby pepper plants and on my deck. They're big and out in the yard now. I'm getting lots of peppers now. :-) They're completely self watering also since the DH added a self watering system with a timer. LOL Easy peasy! Hmm, did I spell that correctly?
Oh, whaat neat buckets! Is the top tube to water the plant and the lower one on the side for drainage??
Well, I found the boric acid at the Dollar Store today. So tomorrow's job is to tear apart the kitchen and put that around all the baseboards, and make sure all the food stuff it up and out of the way. Gosh, I dread moving the stove and refrigerator, as they are always so dirty behind them. But it doesn't get done often, and when I do it, I always feel so good about having even the unseen places clean. Will let you know how that does.
Yes, the top one I just stick the hose in, and the bottom is an over flow tube. All you need is a colender from the Dollar General, a 5 gal bucket, a piece of 1/2 inch PVC about 12 inch long and a piece of PVC 1-1/2 to 2 inch in diameter. You duct tape each bucket with a trash bag. It cost us approximately $9 total for each bucket including potting mix. :-)
I hope this makes since.
This message was edited Jul 28, 2010 6:45 PM
Here's where I read about it.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1011889/
Whoops, this keeps coming OFF my watched threads!!!
Bonnie, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and an expert, E.O. Wilson, once wrote that if ants ever acquire another few points of IQ, the human race will be in serious trouble. So, just remember when you’re struggling to pull out the oven and fridge that you’re doing it to protect the whole human race…….and we appreciate it. Lol.
Thanks for the info, Susan. That is a cool set-up. I thought at first you meant a topsy-turvy planter made with a 5-gallon bucket. Like those you hang that often have a tomato growing out the bottom and peppers growing on top. I think I will try your way.
It was over a decade ago that Kay trained with Stanley at the school in Rochester. She hasn’t had a formerly trained dog since Stanley died and she moved to the country. (Summer of ’97, I think.) Fenny handles snake patrol when Kay is working in the garden. Taterdog still insists on going with her when she is outside, but Tate is so old I’m not sure who is looking after whom. Some of the schools don’t like working with multipley disabled clients and Kay is officially classified as deaf/blind. Leaderdog didn’t have a problem with it though. I guess if Kay ever decides to retire me and the other sighted guides she uses when she goes out, we would probably be replaced with another Leaderdog. Hopefully, she won’t retire me for awhile. After all, I’m house trained and have never had a flea problem.
Debra, I think if I mail out any more glads, I’ll send smaller ones. They seem to take the move better. I’ve been collecting lots of those little bulblets that are loosely attached to the large bulbs. I will experiment with those, as well. See how long it takes flowering plants to develop from them.
Okay, Sheri, I’ll plan on oxalis and a few lilies. I’ll try to get as many oxalis bulbs as possible. They are almost guaranteed to grow and spread once they begin developing little bulbs among their roots.
Kay is off-line until I get her another sound card. I think I will move up to JAWS soon. I think that access program will work better for her. ZoomText is best for those with milder visual impairments. Not much gardening going on other than planting a few artichoke seeds. Other than that, we are just trying to keep up with weeding and watering while surviving the heat.
Blessings to all. (Jim)
Jim, what kind of sound card do you need? We might have one at the office.
Debra
Jim, I am glad that you appreciated my efforts today. Had to laugh about that, but then when I actually thought of what you said, I have to admit that they do have a good work ethic!
I put the boric acid down behind the appliances, and the little crack that has appeared where the back splash meets the wall. Under the sink, and any other place that I thought it would be effective. I cleaned everything well, as I understand those little morsels that we hardly notice can provide a banquet for the colony. So we will see what happens.
Jim, You crack me up sometimes!
Jim ALWAYS cracks me up! Maybe that's why I'm falling apart?
Aw, carrie, don't fall apart yet. Seems every day, I have something different that is hurting or needs extra attention. DH and I joke that each morning is an adventure just getting up, taking an assessment of the body parts, and seeing which ones seem to be working and which ones will be on strike that day!! Sometimes too much excitement.
I know it is too early to tell anything about the effectiveness of the boric acid, but I have only seen 2 ants since I cleaned the kitchen after supper. If I were real brave, I would leave something out tonight and see how many thousands would be on it in the morning. Naw, think I will leave well enough alone.
I've heard about boric acid for ants before, but ants don't bother me nearly as much as the MICE do. Yikes. DD is horribly allergic to cats dogs ferrets all the other normal ways of controlling mice. DH is always putting out mouse poison and stuff but we're not great about keeping things wrapped up and hermetically sealed - those little critters can eat through ANYTHING!