One method I use to help control ants, not completely eliminate is to mix powdered sugar and water into a soluable solution, about one cup. Then add a few tablespoons of Boric Acid which is available at any drugstore. Pour it into something like a cat food can and place in infested area. Be sure to cover it with something like a 5 gal bucket so dogs or other critters can't get to it. It attracks the ants and they take it back into the nests and eventually kills all that they came in contact with. It takes a few days but the population certainly decreases.
Local Weather - November 2004, Part 1
The boric acid solution works for some, which is what some controls are based on. Dampness breaks down the delivery system of some of the baits based on corn grits or similar material. Some are oil-based e.g. soy bean oil and become rancid, which the ants reject. The way I understand it, it's hard to iradicate a colony because about 20% of the colony are foragers, so when you kill the first wave, they just send out the next bunch. With fireants, the queen is insulated from the poison. Only the mature larvae eat solid food, then metabolize it several times over, before it is finally given to the Queen in a liquid form, without lethal results. If she finally gets enough residual poison from some of the newer baits to render her sterile, the ants will kick her out and promote a secondary queen (of which there may be hundreds) to take her place. An example of lifespan. . .a worker Argentine ant lives about 3 wks to one month. . . the queen can have a 2 year life span. (Definite advantages to being the 'Queen'!) In our area, the native fire ant feeds on subterranean termites and also clean up alot of debris. And 'Blooms' is right, they don't feed on aphid, they farm them. If you have alot of aphid going up into veggies and other plants e.g. look closely for aphid. The ants are attracted to the sticky secretions, honeydew produced by soft scales and aphids. And the ants protect them from their natural enemies, so they can get their honeydew (farming). This in turn allows the aphid and scales to proliferate, making more honeydew. It's quite the arrangement. And peak time of activity here for fire ants is apr-dec. Things quiet down jan-mar. . .sort of like us two-legged creatures.
And. . .that's just the tip of the iceberg. . .sorry if I rambled. .;-(
You are right about that being just being the tip of the iceberg. They have fascinated me ever since I sent off for an "ant farm" when I was 10 yo. Even the fire ants intrigue me except that now this particular species has become a very real threat to my well being.
You done reeel good jc, thanks for the scoop on the ants... stuff I sorta know but things that stick are the mind pic of ants in bib overalls pulling up a stool to 'milk' an aphid. ;-)
one last thing on them.... we really did have an amazing number of smallish ants homesteading my yard and garden - colonies everywhere. Haven't had but a coupla scouts in the house they seem happy with nature's bounty. It's a matter of discussion in line at the grocery store. Didn't know there was a drought connection.
Low 31* this morning totally clear skies, no wind. When it gets up to 45* I'm going out and chase leaves around.
On the Boric Acid thing - I have a recipe saved somewhere on another computer for boric acid baits. I found this recipe on the net last year when we had a serious gnat problem in the house - it has worked well and we have seen a reduction of ant activity in the house as well. I will fire up the computer that I think it is saved on and look for it to post here.
Found it - Gnat Balls
12 oz Boric Acid Powder
1 cup Flour
.25 cup Sugar
1 Minced Onion
.5 cup Shortning
As with handleing any dangerous compound plz use precautions - rubber gloves (etc).
73.2 degrees 61% hum yep time to deal with the leaves.
There is a good ant thread under the pest forum, and we were all moaning about ants, exchanging recipes, etc. I tried boric acid and sugar but store bought nest bait seemed to work the best. You just have to grin and bear them until the poison takes hold.
Ants in the back fourty we leave alone. They are nature's little garbage disposers. However, if they start getting a bit too close to the house, or in the house, that's it!!
Ants are swarming all over one of my flowering maple, the stems are covered with these tiny mounds, it does not look like aphids, but I am not sure. In either case, I am allowing them there, hoping they will eliminate what ever bug that is.
Just glad we don't have to deal with fire ants. I have heard they have reched this area, too, but I have not seen them yet. Very concerned about the West Nile, too. Our common everyday teensy black ants bite!! If I sit to weed, and don't see one crawling up to the netherlands, I sure know it later when I get a bite. You have never seen anyone peel off their jeans faster.
Only ant I want to get rid of is fierce red ant that bite/stings like a wasp almost... mound builders and easy to locate... wouldn't mind but they roam the entire property making it unpleasant to garden // and sometimes downright aggravating and hurtful. Not fire ant of Texas fame - just mean red ant.
The throne room is buried really deep - the network is really wide under there and the best you can really hope for is occassional submission. Sometimes they up and move. THis is not necessarily what you were hoping for depending on new choice of home.
Diazinon gave me a peaceful two years. No peace this year. :-((
Diazinon used to work for me. Not this year and I don't know why! The thing about fire ants is that if there mound is disturbed they swarm out by the hundreds (more?) and both sting and bite ferociously. They aren't any worse here than other parts of the south, I don't think. The really bad ones are the imported fire ants rather than the native fire ants. The researches think they have found a solution by importing their enemies from South America. I am not aware of a any positive impacts so far.
Well, we got about 1/3 inch of rain yesterday afternoon and nighttime temps still holding in the 40's. Noticed some nice fall color finally coming in around town. . .typically we get a frost in the next week or so, although we've had them this early before. . .saw the snow post down south direction. . .old man Winter is starting his trek south a little early it seems??? We've accumulated almost 3 inches of rain in the last month. . . no snow yet (rarely snows on the valley floor).
57* temp this am and Dewpoint at 39*
This message was edited Nov 4, 2004 10:08 AM
50 D 92% RH - cool & wet again (maybe I need to move south).
36* this morning with frost, dp 30*, clear skies, forcast 62*. Looks to be a fine day!
Looking at the Radar, (intellicast) after this system moves through we should have clear wx for a few days, hope so need to get stuff done !
Gemi, remember the snow in Feb 89? We had just moved here and were blown away by it, the whole half inch that lasted maybe an hour? Yesterday was a long, slow, quiet drizzle here, so I was surprised by the quantity of flooded streets we had. Right now? SUN!!!! Running out to do some fast planting before the rains start again as promised. Looking at the doppler next. Hmmm....50% chance of rain and yet one tiny green spot already south of us!! (insert hopeful look)
I lived up in Stockton then. . .there's been a few dustings from time to time, but we had a good build-up that lasted a week in January, 1962 in the southwestern portion of Fresno County. . .got about 5 or 6 inches and then the wind blew it into drifts. . .completely shut down the schools (we were happy as clams or I guess I should say snow bunnies!) and most everything came to a screeching halt. My mom came in that AM and woke us up "Look out the window". . .and we couldn't believe our eyes. . .Never seen anything like it in the 40+ years since then. . .
I remember that one I was a farther north in the Bay Area at the time. :-)
I know it's not our weather, but have you guys seen the pics of the volcano that's spewing in Iceland? Impressive.
We went from 29 this morn when I got up, to 57 this afternoon. Very nice for getting things done outside. No playing with the dirt tho, hands whine - maybe tomorrow. )
Yes I did and yes it was! We made it to 68*, current dp 34*! Not dirt, soil.
That is impressive footage on the BBC news link. . .thanks. . .will be doin' some digging in the 'soil' myself tomorrow, rain or shine. . .
Yesterday we were at 90F!!! This came after a ferocious wind and sand storm that left every surface covered in gritty sandy dust 3 days ago. I'm still sweeping several times a day trying to get rid of the settling dust! I hate these desert sand storms! grrrrrrr
But having said that, my kids are still in hsort sleeved t-shirts for school and we're all still able to play in the garden during sunny hours! :-)
-Julie
Thinking I need to move to Israel. We warm up to the mid 70's but the mornings have been so cold I shiver to take my daughter to school, then come back for two cups of coffee, one to drink and one to hold in my hands. I wanna go outside, but like Blooms, the hands and bones doth protest. Iceland, land of the ice (not really, it's green there) has a volcano? Must do a search on that one!
That volcano in Iceland blew a glacier to smithereens! It became part of the ash cloud.
This is a great idea and I enjoy seeing other areas weather. I know I can do that on the weather channel but it's not the same as hearing it from poeple who are there.
We are droping into the 20s tonight. There saying a low of 23 F. It's already 32 F so I'm sure we will get there. On a high note we got our new windows in today. Just in time. No draft in the house this winter. I love cold temps though. That is until about the end of January and then I'm ready for spring.
This message was edited Nov 8, 2004 8:11 PM
Our forcast of first freeze keeps changing! It has changed to a hi of 40 for fri. and a lo of 31 sat. morning then a gradual warming. My tomatos are already in seriuos decline and sat. should finish them off.
Well, all the rain here has seriously damaged alot of the garden. . .out came several tomatoes, eggplants, basils, some old corn stalks I left for aesthetic purposes (which were getting moldy looking now) and some other miscellaneous. Some of my tomatoes are growing gloriously, but not for much longer. . .left those in for a few more days. 52* right now with nights in 40's still and 50* dew pt. Had 1/2 inch of rain yesterday and still cloudy. . .may get a little more. . .fall color around town is finally catching up where it should be. . .some pretty streets around town. Average first frost date is listed here at Nov. 1, but it's usually closer to mid mo. or Thanksgiving here. . .fog laying in down in the river bottom areas. . .Hanford, Kingsburg. . .Visalia. . .
Time to make Chow-Chow John. Bring those green tomatoes in and get busy.(;>)
Yes mam.
Need recipe?
It's another dismal cloudy day here, too, the first of many. The expected tule fog was not here this morning, thank goodness. Not quite warm enough to go outside and play, not quite wet enough not to. We harvested everything last weekend, what was left, built the winter greenhouse (thank goodness we dont get a freeze yet, over 200 plants are going in there this year) and planted the onions. Today is freezing peppers, making green tomatio (sp?) sauce and sorting seeds, computer plant updates. The animals are all inside snuggled up and sleeping, my biggest indicator what the day's activities should be!
At last we have some rain. Yahoo. Yesterday's sprinkles only added up to two tenths of an inch [.02] Overnight it rained a little harder and apparantly steadily, we reached a grand total of three/quarters of an inch. It's not raining right now but the clouds and the forecast promise more. Came up from Arizona so it only dropped to 47* and is already up to 59*.
Way2, just cover them or wrap with a layer of newspaper and they will ripen to perfection. Learned that one in the Adirondacks where we always ran out of time.
Meant to ask for a recipe, btw, so yes I do!
Blooms, learned that trick when I lived in Alaska and it does work great!
I am going through my plant list, having to be a tad more careful about who goes where this year, checking for minimum tolerances. Is there a place on DG that anyone knows about that would tell the highs AND the lows of each region? I know several of my plants are supposed to only thrive in zome 11, others in 21 to 24, etc. My books only cover to zone 11.
L..annne....is this what you're looking for?
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-sw1.html
Hey, Jan, thank you!! It did not include anything past 11, but I finally found it in the Sunset. Between the three AHS books and the Sunset, I can't get up out of my chair! Zones 22 to 24 are Southern CA, meaning bring that plant in the house, I guess. It's a tad confusing, stating that zone 24's average is 40 to 24, and yet famous for never ever freezing. Huh? It's my Cherimoya babies that are in question.
Don't confuse the Sunset zones with the USDA zones.
Right. Sunset's zones 22-24 is southern CA, meaning warm, little frost, USDA zone 10. If the tree is rated in Sunset's zones 22-24 (or USDA zone 10), then I best bring them into the house, and not leave them in the winter greenhouse, where there is no heat outside the C7 lights. We get one or two whopper cold nights below 32, but that's it. As a rule. Hah.
In Merced? I hail from Ripon which is not very far north of you and I recall lows into the low teens!
It's a very good possibility that I have a bad memory, but last year we only had to scramble once to get some heat into the greenhouse, that it was going to be below 32.....maybe we have had warm winters these past few years that I have tended this garden? Zone 9 rating is 20 to 30. I am really glad I don't remember the teens, even when I was working for a farming maintenance company. Brrrr!!