Ants
I hate ants. I really don’t mind bugs in general, but I hate ants. Glen (my husband) thinks I have an irrational fear/hate of them, but they really creep me out. It probably goes back to my childhood. I vividly remember playing in the yard as a 5 year old and all of a sudden being covered in ants. My dad grabbed me and got me under the shower and got them off of me. But in my memory, there were millions of them.
Ants are really amazing creatures. They are much more organized than I am and they work well together. Cut ants can completely strip a large plant over night and travel blocks carrying their spoils. Carpenter ants can do some serious damage to a structure and the dreaded fire ant can actually kill a human. So, my hate of them is totally rational!
So, any time I see ants in my home, yard or garden, I freak out. I am completely armed, of course, with Insect Dust, Bonide Rotenone Pyrethrins, and Poison Free Ant & Roach Spray. I use them all.
I’m sure I totally overdo it, but that’s just the way it is.
Ants are really amazing creatures. They are much more organized than I am and they work well together. Cut ants can completely strip a large plant over night and travel blocks carrying their spoils. Carpenter ants can do some serious damage to a structure and the dreaded fire ant can actually kill a human. So, my hate of them is totally rational!
So, any time I see ants in my home, yard or garden, I freak out. I am completely armed, of course, with Insect Dust, Bonide Rotenone Pyrethrins, and Poison Free Ant & Roach Spray. I use them all.
I’m sure I totally overdo it, but that’s just the way it is.
Views: 8
Comment
-
Comment by cynthia slegel on April 8, 2011 at 11:04am -
I use once a year I put out dry mollases 40# bag for approx. 400sq.ft. works form me.
-
Comment by SoCalGardener on May 14, 2010 at 7:14pm -
I think I can say I hate ants too because they are always present around here but I'm told that they are the Argentine ants that were imported into the U.S. in the late 1800's. through coffee imports from Brazil. They seem to be living up to their name in what they do in my garden if in fact they are the Argentine ants.
I think just about everyone knows that some ants "farm" aphids, scale etc., taking them underground in winter and protecting them from enemies. That seems to be a major problem with the ants around here in Southern California. If someone has ants here then most likely you can almost count on them destroying any plants like cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers and any of the plants that aphids tend to like feeding on.
Fortunately, there is a "green" way now to get rid of ants without the use of pesticides and chemicals in the garden. The newer methods tested by the University of California - Riverside involve eliminating local colonies by killing off the queens in an ant hill. The queen ants are the egg producers and keep the colonies alive and active. By eliminating the queens you get rid of your ant problem.
-
Comment by Laura Phillips on January 18, 2010 at 6:36am -
I had a similar thing happen to me when I was around 5 years old, except they were fire ants and they only got up my legs before my Mom washed them off.
Fortunately I've always liked bugs and find them amazing to. There is a kind of ant that is called a Leaf-cutter Ant, that I think lives in South America. It doesn't actually eat the leaves but takes it to there collony underground. Then the leaf is consumed by a fungus that the ants get there food from. So, this collony of ants are actually farmers on huge scale. Isn't that cool?
Laura
© 2012 Created by Ryan S..
You need to be a member of My Spray-N-Grow Garden to add comments!
Join My Spray-N-Grow Garden