Fire ants
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SweetMissDaisy
Garden Addicted
This article might help you: http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/fireant.html
I find myself battling them most often in the summer, not necessarily "in" the garden.
I use boiling water on small mounds in the yard. I've read that boiling water makes the soil it touches "sterile", but it also kills the ants. I'm OK with having some sterile spots in the lawn if it means fewer ants.
Sevin dust is readily available, and effective --- but it is also effective at killing all kinds of other GOOD insects, too. Like Bees... which is why I choose the hot water method.
We noticed a lot fewer ants last summer than we've had in the past. We were hopeful that the ant population was diminishing. Now, I'm not so sure.
I find myself battling them most often in the summer, not necessarily "in" the garden.
I use boiling water on small mounds in the yard. I've read that boiling water makes the soil it touches "sterile", but it also kills the ants. I'm OK with having some sterile spots in the lawn if it means fewer ants.
Sevin dust is readily available, and effective --- but it is also effective at killing all kinds of other GOOD insects, too. Like Bees... which is why I choose the hot water method.
We noticed a lot fewer ants last summer than we've had in the past. We were hopeful that the ant population was diminishing. Now, I'm not so sure.
hoodat
Garden Addicted
I hear they're getting good results since they started importing "headhunter flies" a type of phorid fly that hatches inside fire ants heads and actually decapitates them. There are less fire ants every year where the flies are thriving.
obsessed
Deeply Rooted
I live in the south and so I have to tolerate them.... At first I combated them with earnest as there was a constant war over the compost pile but if I killed them off they just moved to another spot in the garden... They now own the compost pile and any part of the garden that has mulch. So try to be carefull about stirring the soil too much. They are in my rose containers right now too. They are just everywhere. But I am getting used to them. What else can I do.
SweetMissDaisy
Garden Addicted
We have to be careful not to kill any of the "good" ants; the ants that are native to the area. Fire ants are SUCH horrible pests, and so very aggressive. Honestly, I'd pay to have the fire ant head-popping flies brought to the farm.
I'm really NOT fond of the rabid WOLF Spiders we have around here either... those things scare the daylights out of me!!
I'm really NOT fond of the rabid WOLF Spiders we have around here either... those things scare the daylights out of me!!
hoodat
Garden Addicted
Some of those wolf spiders can really get big but they're a real help in the garden. They're harmless to you. Do you have those big black tarantulas in your part of Texas? I used to see a lot of them crossing the road in Oklahoma in Fall when they den up.
SweetMissDaisy
Garden Addicted
I am sooo afraid of spiders, it's comical (for everyone but me).
I scream. Like a wee little girl.
The wolf spiders here get nearly as large as the black tarantulas. Their bodies can be as large as a Styrofoam packing peanut. And THEN, when they're covered with hundreds of BABIES?! AAAAACCCCK!!! *faint* And actually, they can be agressive, if they feel provoked. Sometimes you can just walk by one and it will raise up the front legs and charge. NO THANK YOU!!!!!
I saw one of the black TX tarantulas when we were driving down one of the streets in town one evening (just before dinnertime), a few summers ago ... it was walking across the street. We were headed to Alan's parents house for supper.
First I felt the earth shake.
Then I heard the rumbling thunder from it's footsteps.
I said to Alan, "i think that was a tarantula" as I drove past it.
He didn't believe me, so I stopped, put the car in reverse and backed up (the streets in our town are always deserted... think "paved alley".
Alan opened the car door, and said "sure enough ... but you hit him with the tire!"
.... oops! ....
The OTHER time I saw one was quite the different story.
http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/i-hate-spiders/
I scream. Like a wee little girl.
The wolf spiders here get nearly as large as the black tarantulas. Their bodies can be as large as a Styrofoam packing peanut. And THEN, when they're covered with hundreds of BABIES?! AAAAACCCCK!!! *faint* And actually, they can be agressive, if they feel provoked. Sometimes you can just walk by one and it will raise up the front legs and charge. NO THANK YOU!!!!!
I saw one of the black TX tarantulas when we were driving down one of the streets in town one evening (just before dinnertime), a few summers ago ... it was walking across the street. We were headed to Alan's parents house for supper.
First I felt the earth shake.
Then I heard the rumbling thunder from it's footsteps.
I said to Alan, "i think that was a tarantula" as I drove past it.
He didn't believe me, so I stopped, put the car in reverse and backed up (the streets in our town are always deserted... think "paved alley".
Alan opened the car door, and said "sure enough ... but you hit him with the tire!"
.... oops! ....
The OTHER time I saw one was quite the different story.
http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/i-hate-spiders/
