"gary davis" wrote in message
...
On 5/4/04 2:55 PM, in article ,
"Franz
Heymann" wrote:


"Paul Anderson" wrote in message
...

"flower faerie" wrote in message
...
Hello

I have lots of ant hills appearing all over my lawn. I prefer
not
to
mow the lawn too short but want to try and get the ants to live
somewhere else like in the flower borders. Also I dont want to
put down
ant powder.

any ideas?

ff

We have found that Talcum Powder does the trick. It's not totally
chemical
free but I guess it's much less damaging than other powders
suggested here!

Talcum powder, like any solid, liquid or gas is a chemical. What
on
earth is all this paranoia about "chemicals"?
As far as I know, talcum is just finely divided Mg3 (OH)2 Si4 O10.

The other powders which have been suggested here were Vim and
Ajax. I
may be wrong, but I think both of them are just powdered chalk.

Franz


Hi Franz
I think the resistance to 'chemicals' is the side affects of
using
certain chemicals. Chemicals that kill aphids, for example, also
kill the
predatory insects such as lady bugs and the worms in the ground. It
is this
kind of 'chemical' that we do not want to use because of those
harmful side
affects.
I don't think that talcum powder falls into the 'bad chemical'
category. Talcum, then, is not the kind of chemical that we are
trying to
avoid.

Hello Gary,
I realise what is behind the paranoia. What I don't like is the way
folk are overreacting to the use of chemicals in the garden. I grant
you that there are chemicals whose overall benefit is dubious, but it
is quite unnecessary to lump everything except manure and compost
together as "chemicals" and therefore to be avoided.

By the way, if you used "organic" means other than the highly
ineffectual ladybirds to control aphids, you are also killing off
your ladybirds. They will simply die of hunger if there are no
insects around for them.

I actually have my doubts about the efficacy of ladybirds for
controlling aphids. I have noticed that the years in which I have
large populations of ladybirds coincide with years in which I have
serious infestations of aphids. Clearly the ladybirds are having a
whale of a time. But unfortunately those are also the years in which
there is most aphid damage in my garden, so when all is said and done,
the ladybirds were fighting a losing battle. Have you ever stoped to
think how many ladybirds you would need in one garden to consume a
horde of a few million aphids before they breed?

Franz