Permaculture with Bill Mollison wrote:
"Jonno" wrote in message
...

Jonno wrote:

godwin wrote:


Feedback if this works please. Dont breathe the dust from this
stuff
as it may be harmfull if not observed.
Really great stuff to stop cabbage flutterbies.


It works great. I originally found out about this from an article
in
a
science magazine some years ago.

I tried it at home as we had persistent termites in the backyard.
Now
they are no longer there and they are gone from the surrounding
properties also. They must travel quite a distance underground.

Cheers



No white ants but plenty of the black argentinian ants....


Now that's a thought jonno! If DIPEL works on argentinian ants it
would
be a sensation. But Argentinians aren't black? They're a honey
colour. i
once did an article on Argentinian ants and researched pretty
thoroughly.
The ag. board entymologist demonstrated to me that sometimes the
only way
to distinguish argentinian ants from other similar species is to
count
the 'teeth' on the mandibles under a microscope.
there's a much darker 'coastal brown ant' that might be your
problem. But
your not a whole lot better off if it is :-) but a bit I think. A
good way of using dipel on white ants would be to insert a capped
length of PVC pipe into the nearby soil with some slots in the
side and
stuffed with paper.




They are honey coloured.. Yep. Wasn't thinking... :-(
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I don't know if it works on them - it does work on the little black
and smaller brown (not Argentinian) ants that we have here. We had
such a severe plague of those, so bad that the ground felf like a
sponge under your feet due to excessive nests plus they were always
getting into the house.

I used dipel on those about 2 years ago and they are now under
control - not gone completely though. They never fully recovered from
it so the Dipel bacterium must still be actively working in the soil I
assume.


Try it on the Argentinians and let us know. If it does work then also
contact Gardening Australia & pass it on :-)



Apparently Melbourne where I live has one of the largest single
colony of Argentinian ants in the world. Why is it so?
It hasn't got any enemies due to all the colony being related to
each other...by species...


Not just by species but as a single 'family' colony rather than
seperate colonies with different genetics & pheromones.


Now if dipel could wipe em out, we'd be much happier...Doesnt work
on pollies does it?


We can only dream



[/color]
PS Dipel also works with tomato grubs...
Whatever theyre called but it seems the tomatoes didnt grow so well this
year. Whats bugging them I wonder...
Anyone have any clues?