Getting Borax
 

Sigh. Again. Many of the trees I've planted (several hundred so far) over
the past 13 years or so are covered in scale/sticky/sooty stuff, and every
struggling tree is covered in ants. If a tree looks "clean", but later has
ants walking all over it, it invariably ends up with this disease on it, and
suffers a set back. I never knew what the connection was with ants, but knew
that ants meant the tree was in for it.

Some trees that were doing well, now are dead.

This area seems to have a lot of ants, and I think there are termites here
too.



--
ant
Don't try to email me;
I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy

Getting Borax
 

"ant" wrote in message
Sigh. Again. Many of the trees I've planted (several hundred so far)
over
the past 13 years or so are covered in scale/sticky/sooty stuff, and
every
struggling tree is covered in ants. If a tree looks "clean", but
later has
ants walking all over it, it invariably ends up with this disease on
it, and
suffers a set back. I never knew what the connection was with ants,
but knew
that ants meant the tree was in for it.

I can understand why you are sighing as I'm sitting here doing the
same thing.

I'd like to know, after you nuke all the ants on your property and get
rid of them, do you think the scale and sooty mould will automatically
disappear?

Some trees that were doing well, now are dead.

That isn't surprising as you clearly have a problem, but is it the
ants or are there other underlying problems?

This area seems to have a lot of ants, and I think there are
termites here
too.

Not long ago you told me of a property down the hill below you and
which you overlook. I'm fairly sure I know that place (is it on a
corner with a dam at the bottom of the hill and asmall bareish paddock
right on the corner?) If it is that place then I'd have to say that
it shines like a beacon in an otherwise relatively barren landscape.

You wrote about how well the trees there had done and the care the
owners took to grow those trees and just how well their trees had
grown. Do the ants and termites in your area stay within the bounds
of your property or does the "area" having lots of ants mean that the
ants occur beyond your property line? Does the well treed property
have ants? If they don't have ants and termites there now, did they
ever? What care do they give to their trees that you don't (or can't)
give to yours? Did they nuke all the ants or did they do something
else that made the trees grow so that they look so strong and healthy?
Do they have bird life that you don't? Do they feed and water their
trees? Do they grow different trees to you? In short, why can they
do it but you can't?

You say "many" of your trees have scale. Is it one species that does
or is it a mix of all the trees?

Getting Borax
 

"ant" wrote in message
...
Sigh. Again. Many of the trees I've planted (several hundred so far) over
the past 13 years or so are covered in scale/sticky/sooty stuff, and every
struggling tree is covered in ants. If a tree looks "clean", but later has
ants walking all over it, it invariably ends up with this disease on it,
and suffers a set back. I never knew what the connection was with ants,
but knew that ants meant the tree was in for it.


I know the discussion here has been about the ants bringing scale and aphids
to plants. But I think with that much of a problem, surely just getting rid
of the ants isn't going to do that much good. There must be other problems
causing all these bugs. Maybe the trees have a problem that they can't
stand up to the bugs.

Jen

Getting Borax
 

ant wrote:
Sigh. Again. Many of the trees I've planted (several hundred so far) over
the past 13 years or so are covered in scale/sticky/sooty stuff, and every
struggling tree is covered in ants. If a tree looks "clean", but later has
ants walking all over it, it invariably ends up with this disease on it, and
suffers a set back. I never knew what the connection was with ants, but knew
that ants meant the tree was in for it.

Some trees that were doing well, now are dead.

This area seems to have a lot of ants, and I think there are termites here
too.



--
ant
Don't try to email me;
I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy

The ants are not the cause of your problem. They are feeding on the
sweet exudate from the scale inscects. The sooty mould is also a result
of the sugary exudate. Control the scale and the ants and mould will go
away.

How do you control the scale? There are a number of ways. Oil emusions
(white oil, pest oil etc.) are very effective.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/informa.../scale_insects

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/fact_.../fs_scale.html

Killing the ants will NOT solve your problem.

Getting Borax
 

I personally use the product I found at
http://www.natural-ant-killer.com. It will not harm your plants or
trees and it is 100% effective.

In fact you will find that your trees will flourish because the
solution works as a fertilizer. It does this because it contains a
natural surfactant that breaks down the molecules of water which will
penetrate the waxy coating of the ants and instantly drown them.

At the same time, it works as a fertilizer because the smaller
molecules get down deeper in the soil.

I have to say it is the best thing I have found on the market and I
will never, ever use anything else!

?

Getting Borax
 

Where did you get it from?

Chris.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I personally use the product I found at
http://www.natural-ant-killer.com. It will not harm your plants or
trees and it is 100% effective.

In fact you will find that your trees will flourish because the
solution works as a fertilizer. It does this because it contains a
natural surfactant that breaks down the molecules of water which will
penetrate the waxy coating of the ants and instantly drown them.

At the same time, it works as a fertilizer because the smaller
molecules get down deeper in the soil.

I have to say it is the best thing I have found on the market and I
will never, ever use anything else!

?

Getting Borax
 

"Chris Warr" wrote in message
Where did you get it from?

LOL. Glad someone else spotted the troll too :-))

wrote in message
oups.com...
I personally use the product I found at
http://www.natural-ant-killer.com. It will not harm your plants
or
trees and it is 100% effective.

In fact you will find that your trees will flourish because the
solution works as a fertilizer. It does this because it contains
a
natural surfactant that breaks down the molecules of water which
will
penetrate the waxy coating of the ants and instantly drown them.

At the same time, it works as a fertilizer because the smaller
molecules get down deeper in the soil.

I have to say it is the best thing I have found on the market and
I
will never, ever use anything else!

?