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Jen 28-08-2006 07:59 AM

Getting rid of ants
 
With all this talk of removing the ants to get rid of the aphids - Does
anyone have some good ways to get rid of them (the ants, that is)?

Jen



gardenlen 28-08-2006 08:10 AM

Getting rid of ants
 
g'day jen,

did you check our web site on the remedies page?

if they are in poits then drown them out.



On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:59:20 GMT, "Jen"
wrote:

With all this talk of removing the ants to get rid of the aphids - Does
anyone have some good ways to get rid of them (the ants, that is)?

Jen


With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

Dave -Turner[_1_] 28-08-2006 08:13 AM

Getting rid of ants
 
from what ive read - mix some borax powder with some powdered sugar, they
take it into their nests and eat it and get food poisoning. interestingly
borax is used in some French caviars, but despite its use as a pesticide its
LD50 is similar to that of table salt. I still wouldnt wanna eat it though

in regards to ant control with aphids im hoping a circle of borax-sugar
around each rose bush will take care of the resident ants and allow more
predators to get stuck into the aphids

its probably safer to use borax-sugar than something like Ant Dust, but then
Ant Dust is probably more ant specific so wont kill as many other insects,
so im not sure what the best option is



Jen 28-08-2006 09:34 AM

Getting rid of ants
 

"Dave -Turner" wrote in message
...
from what ive read - mix some borax powder with some powdered sugar, they
take it into their nests and eat it and get food poisoning. interestingly
borax is used in some French caviars, but despite its use as a pesticide
its LD50 is similar to that of table salt. I still wouldnt wanna eat it
though



Dogs and cats will probably eat it though, wouldn't they?

I've just checked my roses, and I was really shocked to see no aphids yet -
I guess it's still a bit cold for them. I did see some ants wondering
around the wall behind them though, I think they nest in the mortar. I'll
work on getting rid of the ants straight away, and see how I go with the
aphids. Thanks

Jen



Dave -Turner[_1_] 28-08-2006 09:36 AM

Getting rid of ants
 
There might be Ant Dust or something similar that has a repellent in it like
Bitrex so that might be the way to go if pets can get near

by the way if you do end up with aphids, before you hose the plant down
check underneath each leaf near where the aphids are and you might be lucky
enough to find a cluster of 10-50 ladybug eggs - they should hatch within a
week



SG1 29-08-2006 12:00 AM

Getting rid of ants
 

"Jen" wrote in message
...
With all this talk of removing the ants to get rid of the aphids - Does
anyone have some good ways to get rid of them (the ants, that is)?

Jen

I use cabbage dust around the ant holes. Works wonders under the hills
hoist.
Inside I use honey & borax powder. We used to be over run in the kitchen
when we first moved in, took about 3 years to convince them the kitchen was
MY domain not their's.
Jim



Rayband 29-08-2006 12:35 PM

Getting rid of ants - Pot Plants
 
Anyone have a safe suggestion to get rid of a large nest in my 800mm
cermamic pot containing dwarf lime tree.
I dont want to kill the tree or transfer chemicals to the tree???




Terryc 29-08-2006 01:55 PM

Getting rid of ants - Pot Plants
 
Rayband wrote:
Anyone have a safe suggestion to get rid of a large nest in my 800mm
cermamic pot containing dwarf lime tree.
I dont want to kill the tree or transfer chemicals to the tree???


do you have a 1 metre tub[1] that you could transfer the pot to?
them fill with water, leave 24 hours and drain.

[1] Perhaps a large plastic bag will do the trick. All you really need
to do is drive out all the air for 24 hours.


gardenlen 29-08-2006 09:51 PM

Getting rid of ants - Pot Plants
 
g'day rayband,

yep drowining them out is usuall the way to go, but with a heavy pot
that can be difficult so maybe set some baits on the pot and around
it, this does take time to work though.

another you could do and what is needed to keep the ants out of the
pots in the first place is! have the pot standing on some pot legs or
bits of broken tile in a deepish rather than shallow tray and keep the
tray full of water this prevents the ants from getting to ground, but
be sure that no part of the plant touches anything else plant or wall
whatever or the ants will form a bridge. then keep the pot satured
with a lot of watering for a few days.

the best remedy is prevention keep them out of your pots then they
won't do any harm to the potted plant in the different ways they can.
even if they just nest in the medium they tend to make it water
resistant.

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:35:26 +1000, "Rayband" wrote:

Anyone have a safe suggestion to get rid of a large nest in my 800mm
cermamic pot containing dwarf lime tree.
I dont want to kill the tree or transfer chemicals to the tree???



With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

John Savage 31-08-2006 03:43 PM

Getting rid of ants
 
"Dave -Turner" writes:
from what ive read - mix some borax powder with some powdered sugar, they
take it into their nests and eat it and get food poisoning. interestingly
borax is used in some French caviars, but despite its use as a pesticide its
LD50 is similar to that of table salt. I still wouldnt wanna eat it though


My Mum has an early well-worn recipe book, the collected wisdom of late 19th
through to mid-20th century Australian women. Along with recipes for jugged
hare, making your own vinegar from plums, and making bread using wild yeasts
harvested from the air and cultured on mashed potato, was a method for
keeping milk for up to 3 days without refrigeration. It involved disolving
borax (at quantities something like a tablespoonful per pint, from memory)
in the milk.

Evidently, it must work without poisoning the consumer, though I've never
tried it.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

ant[_5_] 02-09-2006 02:29 AM

Getting rid of ants
 
John Savage wrote:
"Dave -Turner" writes:
from what ive read - mix some borax powder with some powdered
sugar, they take it into their nests and eat it and get food
poisoning. interestingly borax is used in some French caviars, but
despite its use as a pesticide its LD50 is similar to that of table
salt. I still wouldnt wanna eat it though


My Mum has an early well-worn recipe book, the collected wisdom of
late 19th through to mid-20th century Australian women. Along with
recipes for jugged hare, making your own vinegar from plums, and
making bread using wild yeasts harvested from the air and cultured on
mashed potato, was a method for keeping milk for up to 3 days without
refrigeration. It involved disolving borax (at quantities something
like a tablespoonful per pint, from memory) in the milk.

Evidently, it must work without poisoning the consumer, though I've
never tried it.


Boron's a mineral, isn't it?

I'm planning to get a crapload of borax and sugar, as the ant thing is huge
on my place, and every struggling tree I see has a parade of ants on it. I'm
a-gonna git them!

Am a bit concerned about animals though, especially the dogs. Do they eat
it? Do they get poisoned?


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



gardenlen 02-09-2006 04:48 AM

Getting rid of ants
 
g'day ant,

don't think it will kill a mammal as such and probably not tenough to
make them sick? with the ants they take it back to the nest and feed
the queen and the young and it is them ants that die, and when that
happens i guess the domino effect takes place and that is the end of
the nest.

you could mix the borax in honey as well, or make the sugar miz tacky
solluable, and also to keep the weather out and maybe pets away use a
1/2 gal icecream container over the bait tray. you only need use jam
jar lids or even bottle lids.



On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 10:29:41 +1000, "ant"
wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

Farm1 02-09-2006 12:31 PM

Getting rid of ants
 
"ant" wrote in message

Boron's a mineral, isn't it?


Yes but needed in small quantities.

I'm planning to get a crapload of borax and sugar, as the ant thing

is huge
on my place, and every struggling tree I see has a parade of ants on

it. I'm
a-gonna git them!

Am a bit concerned about animals though, especially the dogs. Do

they eat
it? Do they get poisoned?


Humans can be poisoned by Borax so I assume that dogs (being mammals)
could be too.

Why don't you just find the ant nests (look under rocks etc) and put
the mix in the holes or under the rocks where the nests are likely to
be or set up stations under heavy rocks that the dogs can't get to.



John Savage 02-09-2006 01:56 PM

Getting rid of ants
 
"SG1" writes:
I use cabbage dust around the ant holes. Works wonders under the hills
hoist.
Inside I use honey & borax powder. We used to be over run in the kitchen
when we first moved in, took about 3 years to convince them the kitchen was
MY domain not their's.


There seem to be two broad categories of ants that you'll find in the
kitchen: those after sweet things such as sugar, honey, jam, etc., and
those after meat or fat. I expect the honey + borax lure will only get
the first ones. Those in the second category love cheese and bacon crumbs
from a pizza, but I found they wouldn't touch sugar or honey.

I do wonder whether there might be meat-loving ants in the garden that
go around collecting grubs off the cabbages, and aphids off radish
leaves, etc. Can anyone vouch for this? Maybe not all ants in the garden
are undesirable.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

ant[_5_] 02-09-2006 02:12 PM

Getting Borax
 
Where do you get Borax from?! I tried Bunnings (I hate bunnings) and Coles
(hate them too) and neither had it. Where do you get it from?

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




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