Subject: Re: Carpenter Ants advice wanted
From: "Bill Robinson" <roseguy@flash.net>
Organization: Flashnet Communications, http://www.flash.net
Date: 3 Sep 1997 20:54:13 GMT
Message-ID: <MOD$970903.12981@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$970903.3503@rec.gardens.ecosystems>



Little Pua wrote,
> I am having to rebuild part of a porch due to severe damage from carpenter
> ants . . . [snip] I am told the ants will actually have a nest up to 100 feet
> away somewhere on my property and that I will never really get rid of them
> until I find this nest. My 1/2 acre garden is organic and I would like to keep
> it this way, but I am surely being tested now.
Common-Sense Pest Control by Olkowskii, Daar, & Olkowki. 1991. Newton, Ct.:
Taunton Press has a good write up on Carpenter Ants. They say "The primary
problem in the management of carpenter ants is finding the nest. . . .
Tracing the
ants back to their nest can be very difficult". They do giive some clues as
to where
the nest might be but at bottom line it could be just about any place where
there is
moisture.

You might consider getting some help from commercial pest control operators
in
finding the nest. Olkowski, Daar & Olkowski recommend disiccating dusts or
Boric
acid as the least toxic carpenter ant control agents. The PCOs will
probably want
to use diazinon or dursban but you have the final word.

Bill