rec.gardens.ecosystems homepage -> archive: MOD$990823.002@rec.gardens.ecosystems



Subject: Re: ANTS why kill them?
From: R&L <vdkampr@worldonline.nl>
Organization:
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 99 05:30:36
Message-ID: <MOD$990823.002@rec.gardens.ecosystems>



Troyka wrote in message ...
>
>why do people try to get rid of ants? i have them in my garden they
>don't look to be doing any harm, should i get rid (kill them?)
>
T.

I never had a problem with ants my whole life...until we bought our house in
South Holland, Netherlands. Here I discovered that pernicious little red
ants farm aphids for their secretions, and the aphids and the ants seem to
basically munched the life out of one of our hardwood trees.

Before the tree was a goner, I did the following:
1) Found all antholes and hills in our patio and drenched them in boiling
water (not to be done at tree bases or in plots/borders).
2) Used a ginger based ant powder around tree base
3) Sprayed detergent in water onto infested stem bases.

Pruning also helped, the tree is coming back, and the ant/aphid clusters are
shrinking. These steps did not eliminate the ants and aphids immediately,
but they also did not poison the birds who visit our garden. NONE of these
steps seems to have, as a knock-on effect, diminished the snails or slugs in
our garden!

>------------------------------------------------------------------
>Email troyka@bigfoot.com
>-------------------------------------------------
>"No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity"
>
>Jacques Cousteau
>
>