Declaring War on Ants to save my Palms

[lucky1]

My basement palms are loaded with soft scale.
Fungus gnats are in every pot of moist soil of germinating pots.

This year I'm declaring war on every ant that crawls across the patio.
Ants have a symbiotic relationship with almost everything that sucks sap, even "farming" the beggars and placing them back on plants in spring.

From leaf rollers, aphids, scale, etc. etc., ants are the mode of transportation.

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ ... 2319.short

I've heard that you can mix a little honey with boric acid powder (avail from pharmacy), place it in a mayonnaise lid in a sheltered area (careful, dangerous for pets!).
Ants apparently take that mixture home.

Can kill the whole colony.
Hope so.

I've had enough!

Barb

[Cameron_z6a_N.S.]

Barb, I don't have any ants right now, but my house is FILLED with fungus gnats

When I spend time and actually try to kill them, I probably kill 500 at a time, but they just keep coming!

Ants make their way into my house every year, but if you use the liquid poison by Raid, it seems to kill them within a week or so.

[lucky1]

Cameron,

Somebody here said that fungus gnats actually get into germinating seeds and eat the shoot/radicle.

I've seen a few "early" ants on the patio.
They've already met my shoe...

I have so many palms on the patio in summer that I've got to nip this ant problem in the bud.

I'm overrun w fungus gnats too, sprayed the basement, don't see any less.

The Bounce sheets didn't work.
The garlic planted in plant pots didn't work.
Have soft-bodied Scale all over my 3 Triangle palms.
Just noticed scale on the Bottle Palm.

Man what an epidemic this winter.

Barb

[Cameron_z6a_N.S.]

When the weather warms up significantly, I'll be bringing all of my plants outside. Hopefully the fungus gnats will choose to leave them and go somewhere else!

[TimMAz6]

give the boric acid a try.....I've read that works.........not sure if it really does.

[TerdalFarm]

So far, I've only seen them in abundance on the traveller's palm, now outside. I hope the rain and wind deters them, but if not I'll use chemicals. That is tricky for me, though, as my egg-laying hens eat ants, so I have to isolate the treated plant which is not easy.

One thing you can be grateful for, Barb, is that you don't have red imported fire ants (RIFA).
http://entoplp.okstate.edu/fireants/status.htm
RIFA arrive here in Oklahoma in nursery pots from Texas and are spreading fast. They mass up and sting and kill baby animals. I have not found them on my farm but I know it is a matter of time (and with all the discount plants I haul up from Texas, I may be playing a part in the problem....)
I'm hoping this cold weather knocked them back, but as deep as the snow was I bet they all made it through.

Details of what they do to people:
"The ants are very aggressive and will readily attack anything that disturbs their mound. After firmly grasping the skin with its jaws, the fire ant arches its back as it inserts its rear-end stinger into the flesh, injecting venom from the poison sac. It then pivots at the head and typically inflicts an average of seven to eight stings in a circular pattern. Fire ant venom is unique because of the high concentation of toxins, which are responsible for the burning pain characteristic of fire ant stings. "
(same site)

[Cameron_z6a_N.S.]

There was also a post about fire ants on the HPS today. In Canada, European fire ants range from NS to Ontario, in isolated pockets!

[lucky1]

Erik, why would they be all over your traveller's palm?
Any sticky glossy (honeydew) evident on the fronds?
That can be washed off with a rag dipped in water / rubbing alcohol.

Fire ants...OMG.
Saw a Adv/SciFi movie with fire ants; didn't sleep well that night, LOL.

We're still expecting killer bees here.
They must be taking their time and mating with mosquitos

Dog chases/eats everything that moves, wish she had wings!
Barb

[zomble]

What did I do to get rid of Ants on my kitchen work surfice,

First I tried a big bottle of bleach and poured it between the cracks in the patio slabs. They must have been coming up the combination boiler gap to get into the kitchen so I bound all around the boiler pipes and cut off that site of entry.

Someone said Baby talc so I covered the slabs with talc. I then went to a DIY and bought some Ant powder and puffed it all down the cracks with that also. Sheesh for such small blighters they take some getting rid of. Although they no longer come into the kitchen they are still around the patio area.

I have an old Maple and never had any trouble before (new town) but then I noticed they were running up and down the Maple..worst thing they could, do its my favorite tree. Out came the Ant powder, I put loads on, some Ants were pure white going back to the nest so some must have died....lolololol

On trees they are after the stuff Aphids leave behind so I am told, so I guess treat the trees or palms for Aphids and so the Ants then go away but I don't know.

In the extreme take a hose to your roots of the palms and hose all the Ants off. They colonise at the roots. If you see a plants that not well look for Ants.

Also try Provado, give a good spray top and under and spray the soil/compost.

Don't they cause a lot of trouble for such small Insects?

[canadianplant]

This thread reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86zPFR4R0Ko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs74VYDNDXE&NR=1

[lucky1]

Jesse...ants must be a REAL problem if the Simpsons did a show on it...

zomble, yup you did a lot of work.
Sounds like you were pretty fed up too.
Let us know how it worked.

I haven't got ants indoors but they're virtually everywhere, crawling across concrete patios, paved driveway, flower beds, potted plants under the patio roof, walking up the post that holds the hummingbird feeder.

I'm using Boric acid powder, mixed with a little honey, in a mayo lid.
Warning: slide it UNDER something, so dogs and cats can't get at it = POISON

Barb