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Post by imgrimmer on Jul 20, 2018 5:32:51 GMT -5
Today I checked my small plants and found that every single plant is inhabited by ants. This is always the case since years. Plants suffer from it and die slowly. I tried lavendula oil it helps but can also kill the plants when overdosed.
Anyone have experience with it?
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Post by steev on Jul 20, 2018 19:07:32 GMT -5
You might try dusting a perimeter around the plants: something like ash, cinnamon, or oxalic acid; ants are very clean critters that will avoid walking through stuff they don't want to lick off their feet. I'm much the same.
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Post by imgrimmer on Jul 21, 2018 2:29:46 GMT -5
 Thanks |
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Post by windyza on Nov 6, 2018 3:52:50 GMT -5
Some of the ant-repelling chemicals can bring harm to plants as well so it's better to use natural remedies to get rid of them. Water and vinegar is a good natural mean - ants just can't stand its scent. If you find the nest of those insects just pour some boiling water there and they'll be gone. Here are some other tips on how to fight ant invasion. Hope it will come in handy. |
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Post by imgrimmer on Jun 6, 2019 7:40:29 GMT -5
Next season same problem  Ants and artichocks seem to be like magnet and iron for me. They build their home inside the roots and cultivate aphids on the leaves. I use neem oil to kill the ants. This works for a week than is starts from the beginning. 2 plants out of 3 are nearly dead so far no new growth since weeks. bad story. |
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Post by Srdjan Gavrilovic on Jun 7, 2019 2:22:13 GMT -5
Not sure how much space you have but you might consider guineafowl! Downside is that they are semi-wild, very noisy, can fly/escape easily, drop only a relatively small number of small eggs, have meet on them as much as an anorectic chicken and the meet is very hard (but way tastier when compared to chicken).
Few of my plants are also like magnets for aphids and ants (e.g. Viburnum opulum that is sweet/palatable fresh) in addition my vegetable garden is cover by wood chips -a paradise for ants. Thus, ants and aphids used to be very problematic pests. Ticks are even worse for people and pets. Ticks were the reason to got guineafowls and since getting them we don't have problem with ticks although neighborhood is infested. Coincidentally ants also disappeared, with ants gone aphids disappeared as well.
We had 9, now 5 guineafowl (semi-urban area, can't have more) roaming through my front yard and are released into vegetable garden from time to time. Unlike chickens they do minimal damage to plants (don't scratch ground and don't packs greens). In nature they feed mostly on insects. In my place we use commercial feed, unless starved they go only after insects ignoring any and all plants.
The only time when we need to limit their moving is while plants are very small because they step onto, and in that way damage, tender/very young plants. As soon as plants are 4-5 cm or higher, not a problem as birds chose/prefer to step onto ground around. Second is fruiting period. They will strip any raspberry, strawberry, current, blueberry... that they can find/reach.
My guineafowls have access to vegetable/fruit garden in periods before spring planting, after last shrub fruiting and between outgrowing tender plants and first fruits. Plenty of time to keep pests pressure below any need to spray. We don't use any pesticide/repellent (synthetic or natural).
They get slugs as well but not snails. This year we are experimenting with ducks to see if snails can be controlled in such way.
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Post by imgrimmer on Jun 7, 2019 17:20:47 GMT -5
Interesting. I like guinea fowls a lot. Sadly my Yard is too small. Sounds like they are a good addition to peking ducks.
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