|
It's less work to just ask them to build a house somewhere else. J doug swanson wrote: Acting upon the advice of a local organic farmer/teacher, I've eradicated a few anthills in specific places in my yard, where the acidity was killing off the more sensitive mosses growing on the pathways throughout the yard. According to his advice, I've taken a stick, and stirred up the hill once a day. As he explained it, the ants that are home immediately to into "fix the nest" mode, and those who are out gathering food are put to the same task when they get home. No more ants are sent out for food until the nest is repaired. If this is done once or twice a day, the anthill will starve off within a week. And it works!doug swanson Marylynn Schmidt wrote:Some documentary I saw once about ants in the South American amazon .. they help clean up and clear out whole areas. .. and while I try to respect all life forms I don't necessarily want to share my space with them. I also don't wish to poison everything trying to kill off a few ants. Going back to J.Allen Boone's book, Kinship With All Life, you could simply ask them to leave .. his original book about his relationship with the original movie dog, Strongheart, is a classic but you should be able to obtain a copy .. well worth the read and the re-read many times over. My system is to ask the flies I find inside my house to meet me at the kitchen door .. it has a very large, unusual glass inset that I can picture in my head when I am "asking" them. I tell them that the outside is a wonderful place and I will release them if they wish .. I also tell them that if they chose not to leave then I would kill them. It's quite a reward to find several waiting for me at the door and I've needed my fly swatter only about 2 or 3 times over the years. With ants that insist on staying where it's inconvenient for me I use Diatomaceous Earth, the Food Grade only. I have a hand held hopper called a DustinMizer I purchase through a organic gardening supply place that I use to "dust" the Diatomaceous Earth all around my yard and garden area. DE is a mined sea fossils that kills hard shell .. fleas, ticks, ants .. by slicing the shell and they die by dehydration .. With ants, once they come in contact with it, the DE will kill with in 20 to 30 minutes .. enough time for them to carry it back into the nest even when you don't necessarily know where the nest is. I've been "dusting" my fenced in area of my yard for the past 10 years .. once or twice a season .. and have had no fleas or ticks on any of my 2 dogs. My 4 cats do go over the fence so I can apply the DE directly to their fur by dipping my fingers into the DE and carefully applying it against the fur so it is close to the skin. DE is totally harmless if ingested and is used in internal parasite preparations .. and all animals have parasites. Mary Lynn Rev. Mary Lynn Schmidt, Ordained Minister ONE SPIRIT ONE HEART TTouch . Reiki . Pet Loss Grief Counseling . Animal Behavior Modification . Shamanic Spiritual Travel . Behavior Problems . Psionic Energy Practitioner . Radionics . Herbs . Dowsing . Nutrition . Homeopathy . Polarity . The Animal Connection Healing Modalities http://members.tripod.com/~MLSchmidt/ http://allcreatureconnections.orgFrom: "Tom Irwin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Subject: [Biofuel] Ants in South America Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 11:12:27 -0300 Hi All, I have a question for any insect experts out there. What do ants do from a food web type orientation? What niche or niches do they occupy? I'm having some difficulty with one group that cuts down my colza and hauls it back to their nest. I see several other much smaller varieties that don't seem to do much harm. I pretty much leave those alone but they have a nasty little bite for something so small. The big leaf miners get boiling water down the nest if they attack my crops. Am I goofing soimething up by doing this? Tom Irwin |
_______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
