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Controlling ants
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Posted by sterculias SE Qld. (My Page) on Wed, Oct 29, 03 at 6:36
| I've been experimenting on how to stop ants from climbing young trees to farm scale. I get a lot of pink and white scale and the only effective way so far is to treat the scale and the ants. All of the effective ant killers are also the nasty ones with an application every 2 weeks or so may be building up in the soil. The last thing I want is ant killer in the dam.
What is showing some promise is Bay leaves placed in a piece of stocking and tied around the trunk. Bay leaves do keep ants at bay (pun intended) in kitchen pantries, cupboards etc.
Has anyone else been down this track?
Doug. |
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RE: Controlling ants
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Not personally, but I've come across the following:
Smear vaseline generously around trunk and make sure ants can't cross from leaves of neighbouring plants. If you're worried about putting a petroleum product directly on the trunk, wrap some grafting tape around it first. It will need topping up every now and then.
Spray the scale with glue spray - 1 cup white flour dissolved in 1 cup boiling, dilute with 5 cups cold water, strain, spray or paint on generously. Hose off 2 hours later. Repeat two or three times every three or four days till scale is dead.
A lot more work but less toxic to the environment (if you ignore the fact that you're using vaseline!) |
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