Here are a couple of things to try. I have struggled with nests of fire ants for years. One particular problem was a raised bed for vegetables. Obviously I did not want to use poison there, but I did have some luck with Dawn detergent dissolved in water. It would knock down the nest, but they always came back. I used orange oil, being ca…
Here are a couple of things to try. I have struggled with nests of fire ants for years. One particular problem was a raised bed for vegetables. Obviously I did not want to use poison there, but I did have some luck with Dawn detergent dissolved in water. It would knock down the nest, but they always came back. I used orange oil, being careful to keep it away from the roots of plants, mixed with water and detergent. Same thing. The ants came back. Having read that corn meal is poisonous to plants, and being aware that it is actually a good source of nitrogen for the plants, I finally bought some corn meal and spread it all over the bed. It worked! No more fire ants in that planting bed. It’s worth a try, anyway.
Now about the aphids. What I have used for years is simple. A small amount of dishwashing detergent—I use Dawn—mixed with water sprayed directly on the infested leaves will smother the aphids. Just be careful to avoid the ladybugs! Another non poisonous treatment is yellow sticky sheets, which attract the aphids and then they can’t get loose. The problem with this is that occasionally a ladybug will land on the sheet, which we definitely do not want.
Thanks. We'll try some of these, maybe corn meal for the ants (fortunately we don't have fire ants here, just ants) and the homemade spray for the aphids. Not the yellow sticky strips. We've had such an insect apocalypse, we're trying to be relatively selective.
Sue says it's an especially bad year for ladybirds. She has very few despite having a glorious well-established garden. I have yet to see any this summer, even where we deployed larvae. She has such a nicely balanced ecology, some fledglings ate the aphids off her roses, which ladybirds would usually do. We simply aren't there yet. It has only been about 3 years since we began seriously changing our garden.
Here are a couple of things to try. I have struggled with nests of fire ants for years. One particular problem was a raised bed for vegetables. Obviously I did not want to use poison there, but I did have some luck with Dawn detergent dissolved in water. It would knock down the nest, but they always came back. I used orange oil, being careful to keep it away from the roots of plants, mixed with water and detergent. Same thing. The ants came back. Having read that corn meal is poisonous to plants, and being aware that it is actually a good source of nitrogen for the plants, I finally bought some corn meal and spread it all over the bed. It worked! No more fire ants in that planting bed. It’s worth a try, anyway.
Now about the aphids. What I have used for years is simple. A small amount of dishwashing detergent—I use Dawn—mixed with water sprayed directly on the infested leaves will smother the aphids. Just be careful to avoid the ladybugs! Another non poisonous treatment is yellow sticky sheets, which attract the aphids and then they can’t get loose. The problem with this is that occasionally a ladybug will land on the sheet, which we definitely do not want.
Just keep trying.
Thanks. We'll try some of these, maybe corn meal for the ants (fortunately we don't have fire ants here, just ants) and the homemade spray for the aphids. Not the yellow sticky strips. We've had such an insect apocalypse, we're trying to be relatively selective.
Sue says it's an especially bad year for ladybirds. She has very few despite having a glorious well-established garden. I have yet to see any this summer, even where we deployed larvae. She has such a nicely balanced ecology, some fledglings ate the aphids off her roses, which ladybirds would usually do. We simply aren't there yet. It has only been about 3 years since we began seriously changing our garden.