carpenter ants?!!,

[Dorman]

Hey guys, sorry if this is messed up, but i'm up north working on a phone. Ants: red overall with a darker rear section. They seem to like wood and I find them everywhere there is a dead tree (which is everywhere on 20 acres in snf ). What kills these things? They are taking a liking to my house._

[joosttx]

1. Remove the dead wood (most important)
2. Seal up cracks and holes around the exterior of your home.
3. Clean your home, remove trash and seal food.

I am an entomologist and I never really heard of a non toxic, organic way to control carpenter ants sucessfully other than cultural practices I mention above. If you want a more "conventional control measure" repeatedly spray the exterior of your home with bifenthrin. That would do the trick. However, removing dead wood, including roots in the soil is your best option.

[WadePatton]

i just "removed" my first colony of imported red fire ants.

but i can't tell you exactly how. it might could would involve offending at the ffedderall level.

helpful hints: it involved more than one application, removing "habitat", and a match.

effing "carpenter" ants and "carpenter" bees are just variations on the termite theme. wonder why termites aren't called "carpenter" bugs?

[joosttx]

i just "removed" my first colony of imported red fire ants.

but i can't tell you exactly how. it might could would involve offending at the ffedderall level.

helpful hints: it involved more than one application, removing "habitat", and a match.

effing "carpenter" ants and "carpenter" bees are just variations on the termite theme. wonder why termites aren't called "carpenter" bugs?

Diesel fuel?

Repeated drenching of soapy boiling water work almost as well

[mjbabcock]

Diesel sure was the "cure" back in Texas...that and burning them with a magnifying glass sure was fun as a kid. Sweet retrobution for those times a few hundred would sneek up your leg and bite at once.

[armagh]

Boric acid powder doesn't work on carpenter ants?

[WadePatton]

and the queen is dropping a cool million eggs per day (or 500,000, i lost count-some big number)

diesel fuel?! HELL NO-that stuff costs more than gasoline these days (and yes you non-diesel users are paying for it).

It _was_ the preferred fire lighting liquid back in the day, but has fallen out of favor (even though it's much safer) for less expensive, more volatile stuff.

besides, my truck smacks me with a quad-door if i "waste" any #2 ultra low sulfur abomination diesel. i have to soothe it with a bottle of veggie oil when this happens. whooops--ffedderrall territory again.

fire ants info from TX (where 1.2 billion dollars is the est. annual impact) : http://fireant.tamu.edu/

[steve garro]

1. Remove the dead wood (most important)
2. Seal up cracks and holes around the exterior of your home.
3. Clean your home, remove trash and seal food.

I am an entomologist and I never really heard of a non toxic, organic way to control carpenter ants sucessfully other than cultural practices I mention above. If you want a more "conventional control measure" repeatedly spray the exterior of your home with bifenthrin. That would do the trick. However, removing dead wood, including roots in the soil is your best option.

What this guy said - any wood, or more specifically almost always wood that has contact with dirt - watch for little piles of sawdust ( bad on your house - very bad) and another you would not think of - woodpeckers. Woodpeckers really liking your house is bad = bugs - they can hear them. We have so many kinds of damn ants "pinche hormigas" - Garro.

[joosttx]

Speaking of killing fire ants...... this is the coolest biocontrol measure ever- a parasitic phroid fly which lays eggs in the fireant and then its offspring hatches out from the fireants head. Check out the video.



I love these flys because when they sense fear they get horny.

[steve garro]

Speaking of killing fire ants...... this is the coolest biocontrol measure ever- a parasitic phroid fly which lays eggs in the fireant and then its offspring hatches out from the fireants head. Check out the video.



I love these flys because when they sense fear they get horny.

How about the "zombie fungus!" - Garro.

[Dorman]

Thanks for the info guys. I will have to try spraying the house as there is no trash/garbage for them to get into and removing all the dead wood is not a possibility. The ants are everywhere up there and some lucky ones decided to move into the corner of my garage right inside the door. There is so much dead plant matter in the soil the ground will seriously burn if I'm not careful with the fire pit.

[WadePatton]

Best of luck with the de-carpenter ants. They, like termites, will move on when all they've gutted all the wood.

speaking of wasps (WP led thread derail #2, if you're counting)

Tomato Hornworms are a big nasty, hugely destructive, insect in this neck. there's a wasp that will lay eggs on it, and the larvae kill the hornworm.

have found two egg-laden hornworms this year-i let those two go to the larvae. never seen a wasp, still have plenty of hornworms but their numbers are declining, as i have taken to shooting the bastards with my trusty ruger. little green goo explosions--quite satisfying wrt the destruction they do. i prefer to burn ammo than to spray everything with chemicals...unless every plant is affected.

i picked off as many japanese beetles as i poisoned this year. picked off dozens of hornworms (bastards will eat peppers too). then one day i had the 22 on my hip and the fun began.

the hornworm goes form about one inch to five inches in two days, taking 38 inches of foliage, blooms, and fruit with it. easy to find as you'll be looking at a skeletal plant-and they stay on the same plant, so just keep looking. then pop him--execution style...pretend you're a soprano taking care of business. i don't like killing, but it has to be done.

shot a corn-worm once too...marksmanship yo!

[rydesteel]

As long as we are the topic of shooting pests, I have it on good authority that a 12 gauge full of bird shot will not kill all the hornets in a nest and the survivors will be ROYALLY pissed ;>). Hiding behind a tree and being very still is a survival technique in those situations.

[sharkboyrob]

I love these flys because when they sense fear they get horny.

Heard the same thing about Mickey Rourke!

[WadePatton]

yes, if you're effing with stinging/flying effers---and you don't get every last one with your initial "surge" motionlessness is the best defense. they hit whatever moves when on attack/defense mode. if you have the nerves to freeze, they'll stomp your buddy who is running away and flailing his arms like a girl (if you remember to bring one).

smelling fear and horniness is all good, but motionlessness avoids the wrath of stingers.

had a single green monster in the garden today-it was gigantic and had laid waste to my _only_ hinkelhatz pepper plant.

biting mine pepper and defoliating the plant producing them is akin to talking to the feds or wearing a wire...so-he took on the role of pussy and me tony and we were on a boat and then the water ran green for a second. (they have vulcan blood yo).

[cuda2k]

Shooting bugs with a .22, I need to become Wade's neighbor (perhaps on the opposite side from his garden though).

OT: good luck with the ants, we lost a couple trees to them when my folks had a lake home years ago. My dad's answer to them was decidedly non-environmentally friendly.

edit: topic of bees and elimination of nests: my ingenious father also eliminated a football sized bumblebee nest situated deep inside bushes with a dozen rounds of "slash at bushes with hedge clippers, dose with gasoline, RUN!" Bees attacked the hedge trimmer he dropped while he was able to retreat into the house.