I just came in from my small garden. Wanted to dig a few 'taters for supper tomorrow nite. I found most of them damaged from good ol' fireants. I sure can't see spreading a bunch of poison around my 'taters to keep the little buggers away, but I don't like donating most of the crop to them. Anybody got any ideas?

-- Clinton J.Barnes (pococj@aol.com), June 26, 1999

Answers

Clint, I don't have an answer for you, but there's a great gardening site called www.gardenweb.com It has really good and varied forums , folks from allover participate and help each other. Give it a try.

-- Bob Manizza (kabob@snet.net), June 30, 1999.

Dear Clinton, I have read in a number of organic publications that dusting the ground around plants with just a tiny amount of cayenne pepper, deters ants. Alternately, you can try dusting the ground with diatomacious earth which is a powder derived from the shells of microscopic sea creatures. D.E. is traditionally used against slugs, ants and roaches.

-- K. Reynolds (popiel77@sprynet.com), June 30, 1999.

My brother-in-law told me that because of his alergies from the Gulf War, he is now allergic to many chemicals such as ant poison. He suggested using grits (coarsely ground corn) on a dry day. The workers carry it into the mound. When the queen eats it, the grits expand and kill her. The mound dies in about a week. I have been using this method for about two months now, and it seems to work. Please note that it has to be spread when the ground is dry and remain dry for about 24 hours, or the grits absorb the moisture before the queen eats.

-- Richard Kusmierczyk (ppwmd@msn.com), July 02, 1999.

4-5 gallons of boiling water uses up a med sized fireant hill about as quick as you can give it to them - pour slow enough that most goes into the mound. to use grits mix about 1\2 boric acid and a little sugar and it will starve the little buggars in a month or so - sterilizes them i guess - works for roaches also. how you deliver it makes a difference. for example i feed the rats the warfarin baits but i make the rats open the comercial baits - just put them in the place where the rat will feel safe from the kids & dog and check every week to see when to bait the mechanical traps.

-- dl (dljohnson123@mindspring.com), August 24, 1999.