FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

One more bump here and I'll reveal the big secret!!!!

It was *almost* discovered, but...not.

ant hill?

Dang. That is huge!

optique wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 1:15 amant hill?

No, He hates ants. But I am pretty sure it is the 4 small square potters in the back right filled with sand or something. I thought moss but it is something else, just not sure what.

Is it behind the seedling cup of drosera capensis to the left of the cup of binata? Looks like a Giant bug of some sort at first glance. Looks like an Easter egg sized pill bug! I can also see its reflection in the water. I don't know what it is

optique wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 1:15 amant hill?

And we have a winner!!!! YES!!!! A BLASTED ANT HILL!!!!!!!!

Excellent work, optique!!! Unfortunately I was *just* informed that Ed McMahon died 10 or 15 years ago so he *will not* be able to award you your superprize!!! And a little more digging by my private detective confirms that Publishers Clearing House shuttered their doors prior to Ed kicking the bucket! Shux!!!!

Anyhow, yeah...i walked in the other evening and was looking the plants over...had been their probably ten minutes when...WHADAHAYIZDAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blasted ants!!! They took all of ONE DAY to build them a nice summer cottage right dab over my pots of D. Capillaris Butler Co.!!! I'm not kiddin'...those suckers are bad around here!!!!!! I figured that with a cottage they needed a swimming pool, too!!!! Andy, I *really* hate ants. I toxicated some more today with some RAID!!!!

...and BumpyEvergreen...you're scaring me!!!! The old trailer is kinda spooky as it is, without worrying about a rabid rollypolly running loose in there!!!!!!!!!!

Now, wasn't this fun!!!!

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 4:57 am

optique wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 1:15 amant hill?

And we have a winner!!!! YES!!!! A BLASTED ANT HILL!!!!!!!!

Andy, I *really* hate ants. I toxicated some more today with some RAID!!!!

I would have had it first try had I thought you would leave an ant hill for more than a few minutes. That is nuts how they moved in so quickly. But, when you have thousands of them they can definitely pull that one off!!! I think it was bad juju. You were just recently talking about how much you hate them. Maybe one was on your computer screen when you were not aware and told all the others what you posted about them and they decided to pack up and move in.

Ants! Oh mannnnn. I had a bunch of ants doing a perp march to my purps last year. A few eventually found their way into the kitchen.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 4:57 am The old trailer is kinda spooky as it is, without worrying about a rabid rollypolly running loose in there!!!!!!!!!!

Ditching the bloodied chainsaw, the hockey mask and the rusty axe might reduce the spooky factor a bit. Just sayin'.

@andynorth, trust me. I did not tarry very long in going to DEFCON ONE. Battle plans had to be made. Chemical warfare cruise missiles had to armed. Floodgates prepared and innocent civilians moved out of harms way. The evil empires fortress was then airlifted to a desolate area and the flood gates were opened on them!!! DROWN!!! DROWN!!!! DROWN!!!!! EVIL ONES!!!!!!!!!

While the antennaed enemies were attempting to evacuate the chemical warfare experts returned to the original battleground and annihilated the remaining enemies there...in heartless fashion, might I add. By then the enemy that was evacuating the flooded fortress had found solid ground outside of the moat. The chemical expert was called in and, again, laid waste to the enemy!!!! <HAR!!! HAR!!!! HARRRR!!!!!!!!> The next morning there was not a single six-legged demon moving!!!!! <HA!!!!!HAHA!!!!!HAHA!!!!!!HA!!!!!!!>

Btw, did I mention I really hate ants. Now, mind you, some regular ol' south Alabama ants I can deal with...but these are foreigners invading *my* space and are really, really not very nice. These are argentine ants, to the best of my knowledge...they get *EVERYWHERE*!!!! Did I mention....

@stephenboss2000, we get them in the house, too. At least a couple of times each summer I hear the battle cry of "ANTS IN THE CABINET!!!" If you catch them on the counter you can take a one of those wet "Clorox CleanUp" wipes (or a generic version) and "wipe" the ants up with just a little pressure...I guess the bleach kills them or something. Good way to kill them where you don't want to be spraying. We can't even leave feed outside in the garage for that no-good, night owl, day-sleeping, worthless tomcat of ours...and least not for over an hour or so or the ants wrap it up. Btw, I don't think I've mentioned it to you, but I *really* hate ants!!!!

@evenwind, shhh!!!! The local authorities are still investigating that...situation.

Right now I'm in the process of trying to thwart yet another nemesis of mine....WHITE-TAILED-DEER. My gardening buddy conned talked me into cranking my old garden back up. I've been working on getting the aging electric fence back up and running before I plant my zipper cream peas. I'm getting there, slowly but...well, I'm getting there.

Here is a fun pest control tip. Windex kills ants on contact and is safe to use on food surfaces. It does have to be Windex with ammonia, though. You're welcome.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 8:46 pm These are argentine ants, to the best of my knowledge...they get *EVERYWHERE*!!!!

I've heard horror stories about them. We don't have them in North Carolina (yet). The RIFA (red imported fire ants) are bad enough. I'll take the native fire ants any day.

Intheswamp wrote: Right now I'm in the process of trying to thwart yet another nemesis of mine....WHITE-TAILED-DEER.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: venison. Since humans killed off the deer's natural predators, then humans need to step up and fill the gap. Also, it's low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and very tasty.

Mike, I'm not kidding, I can lay something down in the yard, say a ice cooler. Small...large...it doesn't matter. Or, even just a piece of pecan tree limb or something. Within 24 hours there will be ants colonizing the "sheltered area". Another 24 to 48 hours and they've got the maternity/neonatal unit in full swing!!! The only half-good thing I can say about them is that they don't sting, I'm not even sure if they have the ability to sting. But, they will bite, especially if you get them trapped between you and your t-shirt, or in the bend of your arm, or having crawling up inside a leg of your blue jeans!!! I've had one $100 service call from my air-conditioner guy... Oh, and in the jeep and my wife's car...at least several times a year!!! Btw, I don't think I've mentioned it to you, but I *really* hate ants!!!!!!!

I don't hunt, Mike. I could, I would, but I don't. But, I've got this good friend of mine that miraculously shows up at my door, usually during the winter months, with some Walmart/dollar-store/grocery-store bags full of these butcher paper wrapped objects in them...and a big grin on his face. For some reason when I think "One less deer to keep out of the garden"....and then I start hearing Dionne Warwick singing "One Less Bell to Answer"...all....day....long!!!! Kinda like the deer is getting its final revenge on me. Other than being mighty tasty, the only other thing I can say good about deer is that....they're not ants!!!! Of course, with wasting disease slowly spreading, venison may become just buzzard fare.

https://gardenerspath.com/how-to/diseas ... tine-ants/

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 8:46 pm Right now I'm in the process of trying to thwart yet another nemesis of mine....WHITE-TAILED-DEER. My gardening buddy conned talked me into cranking my old garden back up. I've been working on getting the aging electric fence back up and running before I plant my zipper cream peas. I'm getting there, slowly but...well, I'm getting there.

Well, I got the old 5-strand fence "live" . I've got some new insulators and polywire coming in today but, well, I had to get the garden area secure before I could work on getting the soil ready to plant. I had removed the two bottom strands during "the burn", so those had to be reinstalled. So, I went ahead and aggravated myself with patching the old polywire, replacing/swapping insulators, etc., to get it up and operational. The entire setup has been sitting unused since 2020...even the 24DCM battery. Though, during this time I had a surplus small solar panel connected, but after a while the panel was overgrown with brush. Amazingly, the battery still had ample power in it to energize the fence. I'll probably drag it to the house and put my 110v charger to it, to help it get back up to par. The fence-charger is a Parmak 12UO 12-volt charger, rated at 3.1 joules for 30 miles...I've got a little under 1400 feet of wire I'm energizing.

Anyhow, I'm off to mark some rows, lay down a little fertilizer, and till the fertilizer in. Four rows @ 60-feet each. Then to stretch the drip-irrigation tape out...I'll have to run the irrigation for 3 hours and 6 minutes to put 399 gallons of water down or 1" of water on the rows each week. Yeah, I'm "OCD-Me" in the garden, too.