Ants and Termites in Your Garden Soil

[ReadmeByAmy]

In some instances have you ever noticed that there are ants and termites in your garden soil? I remembered before when I was still in our house in my home country there is one instance when we noticed there are ants and termites spreading around our garden soil. What my mother did is he told our gardener who is maintaining our garden to sprinkled rock salts instead of a chemical that is use for pest control. And to think it is very effective because the next day we noticed the ants and termites already disappeared in the soil.

How about you what are using to control this kind of pests if you have any in your garden soil?

 

[Chuck]

I go to my utmost to keep salt out of my garden. Termites only eat dead material and ants are easily controlled by using a spinosad drench. Termites are too if you feel you must get rid of them

 

[Mamasan]

I go to my utmost to keep salt out of my garden. Termites only eat dead material and ants are easily controlled by using a spinosad drench. Termites are too if you feel you must get rid of them

Chuck, can you teach us a little more? What is a "spinosad drench"?

 

[Chuck]

Chuck, can you teach us a little more? What is a "spinosad drench"?

Spinosad is the active ingredient in many organic pesticides. It is made from a specific soil bacteria. Totally harmless to pets and people. It is non-selective and will kill any insect and caterpillar that ingests it. It also kills by contact. For instance if you have those little green caterpillars eating up you spinach it will kill them and if you have beetles eating up your radishes it will kill them too. It will kill ants when they come in contact with it. So, if you mix 2 oz of spinosad into a gallon of water and drench the soil with it where the ants are it will kill them, not immediately but within a day or to. It will kill the termites too. It does not harm earthworms

 

[Pat]

Chuck is there a brand that we can look for in the store?

 

[Chuck]

Chuck is there a brand that we can look for in the store?

I guess the 2 biggest brands are Monterey and GreenLight but spinosad has become the mainstay in the pesticide market in the last couple of years because it works and is safe. Many brands are available that have it as it's active ingredient

 

[Mamasan]

Spinosad is the active ingredient in many organic pesticides. It is made from a specific soil bacteria. Totally harmless to pets and people. It is non-selective and will kill any insect and caterpillar that ingests it. It also kills by contact. For instance if you have those little green caterpillars eating up you spinach it will kill them and if you have beetles eating up your radishes it will kill them too. It will kill ants when they come in contact with it. So, if you mix 2 oz of spinosad into a gallon of water and drench the soil with it where the ants are it will kill them, not immediately but within a day or to. It will kill the termites too. It does not harm earthworms

Thanks for this...I fear throwing my garden soil biome off kilter. It is good to know that the earthworms are protected.

 

[Corzhens]

Our village is a haven of termites. We see them almost everywhere, those small tunnel-like bulges in trees that are made of soil, those are hives of termites. When planting on a new area, our habit is to dig 6 inches below so we can clean the soil. And if we find a trace of termite, insecticide will be applied. That is the reason for our stock of insecticide, to control the onslaught of termites that sometimes infect not only our garden but also our house.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

Spinosad is the active ingredient in many organic pesticides. It is made from a specific soil bacteria. Totally harmless to pets and people. It is non-selective and will kill any insect and caterpillar that ingests it. It also kills by contact. For instance if you have those little green caterpillars eating up you spinach it will kill them and if you have beetles eating up your radishes it will kill them too. It will kill ants when they come in contact with it. So, if you mix 2 oz of spinosad into a gallon of water and drench the soil with it where the ants are it will kill them, not immediately but within a day or to. It will kill the termites too. It does not harm earthworms

Well I had learned something new from you post!

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

Our village is a haven of termites. We see them almost everywhere, those small tunnel-like bulges in trees that are made of soil, those are hives of termites. When planting on a new area, our habit is to dig 6 inches below so we can clean the soil. And if we find a trace of termite, insecticide will be applied. That is the reason for our stock of insecticide, to control the onslaught of termites that sometimes infect not only our garden but also our house.

Yes you are absolutely right! That is the reason why before building a house they clean the soil first if there are termites and they try to kill the mother termites who are laying thousand of eggs that will become termites in the long run.

 

[Corzhens]

Yes you are absolutely right! That is the reason why before building a house they clean the soil first if there are termites and they try to kill the mother termites who are laying thousand of eggs that will become termites in the long run.

We bought this house of ours when it was 20 years old already so we do not know if there are termintes inside. There are so many instances that we found contamination including one in the upper bathroom. The real problem is the termites that are around us, almost everywhere in the neighborhood are termite hives. The pest control man said we need to eradicate absolutely all the hives otherwise they will just come back.

 

[sixxup]

I usually sprinkle hot boiling water and sometimes ash. If they again reappear then I can dig out and burn the place using kerosene. I also don't like using chemicals because most chemicals can affect the soil. It is also advisable to destroy ant hills immediately they start forming.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

I usually sprinkle hot boiling water and sometimes ash. If they again reappear then I can dig out and burn the place using kerosene. I also don't like using chemicals because most chemicals can affect the soil. It is also advisable to destroy ant hills immediately they start forming.

Maybe this is also a nice way to get rid of these pests away and to think that sprinkling hot boiling water and ash are all natural ways and is safe to use. Like you my mother is against using any kind of chemicals in our garden that is why she is always using rock salts like what I had in my thread.