Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Mealie Diversions, 0 by plantladylin

plantladylin wrote:
Dominic, sounds like a good plan using the Strep as a divergence for the mealies, but I have a feeling once the mealies get tired of the Strep they will move on to other plants ... so be on the lookout.

Carol, for the aphid problem I'm having on my large carnosa's I've used insecticidal soap for days and every day find a new batch of aphids. I don't find ants anywhere near the plants which are on the pool deck but they could very well be in the soil. We have had a horrible problem with ants in the yard this summer ... many, many ant hills everywhere ... can't seem to control them. My husband put out some granules around the yard last weekend on a bunch of different ant mounds and they just seem to up and move to another location. I don't like chemicals because I feed the birds and am so concerned they might eat the granules and it will harm them but, he finally decided enough was enough so I took the bird feeders down for awhile.

The ants are probably coming up from under the slightly raised wood deck that attaches at one end of the cement pool deck, there's nothing but sand under the wood deck. I think I will buy some sevin and pour it through the cracks on the wood deck to see if it will take care of any nests that may be under there. I'm surprised the little lizards aren't keeping the ants in check this year but it seems like there are a few different kinds of ants and the lizards don't even look twice at some of them.

Yesterday afternoon I poured a couple of gallons of BATS water through the soil of both of these large pots that have a combination of Rubra and Tricolor combined, and this morning I found aphids on one of them again! It's just going to be an uphill battle for awhile but I guess I shouldn't complain as they aren't covered with them, just a few new leaves here and there. I am determined that I WILL win the battle!

... guess I will go finish mowing the lawn before it gets any hotter! 90º right now and humid!