Welp, another plant bit the dust.
This time we know who dunnit. Or more accurately, what dunnit.
Our bird of paradise plant was doing great; then in a 24-hour period, it went from thriving to literally not a single leaf left on it. It was easy to identify the the murderers, because there were hundreds of ants still munching away. We have a huge-ass ant hill in our back yard. It’s been there since before we bought the place. We’ve tried everything under the sun to get rid of them but they just keep coming back. We had them in the house our first summer here, but so far this year they’re staying outdoors. And as it turned out, bird-of-paradise is their crack.
G is on them constantly. (The ants, not our pitiful attempts at landscaping.)
Because of our young plants, the birds, the pollinators, and the rabbits in our back yard, we’re trying to avoid the use of insecticides, or really anything toxic. (We’re pretty sure the long-term use of Roundup is the reason nothing will grow in our front yard now.) G found a recommendation to pour boiling water into the anthill, and he’s been doing that every few days. It sort of helps – just not for long. The ants literally dug their way up around the little plant they killed, making its roots their new door.
Ugh.
I’m looking into Plan B, C, and D, to see if we can finally get rid of the things for good. I’m buying a box of cornmeal, which theoretically will kill ants. They can’t digest it. They eat it and literally explode.
We’ll dust that corner of the yard with diatomaceous earth, and follow up with a
homemade weed killer which also kills bugs – but is drastically less toxic to non-bugs than anything else we could use. The basic recipe, for anyone interested: vinegar, Dawn dish soap, a pinch of epsom salts, and this stuff (pictured at right). While I’m not in love with using an herbicide in the back yard, at least this one doesn’t contribute to long-term sterilization of the underlying soil.
Thankfully the main ingredient is vinegar. Everything else is used in small amounts. A gallon of vinegar is less than three bucks, so it’s relatively cheap, too.
The active ingredients in the orange bottle — which apparently is what gives the weedkiller concoction an extra kick — are wintergreen oil and capsicum. Capsicum is the chemical in peppers that makes them hot. The other ingredients, aside from added colors, are Isopropyl alcohol, magnesium sulfite, and water.
It obviously isn’t the ideal after-work potent potable. There are several ingredients that would make you sick. But for nothing is unsafe to touch.
My cleaning kick is on hiatus. I worked today – normally my day off – and still have five days more to work before I get another day off. My bank account is gonna love me, if I live to see it.
I did manage to get some minor organization done. I broke down and bought a rustic wooden tray from Ross, and got rid of a lot of crap that’s been sitting on the coffee table for entirely too long. I promised G if it doesn’t fit in the tray, it’s not staying on the table. Unfortunately there’s a whole lot more to do. I do what I can, as I can, until I run out of steam. Once G gets involved, he wants to do it when he’s ready, and won’t take HELL NO for an answer. Sounds good on paper, but he insists on going full-tilt when I’m at the point of dropping, He’s been known to bring boxes to me and drop them at my feet while I’m working.
See what I mean about the HELL NO line?? I love the man to pieces, but sometimes I wonder how he lived to be older than me. I’m sure somebody besides me has felt like killing him. After that last lapse in his judgment, I warned him to something so boneheaded again would put his life in danger. I wouldn’t do any intentional violence to him, no matter how angry I get. I might, however, fall down. If he had to help me up, it wouldn’t be pretty.
The acacia seeds were delivered this week. I soaked them 24 hours, per instructions, and going to scarify the things tonight before I fall asleep. Scarify means scraping them with a nail file or similar, if you’re not familiar. After their manicure, you’re supposed to soak them in boiling water overnight.
Wait. Record Scratch. Say what?
Apparently Mother Nature dealt these things a Get Out of a Forest Fire Free card. Forest fires are known to activate these things. If it’s gonna grow in Arizona anyway, might as well get used to the heat up front, right? The instructions say to soak them in boiling water overnight to soften the husk. Go figure.
As usual, you are more ambitious than I. Good luck with the ant attack. I hope it works.
Thanks, Terri. G said we tried the cornmeal last year but he’s going to try borax and honey and/or molasses and see how it goes. I hesitate to use borax because it’s poisonous to other critters, too – but we really have to get rid of the ants.
Your ant killer is the exact same recipe I use for weed killer, except for the heat rub stuff. If you can find it, get cleaning vinegar. It is stronger than edible food vinegar but still safe in your yard. I have found it at walmart in the cleaning products aisle.
Oooh thank you! I was just putting my order together and swapped out the standard vinegar for cleaning vinegar. 🙂 I already knew about the weed killer without the orange stuff – but read an article a few days ago that said with the rub added, it’s about as effective (and fast) as Roundup, just not as toxic to the soil and ecosystem overall. BUT — it kills bugs.