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Re: Ant Question

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Peg,

I first purchased them from a shop here in Austin called Gardenville.
They're very vocally supportive of non-invasive gardening, landscaping, and
pest control.  They're stored in a refrigerator until use.  You usually buy
two treatments, to be applied 10 days or so apart.  You mix them with water
in your hose-end sprayer, and spray them on your lawn or garden in the
evening after a rain, or after you've soaked the area well.   My biggest
problem was finding a few evenings here in Austin where the temperatures
weren't 90 degrees at sunset.   The next time I bought them, I tried finding
a place closer to home.  It was this spring when I wanted to make sure they
were still there, before the fleas & fireants appeared.   I checked a garden
store, who recommended a nearby PET STORE, of all places.   Sure enough,
they had them, and the clerk asked me what they were.   I'll never forget
this conversation:

Clerk:  What are those things, anyway?
Me:    Nematodes.  Little microscopic worm doodads that munch on your flea
larvae and fire ant larvae.  They're great because they leave the good bugs
alone.
Clerk:  Good bugs???  I just poison 'em all.   There's no such thing as a
good bug.
Me:  Sure there are.  You know, bugs that eat the bad bugs.  Like ladybugs
and praying mantisses.
Clerk:  Ugh.  Mantisses.  I hate those.   My dogs eat them and get sick.
Me:   Um... maybe if they weren't full of POISON your dogs wouldn't get
sick...
Clerk:  (Gives me the "Environmental Whacko" look and starts thinking about
napalming her yard because her dogs are allergic to the grass...)

Tom
(in Austin, where somebody might know what zone it is)



>Where do you get things like beneficial nematodes?
>
>Peg
>From nematode philanthropists. Margaret L


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