| Imagine! One quadrillion tiny (and some not so tiny!) | | | | little more than a very small processing unit that |
| insects--foraging...rampaging...looking for virtually | | | | converts plant juices (sap) into a sweet nectar-like |
| anything that might be eaten or, in some cases, | | | | solution that it stores in its bulging little body. Ants have |
| conquered. Striding purposely along in endless lines, | | | | learned that by stroking an aphid's abdomen, they are |
| ants wend their way across our yards, up the walls, | | | | rewarded with a droplet of "honey-dew" from tiny |
| through almost invisible cracks and crevices...pouring | | | | tube-like projections on its posterior.Remarkably, with |
| out of what seems an impossible nowhere...into our | | | | the arrival of the frosts of fall, ants will actually carry |
| kitchens and pantries.First come just a few. Scouts | | | | some of their aphid-partners into their subterranean |
| who return to the nest with good news of dirty dishes, | | | | homes where they are kept alive over winter, later to |
| crumbs behind the stove, garbage cans filled to | | | | be returned to the upper parts of plants the following |
| overflowing and cat munchies spilled down a floor | | | | spring.A number of larger insects, birds, small snakes |
| register. A force rivaling the invading hordes of | | | | and mammals prey upon ants so they only rarely |
| Genghis Kahn immediately mobilizes and | | | | become a serious problem in the outdoors. |
| marches--bent on stocking their collective larder | | | | Occasionally, however, a nest turns up in the wrong |
| against the promise of another long winter.Ants! It | | | | place and must be dealt with. Resist the natural urge |
| seems that all quadrillion of them on Earth at any one | | | | to become hysterical. Ants can very easily be |
| time routinely turn up in our gardens and | | | | encouraged to move to a different spot. Remember |
| kitchens...overnight...without warning. And are they | | | | that they're where they are because conditions are |
| tough! In some cases, they can even be beneficial. | | | | favorable and food plentiful. If you make their living |
| Always a fascinating social structure. Second only to | | | | conditions unpleasant, more often than not they'll pack |
| cockroaches in tenacity, and rivaling the wily coyote in | | | | up their eggs and pupae and march off to find a new |
| cunning, ants have adapted quite nicely to the human | | | | home.Water--lots of it--is the answer. Just follow the |
| lifestyle and are the most social insect on our | | | | trail of workers to the nest opening and then pour in |
| planet.Yet, while they may be a nuisance in the home, | | | | plenty of water to which a little dishwashing liquid has |
| even these pestiferous rascals can often be beneficial | | | | been added. Should that fail, a brew of blenderized |
| in the garden. Most species--and there are probably | | | | tansy (a perennial herb with a pungent odor) in water |
| 14,000 in all--are omnivorous...they eat virtually anything | | | | should do the trick. They can't stand the smell of the |
| organic. That includes practically any other insect | | | | stuff! Be watchful though. They may move in the |
| (except aphids--more about their relationship with | | | | wrong direction and end up in Junior's sand box, or |
| aphids later) including cutworms, grubs, fleas, bedbugs, | | | | worse: the basement. I prefer to avoid the use of toxic |
| and flies. They'll even attack and drag away moths, | | | | chemistry in the control or management of ants.Finally, |
| mosquitoes and black flies. Additionally, they recycle | | | | ants can become most interesting pets, living upwards |
| decaying animal and vegetable material, and certain | | | | of six years for workers and as long as 12 years for |
| types aerate the soil with their deep networks of | | | | the queen. Many a youngster has spent long and |
| tunnels.Stories abound relating the horrors of people | | | | profitable hours observing the social behavior of these |
| being attacked and all but devoured by swarms of | | | | fascinating little creatures. Perhaps the simplest and |
| marauding ants. True, a few species can inflict a nasty | | | | least expensive formicarium is a jar of soil placed in a |
| and painful sting (injecting a type of formaldehyde). | | | | shallow tray of water or covered with fine gauze. |
| Quite a few others will respond to threat upon their | | | | Start with a queen (they're the larger ones with wings) |
| lives or security by clamping down on the nearest | | | | and she'll produce her own ladies-in-waiting and |
| patch of flesh with powerful, needle-sharp jaws. But, | | | | workers. Feed with small scraps of meat, fruit or sugar |
| while a serious threat outdoors, that type rarely finds | | | | and supply moisture by wetting a small sponge with |
| its way into the home and, if left alone in the garden, | | | | water. Just be careful not to overdo the food and |
| would quickly flee from an occasional encounter with a | | | | water...the little fellows can only eat and drink so much.It |
| 160+ pound gardener wielding a hoe or trowel.Ants do, | | | | all sounds suspiciously Hitchcockian doesn't it!Fred |
| however, have a more "devilish" side. They will protect | | | | Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, |
| and nurture certain types of aphids. An aphid is actually | | | | lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. |