Today's ant of the day is Solenopsis molesta, the thief ant.
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Nothing is ominous in the same way as being in a garden in the middle of summer and not hearing or seeing a single insect. I was once at a restaurant next to a golf course in CT and looked all around on their patio, in their (boring basic) flower beds. I couldn't even find a springtail or mite.
Sort of killed my appetite.
What did they do to kill EVERYTHING like that? It was a mild day in June! It had rained recently...
And to anyone who thought "well but you don't understand I really don't like bugs" please think a little about what will happen as the poison wears off. It can't last forever. You blasted away every arthropod on your property and for a week maybe two you will see nothing, but by then the levels are low enough that the most hardy, most invasive, most persistent and fast multiplying bugs can move in. They get first dibs.
So you have to do it again.
And again.
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And to anyone who thought "well but you don't understand I really don't like bugs" please think a little about what will happen as the poison wears off. It can't last forever. You blasted away every arthropod on your property and for a week maybe two you will see nothing, but by then the levels are low enough that the most hardy, most invasive, most persistent and fast multiplying bugs can move in. They get first dibs.
So you have to do it again.
And again.
@futurebird @whknott and the "pest control" company will sign you up for regular spraying!
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@futurebird @whknott and the "pest control" company will sign you up for regular spraying!
Over the years you'll need to increase the frequency, and keep switching to more exotic and strange applications as eventually a few of the most hardy pest insects will manage to survive having some ability to tolerate the poisons. They have many lives to spend on this project. They will adapt. You and I have but ONE.
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Over the years you'll need to increase the frequency, and keep switching to more exotic and strange applications as eventually a few of the most hardy pest insects will manage to survive having some ability to tolerate the poisons. They have many lives to spend on this project. They will adapt. You and I have but ONE.
@futurebird This. I tell my son, when he wants to put poison on fruit flies, "You know they use fruit flies to test evolution, right?"
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@futurebird This. I tell my son, when he wants to put poison on fruit flies, "You know they use fruit flies to test evolution, right?"
There are some golf courses that have been doing general spraying for decades and decades. I wonder what sort of creatures they have cultivated with this project? Might be "fun" to study.
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Over the years you'll need to increase the frequency, and keep switching to more exotic and strange applications as eventually a few of the most hardy pest insects will manage to survive having some ability to tolerate the poisons. They have many lives to spend on this project. They will adapt. You and I have but ONE.
@whknott yep. That's why lice are so permethrin resistant nowadays and many fleas are immune to fipronil.
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@whknott yep. That's why lice are so permethrin resistant nowadays and many fleas are immune to fipronil.
@neckspike @futurebird Bedbugs. I lived in a house with bedbugs once.
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@neckspike @futurebird Bedbugs. I lived in a house with bedbugs once.
If you live in a dry place a steam cleaner is a good solution. And there is a reason beds are designed with posts and should be placed *not* touching walls, a lot of the problems in NYC about five years back were due to using beds with "new" designs. You can put a little dish of oil under each leg of a bed with four posts, steam it on a dry day and the problem is solved.
Though, I think most people figured it out.
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@neckspike @futurebird Bedbugs. I lived in a house with bedbugs once.
I'm the person everyone calls when they have a problem with an arthropod. I think my friends assume I know them all personally.
But I'm happy to help if I can keep them from spraying.
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I'm the person everyone calls when they have a problem with an arthropod. I think my friends assume I know them all personally.
But I'm happy to help if I can keep them from spraying.
@futurebird Wait, you mean you're NOT on speaking terms with at least 17 species of ants??? I just assumed you were the diplomat of all the ants. It IS in your name after all.
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@futurebird Wait, you mean you're NOT on speaking terms with at least 17 species of ants??? I just assumed you were the diplomat of all the ants. It IS in your name after all.
I sometime imagine an alternate life where I would run a "persuasive pest control service"
Walking in wearing those white overalls and a little white hat saying "Listen Sarah, you can't keep nesting in the rafters like this. I know you THINK you only have exits to the garden and the people don't know you're up there, but you have 40 thousand daughters now and they can hear you *buzzing.* Can we at least please discuss the tree hollow option?"
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Over the years you'll need to increase the frequency, and keep switching to more exotic and strange applications as eventually a few of the most hardy pest insects will manage to survive having some ability to tolerate the poisons. They have many lives to spend on this project. They will adapt. You and I have but ONE.
@futurebird @neckspike @whknott one person in my parents' neighbourhood used to cut up the entire lawn, roll it into sod, and put down new sod on top of sheep manure. every spring.
the whole area is on limestone bedrock, so dandelions are always a bumper crop. but this is the kind of place where people fight dandelion growth so their crappy grass doesn't get crowded out.
