Dear Henry, When I was in the dry-subtropics in Hawai'i , I had ants in the banana trees. I put some dried mint in there and within a couple of days, they disappeared. Hope this helps, Michael
----- Original Message ----- From: "Henry Karczynski" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 6:53 PM Subject: Re:ants in the vanilla > > Dear list serve, > > I am having problems with ants eating the pre-florescence vanilla buds > on my farm in Costa Rica. This problem reduces the amount of flowers > that can be hand pollinated. I have identified at least six different > ant types (there are more) which colonize the plants through pruning > cuts on the host trees. Interestingly this phenomenon is occuring only > in certain lots of the farms. The ants that are urinating or eating the > tender buds are in all the lots but only cause extensive damage to the > buds in three of the lots, which are geographically separated and also > have natural barriers. > I have been applying foliar water, diamataceous earth with capsicum (hot > pepper) and garlic but with minimum results. My next response will be to > "bug juice" dead ants in the lots that are problematic. I am opposed > to "pepper ants" as they are such an integral part of the rainforest > ecology. > Has anyone had any luck controlling ants on the list? > > Hank > Costa Rica > > > >
