Re: Help

From: RSbra123@aol.com
Date: Thu May 01 1997 - 23:02:45 PDT


Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 02:02:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: RSbra123@aol.com
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1753$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Help


>Hi All

>I have major infestations of ant nests in my Nep pots. Can anybody
>recommend a spray I can drench with to deal to the little sods. It is
>aboslutely horrible, I can pick up a pot and find a 1cm high pile of ant
>eggs underneath. No, I cant feed them to the Neps cause they are all so
>overfed they have stopped making pitchers?

>Toodles
>Heather

You could try drowning them by submerging the pot. While neps don't like
their roots sitting in water, a half hour or so shouldn't hurt. I've done it
before to revive one of mine that was underwatered.

Many will escape but after a few treatments they should get the idea and nest
somewhere else.

Then they'll probably come back. I have some persistant ones that want to
nest in a drosera pot, and others, including a nep once.

For the droseras and others, I have the pots and their saucers sitting in
larger saucers. I put tap water in the larger saucers for a barrier.

The nep that had them was in a hanging basket. Above the container's hook I
put a barrier similar to those on hummingbird feeders. It was a plastic
bottle cap approx. 3/4" in diameter. I drilled a hole in it the size of a
thick, stiff wire that I threaded through it, then shaped the wire into an S
hook with the cap in the center. I glued the wire to the cap to prevent
leakage and put some vegetable oil in the cap. Water will work but oil lasts
a long time.

If your neps aren't hanging you could possibly put them each on some sort of
island sitting in a saucer of water (such that the pot isn't sitting in
water).

Ron Sbragia



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:02 PST