Well at the time when we got the first lot bad in the Express and Star our nightly paper, they stated they'd flown in from abroad and that was in the 90's but you never get the proper truth really with the press, it could be what you said. Well I feel for your brother at the time, as I can't stand them they cling to you, try and get in the home and as soon as they appear all my windows get shut but you made me laugh just well into middle age with a pot belly & bald head
I lived in Florida with fire ants and in New England with huge black ants that invaded my house and micro red ants under my front walk that caused $$ damage Ants have a hard ecto shell they prune constantly so Pest control ONLY treats the perimeters and that doesn't eliminate the chemical trails 20 mule team Borax laundry booster has silica a natural abrasive mix 50/50 with powdered sugar wait for 3 dry days pour a 1/2" trail on the ground around your house and around any ant hills walk away sprinkle baking soda and spray vinegar to wash off every concrete, stone,wood,counter areas ants travel I have not seen ants in 10 years FYI your neighbor's may think you're practicing witchcraft lol
As a preventative and fertilizer I put cornmeal out like a non burning slow release fertilizer which is to say a little heavier 1\2 open setting on my spreader. All that is necessary is to get the whisps of trichoderma started and then feed them lightly over time so that they stay around. Moisture is important, and here we have too much so it is a far easier thing to maintain But having that moisture is what causes trouble for me and why I arrived at using tricho in the first place.
Oh ! Grub worms,, great fish bait ! We have a lot of them here and I believe they are June Bug larvae ! I have never known them to damage anything that I have found either in the garden or the yard ! Just drop them in a coffee can with some damp soil and give them to a fisherman ! Of course I can never find them when I want to go fishing !
Once, a couple of decades ago when I was sure there was one answer for a problem, I used a blanket insecticide because of red fire ants in the yard. Later that same year, I was able to roll my grass up like a roll of carpet, since the fire ants were not killing grubs, and the grubs clipped all the grass roots.
Thanks everyone. There were so many in my med sized pot ( I found tiny little ones too) that I decided to throw out the soil. ?? I do like the idea of using Bt, and also putting a bird feeder in my patio- there are lots of slugs around my garden. Will have to see if my dog would scare off the birds though.
Odif, our cut worms are grey/brown and have feet the whole way down their body as they are a moth instar rather than a beetle. these "worms" are grubs. they have 6 sets of "legs" at the front end of their body and a huge "abdomen". cutworms curl up on a "C" underground and come out at night. the junebug or japanese beetle don't emerge at all unless dug up in their larval stage. they emerge in June and July around here. I have japanese beetles covering everything this year. I haven't seen this many beetles in years. probably all due to the rain we have had this year.
I put out spectracide japanese beetle pheromone traps and WOW. I knew I had a lot of japanese beetle on my okra but the little bags that hold the deceased bugs have filled at a steady and pleasing pace showing me I had far more around here than I knew. I understand milky spore is effective on the grub, but has to be applied in quantities and frequencies that ensure a direct contact via the grub eating the spore or its not as effective as some chemicals might be. However, once established the milky spore will help as a defense against new arrivals.
I know I started this thread some time ago, but we have SO MANY of the figeater beetles in southern California this year! It's crazy! I would have loved their metallic green look if I didn't know that their larvae destroyed my plants earlier in the summer. I will be applying Bt every week to the plants and the soil, to make sure they don't come back. (I also have a lot of caterpillars that destroy my plants if not controlled).
