There are some sneaky, tricky little quiet things out there. They are everywhere. They do not make any noise. You never know when they will just be right in the yard where you just walked and didn't see them. You never know if there will be just one or a hundred. Then, suddenly they are everywhere.
There is a product sold at the local feed store. I call it food. It is for the big ones and it looks like rabbit pellets.
I put my hand inside a baggie and push the pellets down into the hole. If they are on top of things, which they generally are, they will begin pushing the pellets right back out. It then becomes a type of war between us.
A manufactured powder is helpful, it is meant to be spread around plants you do not want devoured. But I spread it around the holes, and then they will not come out. They just move a little farther out into the yard. I feel that if I can just keep pushing them back to new old Jesus' little casa, I will be successful.
Senor says.......don't you know, all of Mexico is probably built on top of one big connected underground tunnel .....there are little condos here in Sonora and when they want, they travel cross country to visit friends and so on and so on.
This is just not a good vision to me.........the thought of Mexico collapsing into a big hole. So, I keep fighting the quiet little things and trying to push them at least, out of our yard and into the next. When they come back, I start all over again. Who knows, if they get tired of my endless activity against them, maybe they will go and visit their cousins in Arizona.
So, Wednesday night Senor told me to come and look at something. He said I would probably like it very much and should bring my camera. It was a very quiet evening and the moon had just come up over the hill. There were no tuba notes drifting through the streets, no accordians playing in the wind and no bongo drums in the distance, no cars , horses or skateboards going up or down the street, just some very, very quiet hardworking creatures..................................
4 comments:
argh! leafcutters! call out the cavalry. yes, they are incredibly organized and interesting and they will strip your entire garden in a night or two. Trompa, they like Trompa. It's their last meal.
Not everyone is able to enjoy a last meal - we wish them a speedy journey. ;-)
Happy New Year to you and Señor!
Yep, they'll clean you out in no time! You should see them out at the cemetery after a funeral... They can carry away ALL of the flowers placed on a new grave over night! Hope to see/meet you soon.. We'll be coming down about the 15th or so... Emily and Bill Preece
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Trompa is the brand name of pellets that are made just for leafcutter ants. Put them in their path at night and they will concentrate on carrying them home instead of your plants. Eventually, that nest will be gone but there will be others. I bought my Trompa at Home Depot but they also carry it in most agricultural or hardware stores that have fertilizer etc. I'm afraid that if you don't go after the nest, it will just get larger. I've seen nests that took up a quarter acre in Belize. With a continuous food supply and no interference, the queen will just keep making babies.
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