Aurea Koi Bamboo & Ants
Question from Brigitte:
Got a Koi Bamboo, the ants are farming the aphids (black) and living in the soil. How can I get rid of the ants without killing them, and try and take care of the pest? Live in a mostly wooden apartment building that has termites, and believe the ants are using their freeway system. Don’t know if that has any bearing on the situation.
Also the birds avoid the bamboo, whereas they frolic in all the other plants/pots. Do you know why ?
You helped me once many years ago, and I would love to be the recipient of your wisdom again. Hope you are well !
Re: getting rid of the ants: Purchase a bag of dry worm castings. Place a layer of dry worm castings an inch or two thick on top of the soil in the container. This will rapidly cause ants to either exit in a hurry or die. Feed and water the plant as usual.
Re: aphids: Either wash them off with soap and water or purchase a container of lady bugs, chill them in the refrigerator to lower their metabolism so they don’t rapidly fly away. Meanwhile spray foliage with water in a hand-held sprayer so it will be damp and release lady bugs at dusk low onto the plants so they can walk up the plants while laying their eggs and eating the aphids. Pests will soon be gone.
Re: Birds and bamboo: Bamboo is giant grass. Since the leaves of bamboo hang downwards and resemble grass, there is nothing for a bird to perch on. Also, despite your experience, usually no pests bother bamboo. Fertilizing your plants will help them to fight off pests. Healthy plants have fewer pest problems. Sick plants growing in low light are the one’s that fall prey to pest problems.
Re: Ants and termites: Actually ants eat the eggs of termites and sometimes even destroy the termites themselves. This is beneficial, but once having done so, ants may then use any small highway they discover. In most cases, however, termites ten to clog their passages with frass which may make them impassable by ants.
Thank you for telling me I helped you once before! Yes I am very well, thank you, and have many reasons to be happy despite the fact that the heat we are having is currently a challenge.
Thank you so much for your detailed and fast response.
Had I known the birds do not go to the bamboo I would not brought it home. Was looking for something to grow fast , the sun beats down on the glass doors in my little place, and in this heat makes it unbearable.
Yesterday one bird sat on a branch that was growing sideways, I got so exited; the Koi looks soooo much better with a bird in/on it.
If I may be so impertinent and ask you something else. For some years I’ve been fighting mealy bugs. Used a pesticide which I hate doing. Mealy bugs seem to be gone than some time later re-appear.
My question – do they hang out somewhere, lay eggs in the soil?
I am ready to throw out the lavender, geranium and silver dychondra, pot and all. Have a small balcony, 4′ x 8′ , don’t know if there is enough food for a batch of lady bugs.
Thrilled to hear you are well and happy. Believe by now we are both – old “er” – girls, and more than ever enjoying things that are real and have meaning.
I live in Pacific Beach and it’s been overcast for the last 2 days, hope you have been equally lucky.
Thank you for sharing the immense knowledge you have stored in that fabulous brain, and all the life-forms that have benefitted from it.
RE: Mealy bugs: I’m sorry to have to tell you mealy bugs are a difficult pest to get rid of. To give you an example, a plant called Jerusalum sage (Phlomis fruticosa) was very popular in the 1930’s and 1940’s, but then in the 1950’s it got mealy bugs, I mean ALL of them got mealy bugs. What happened eventually is that all the growers stopped growing it and all the gardeners threw out their plants. In the late 1980’s or 1990’s growers brought Jerusalem sage back again since it is drought-resistant and perennial. So far it has continued in the nursery trade, but never again become as popular as it once was. Maybe many long-time gardeners like me vowed never to grow it again. In my case I never ever grew it since in the 1950’s I knew it had this problem. My philosophy is to only grow the easy things that have no pest problems.
The point is that some plants are subject to certain pests. This is why in my garden I adhere to certain rules. If a plant fails to grow well and gets sick or falls prey to pests in the places where I want them to grow and with the good care I give them, then in my mind that plant is a trouble-maker. I yank it out, “give it a decent burial”, and replace it with something better.
However, if you want to try to save a plant and not throw it out, as I would. Then, if the plant is a house plant, take a Q-Tip and dip it in alcohol and clean off the mealy bugs with that. Insecticidal soap can clean them up also. However, when mealy bugs are bad they are established in the soil as well and and in the roots and then it’s impossible to get rid of them without using a systemic insecticide like the one’s manufactured by Bayer, which I don’t believe in using. The truth, however, is that systemics won’t hurt indoors, unless they harm your health in some way, becaise they won’t be able to kill any beneficial insects indoors. But never, ever use systemics outdoors since they kill bees.
If a plant is outdoors and gets mealy bugs, then spraying with light summer oil under and over all the leaves and on the trunk down to soil level may get rid of mealy bugs and scale. However, this treatment never worked to get rid of mealy bugs on Jerusalem sage. You would need to use some kind of soil drench to get rid of the mealy bugs in the ground. Of course worm castings would do it, but if it’s an indoor plant one would not want to use worm castings. Lady bugs are some help outdoors but there is also a mealy bug killer that looks a bit like a lady bug without the spots.
This won’t work for houseplants since to work it needs to settle down and permanently live in a garden. On another subject, I once released a beneficial insect in my garden to control giant white fly. It was a tiny black beetle with a shiny coat and similar in shape to a miniature ladybug. Every once in a while I am working in the garden and one will settle on my arm, so I know they are still living here and keeping certain pests under control.
Re: My age, I’m not afraid to say I’m 86 and still out there, driving on the freeways, writing books, giving garden talks, traveling whenever I can do so, and painting in oils and watercolors one day a week and when I travel. I’m actually proud of my age and think it’s silly to say one is forever young. Yes, we can think young and act young but we cannot make our body be young again.
I do think age deserves some respect and it usually is combined with wisdom. Ancient societies respected this. Why do so many folks there days think “old” is a dirty word? My brother who is 89 says that is putting down the elderly. I like the idea of being old, but also I try to be a member of the “wellderly” and I hope that’s what I am. I also think as we grow older we have to find ways to be healthy, get enough exercise, eat healthy and do things that we can still do that make us happy. It is a readjustment that folks who are lucky enough to live a long time have to figure out as they go along. Without developing a philosophy of how to grow old, one can fall prey to depression as many old folks do. I want to live my life as my dad did and if eventually I cannot do anything else, I would like to spend all my free time painting. I am also very lucky, however, to have a large and wonderful family of interested and talented people, as well as many friends.
WELL SAID, I AM 90 AND STILL GOING STRONG…………..Seize the day