PLEASE don't use dish soap or any other detergents (including Ivory) on your plants - EVER. Dishsoap/ detergent’s effect on plants varies with the mode of exposure. If the top of the plant is treated thoroughly with even mild detergent solutions such that all surfaces including leaves are covered, the detergent can easily dissolve the protective coating of cuticular wax on the leaves of the plant, causing abnormally high rates of water loss and possible necrosis of all or part of the leaf. Cuticular waxes prevent leaves from drying out, and help stop pathogens from attacking the leaf. Strong solutions will even dissolve cell membranes, causing death of the cells. If a detergent solution is used as a soil drench or makes its way into the soil as a consequence of overspray or run-off, the effect on roots is immediate. Because one of the main function of roots is to absorb water and nutrients dissolved in water, they lack the waxy protective coating that leaves employ. Detergent solution in contact with root cells can quickly dissolve the lipid membrane surrounding cells, killing the cells and inhibiting water/ nutrient uptake. Hair cells growing as appendages off larger roots do the lion’s share of assimilating water and nutrients, and these very delicate cells would be the first casualty of any detergent in the root zone. There are widely available insecticidal soaps, designed to be used topically and made from potassium fatty acids, that are specifically formulated to be safe for mammals & birds, death on most insects they contact, and safe for plants. If you need something soapy, it would be much better if you selected a product intended for use on plants than one intended for other purposes. Al

I am actually an entomologist (urban) and would like to share what I know. First, ant workers do not eat solid foods directly. Instead, they bring them back to the nest and feed them to the larvae which in turn digest the solids and turn them into a Liquidy substance the adults can them eat. All solids are handled this way. So the notion that they are feeding upon the grits and exploding just is not possible. What may be occurring is it is causing the larvae to pop breaking the life cycle and collapsing the colony. With monogynous species of ant (only one queen) this could have a devastating effect. Polygynous species like odorous house ants have so many queens this may not have an effect (ie odorous house ants). Ants in the genus Formica (field or mound ants) often go overlooked in yards as they do not often invade homes. But their "cow herding" of aphids is a concern. They will actually protect them from natural predation so they can collect the honeydew they exude. I will look at the entomological society of americas research paper portal to see if any papers exist regarding the use of grits as a control measure. I would recommend using abamectin b1 based baits for ants as they are organic approved by most agencies (they are derived from organisms in the soil). Also. Numerous boric acid based granular baits will work as well (technically an inorganic as it does not contain carbon but it is approved on the USDA 25b organic pesticides list). In severe cases a non organic alternative might be products like Duponts advion (since sold to syngenta) which utilizes indoxacarb a bio active metabolite which was given reduced risk status by the EPA. A fire ant version also exists. As with all pesticides, ALWAYS follow label directions when they are used. Hope this sheds some light!

I don't think these are earthworms at all. They are root maggots and you have to kill them immediately. They kill plants really quick and "Throw Away the infested plant and soil if it's in a pot!" I am attacking them with Diatomaceous Earth. They have already devoured two of my plants roots. Completely killed them. It's been really humid, and wet where I lived and I've noticed more flies around. This is how my plants were infected. Overwatering is the problem....Because I'm reseeding grass and have to constantly water it, my garden gets wet. I have a watering gauge and I won't have to water my plants for awhile. I hate these bugs; they've killed some really beautiful plants. I googled "root eating bugs" and got a lot of information. I hope all goes well for me and anyone else who is trying to get rid of these pest.

Carolyn, wanted to mention that mancozeb is not organic. If it was I would go and buy a gallon and all my problems would be solved.:) You can buy mancozeb mixed with copper but not considered organic either. farkee I guess you mean not considered organic as far as organic certifying agencies are concerned. It's true that Mancozeb is Maneb plus zinc and it's true that Mancozeb can be purchased with added copper, and it's also true that "most" organic agencies wouldn't consider Mancozeb to be "organic" in that sense, so I perhaps I really should limit myself to just saying a prep with just copper, like Kocide, or suggest a sulfur prep, to be clearer, as an alternative to Daconil. I do garden organically at home here and at one other place but have only used Kocide, to date, and only at the other place since I've had no folaige diseases here at home. Carolyn, who still will suggest copper or sulfur containing preps for fungal and bacterial foliage diseases over compost teas, cornmeal teas, milk, and Neem and b'c the feedback I'm reading overall, from many websites over a many year period of time, says that they don't work for that many folks. OK to try, for sure, but I'd rather go with what has been shown to work for the majority, not the minority of folks.