I don't know. I've read from several sources that Zoysia is pretty disease-resistant. Sandy Baker writes in "The Complete Guide to Organic Lawn Care": "Zoysia is a slow-growing, thick grass and one of the only warm-weather grasses that does well in the south and also further north in some cool season and transitional areas. It requires less mowing than some of the faster-growing grasses such as St. Augustine and Bermuda and tolerates foot traffic well. It is drought tolerant and disease and insect resistant. Zoysia grass prefers growing in temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees, and it is considered the most cold tolerant of all warm-season grasses." "It prefers sun, but it is fairly shade tolearant and can grow in rocky, sandy, or poor soils with a pH between 5.8 and 7.5. [Tukey lists pH between 6.2 and 7.2.] Once the lawn is established, zoysia will need little water. It is best to wait until the blades of grass wilt slightly and then provide the lawn with 3/4 inch water. Watering in this way will help the grass become more drought tolerant and will help the plant develop a deep root system..."[End quote] [I think that kind of watering helps most grasses.] My zoysia has never had a disease problem. David Mellor writes in "The Lawn Bible" that zoysia's [quote] "thick, dense turf is drought resistant and can withstand wear well..." He also says zoysia "forms a beautiful...lawn." I can attest to that. You can tell I love my zoysia :-) Paul Tukey writes in the "Organic Lawn Care Manual": "From Florida north to Maryland, zoysia is one of the better grasses on the market, far more attractive than St. Ausgustine, carpet, or centipede grass. North of Maryland, however, the grass turns brown for about six months of the year; we're spoiled in that regard up north. When there's no snow on the ground, we expect our lawns to be green except between January and March." Tukey goes on to write: "The good news is that zoysia lawns are now possible from seed. The cultivar 'Companion' [now known as 'Compadre' because of a trademark issue] germinates readily and then spreads by rhizomes and stolons to fill in nicely, much more quickly than some early zoysia cultivars. Seeding brings the cost of a zoysia lawn more in line with Bermuda grass and makes it less expensive than a sodded or plugged St. Augustine lawn, so zoysia should become more common in the next decade." Tukey goes on to say: "It's fairly disease and insect resistant, and its growth habit helps it outcompete many weeds." By the way, "Zenith" is another name of a Zoysia variety that can be seeded. So, Zenith and Compadre if you don't want to sod. From what I've read online, Bermuda, especially the hybrid Bermuda grasses, might have more of a disease problem :-P

Boric acid kills ants not borax. Small black ants like living wood and are tough to get rid of them. I hope she has pulled up those wooden timbers because that's probably where they were/are living. Why do you not want these guys in your garden? They're aphid farmers and will carefully put their herds all over your crops. Fire ants are another big no-no to have in your garden, yard or property for that matter. Fire ants are non-native to North America. These tiny terrors kill 1 or 2 people a year generally people with allergies or the bedridden. But they will strip your garden of anything they want, including squash, tomatoes and few other "water" heavy vegetables during a drought. They will attack you if get near their mound, in a swarm attack, with the mound emptying out to go after the invader. For the person who is not allergic it's a stinging fiery bite, that raises a blister on most people. One is annoying, a few are painful but many may make you sick. Keep Benadryl around if you live in fire ant claimed land. Thanks to fire ants each year agricultural losses run somewhere around 6 billion and we all pay for it each time we shop for food, clothes and medicines. I don't like flagrant use of pesticide but there are times we have to do something to protect ourselves, our families, our homes and our gardens from from insects. I use no more then I must, ground based and carefully. As to why I know about fire ants, I became interested in learning about them after nearly dying from them as a small child.

Oh Lord, ANTS! I've written a good number of ant threads the last '4', four-years. Ants are a big problem in our area. While walking our dog, we'd see hundreds if not thousands on the walks. One problem is our neighbors have their gardens/grass sprayed w/poisons. I chose not to use chemical insecticides...but have changed my mind the last two years. Once neighbors have their lawns sprayed, every last critter finds their way to our house. Rhizo is 100% correct about Terro Ant Baits. Terro really rids ants. Baits need replacing every three months or so, but they work like a charm. I summer plants outdoors..when it's time to bring plants back in, the soil is loaded w/ants..Or were. Last spring, 2012, one plant that was about to go outside was so ant-infested, I tipped the plant over a piece of heavy cardboard, then dragged it outside. Wearing gloves! The plant was hosed and rehosed. But, to be honest, it's difficult ridding all, one-zillion disgusting ants. I filled a 24-inch pot w/o drainage holes w/water, then set the ant-infested plant inside, for days. Anway, here's what I did last autumn. Around July/Aug I placed indoor/outdoor ant baits between various sections where plants were placed. A week or two before bringing in, I watered EVERY SINGLE PLANT with vinegar. 'I don't suggest doing this, but it's up to you.' Between the baits and vinegar, I found very few ants in the house this year. 2012 was a dam* nightmare; didn't want a repeat in 2013. Repotting helps, but if repotted plants are left outside, those darn insects find a way back in the soil. The other day, while inspecting my plants, there were ants everywhere! Although I'm not afraid of ants, 'in small numbers,' when I see hundreds crawling on pots, leaves, shelves, it's like being in a horror movie. I went as far as ordering Praying Mantis eggs, assuming when larger they'd eat ants..No dice. I discovered mantis won't bother ants. They prefer larger prey. Oh, well, it was worth a try. I spray vinegar and sprinkle hot pepper powder on outdoor plants, shelves, and tables. (Vinegar is not sprayed on foliage.) Vinegar kills ants on contact and dislike the scent of hot pepper. Good luck to those of you who have ant problems. I'll have to check the link that was posted. Toni

Actually, all you need to do for a lemon tree is plant it in loose soil, water the soil lightly, and stick it in a ziplock bag. See this thread: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/trees/msg111341588777.html That lemon tree is mine. I grew from seed. All I did was (STEP BY STEP leaving out absolutely NO information) 1) I grabbed the seed from a lemonade drink made from a lemon bought from a lemonade stand, this past summer 2) put the seeds in a cup of water. All of them sank(sadly, I have no clue where they are now) 3) Placed them in a container somewhere (except for 6) 4) took that plastic cup and cut some holes in the bottom 5) put soil (which turned out to be harder than rock when watered) inside the cup 6) stuck the seed in the cup 7) watered the soil lightly 8) stuck the seed in a plastic ziplock baggy 9) put it on the counter 9) Forgot it was even there About 2 weeks later, I said "OH CRAP! AM I TOO LATE? IS IT DEAD? I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT IT!!! OH MY GOSH, PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD! PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD!!!" After panicking and looking for about 20 minutes, I finally found it buried under a lot of crap. I looked into the bag and I'm thinking, "Awwwwww!!!! It's so cute!!!" There was a little lemon tree with it's first two leaves sprouting. After I saw that, I stuck it in the windowsill where it's currently working on it's 5th leaf while finishing up it's 4th. It's the most beautiful thing ever. I would've increased the germination rate though to all six seeds instead of 1 of 6 if I had followed the directions provided online though(nick the seed coat and all that other stuff). But really, just planting the seed and forgetting about it for about 1-2 weeks seemed to work fine. I probably just got lucky though.