1>So if ants are building their mounds right at the base 1>of your seedlings, they pose no harm?? 2>Depends on the ant. Most of the time no. I have a raised 2>veggie bed with a largish ant hill in it and this is where 2>I plant peppers. They don't harm the plant at all and the 2>pepper I have growing in the ant mound does just as well 2>as the rest. That is amazing to me. My experience with ants eating plants started at an early age. I thought, gee, nothing growing here, I will plant some peas. Of course it was an ant hill (sleeping during the pea planting season evidently.) Once the peas started growing, they devoured the plants entirely. Those of you who don't see ants as a pest in need of killing must not have as many ant hills in their yard as I do. We had one that was at least 10 feet by 4 feet. That is a lot of space to abdicate to ants. And of course there are maybe 97 other ant hills in other spots. Personally I don't feel the need to let ants rule that much of my yard. Anytime they are trying to live en masse in a garden bed, they are going to get soaked with water, have their nest disturbed, and probably have soapy water sprayed on them if they won't move. They have always eaten the plants or the plant roots near them. I can't imagine what kind of ants you would have that WOULDN'T kill the plants they are by. For proof I point out the completely plantless nature of ant hills. Marcia

are you that good on ID??? ... are you sure they are carpenter ants???? the only thing ants trigger in my mind.. when i see too many on any given plant.. of any type is.. aphids.. they farm the aphids.. and milk them of honeydew .. as disgusting as thought is.. lol ... otherwise they are being advantageous regarding other pre-existing problems.. in other words.. they did not cause the dead wood ... they are harvesting it.. if in fact that is what they are doing ... otherwise.. i ignore them ... though it is rather exhilarating.. to have a bunch climbing thru the hairs on your body.. whether feet or hands.. lol ... ken

ttod, You poooor thing! I feel for you, I really DO understand! I'm going to tell you a rather long story, and really there IS a point to it.:) With any luck, maybe it will zero in on your problem or maybe it won't help you but just maybe it will help someone else who's going through this. Exactly what you describe is what was happening to me three years ago. At first I too thought chiggers. Then fleas, then mosquitoes then allergies from something I got in to. Never on my face. The first couple weeks it was only on my torso and a few on my legs, usually the outside thigh area. Going into the second month I would wake up with the little 'bites' on the outside of my arms then on my outer calf area. More and more, month after month. Doctor was baffled. Sent me to a dermatologist who sent me to some uppity-up specialist who asked me how often I bathed as in his words, it looked like it was a case of bad hygiene! Back to square one. Every day from the moment I put my feet on the floor until I crawled in bed, I checked, double-checked and then added to my spiral notebook list of things I came in contact with that day. Another doctor who didn't want me in his office because he feared I was contagious, prescribed a lotion for scabies over the phone.I used it as directed, no results but I did learn it causes cancer. Neat. A whole year and bottles and bottles of liquid Benadryl and OTC itch creams later, I was again sanitizing the family room. The fold-out couch was rather heavy so I asked my son to give me a hand moving it. As my son got behind the couch he asked "Mom, what's this????" Heck, looked like someone had sprinkled a whole container of tan baby powder on the back of the couch...the part you lean against. Long story a bit shorter...... The couch was in front of the very large window. Outside that window, with it's fronds just reaching the window screen the year before....was our Australian Fern Tree. A bit of Columbo'ing and here's what we figured out..... The fern would create this really tiny, very fine powdery stuff on the underside of it's fronds....it's spores. The air would blow those fine particles against and into the screen and onto the couch. I took my daily nap on that couch! My face was at the far end of the window, and my head was elevated and resting on a hand towel. Even though I would vac the couch, those teensy spores from the Australian Fern Tree would just filter back in through the screen as fast as I vac'd. I never saw that little powdery spore stuff...they are a golden color as Was the print on our couch (notice I say "Was" ?) I'd take a nap and those spores would stick to my skin. I'd crawl in bed taking the spores into bed with me where they had even more time to embed into my pores. I took a shower every morning but lie on the couch again and if I didn't nap on the couch, I'd crawl into bed at night where the spores, that I took to bed with me the previous night, were waiting for me. Hubby never once was bothered by the spores in bed. DX= terribly allergic to spores from ferns. And of course, ferns of any kind are my very favorite plant life in my back yard. Moral : A year and a couple thousand dollars later, and arms, torso and legs full of scars today, going nuts changing detergents, clothing manufacturers, sanitizing my home, not touching anything I was not familiar with....... And it all came down to fern spores that came in through my window screen (Southern Calif----that window remains open all year). Whatever you have, I really feel for you! I know getting a good night's sleep isn't easy when you are itching and worrying about what is causing those little red 'bites' you're losing even more sleep......it's sooooo frustrating! Maybe start thinking outside the box. Wish I would have...would have saved me a lot of time, money and stress! I hope whatever it is that is eating you, you find out soon. Please keep us updated!

Yes, these are 100% carpenter ants. I saved some samples and the pest control co. Confirmed. I have researched it extensively, so understand about how they nest, the queen, and etc. Just nothing has worked including the pest co that just sprayed. The carpenter ant gel and granules did not work either, although they did hit on the granules and take it back to the nest, apparently it did not kill the queen. Please see my response to kimmq concerning wet or rotting wood. Thanks Much!