ANDRED1101, in my research( books and mainly internet) i came across the south american leafcutters. here in north america we also have texas leafcutters(tx and la)and desert leafcutters(american southwest)same deal. in addition i did find that harvester ants ( western u.s) and allegheny mound ants (mid-atlantic states) chow down on leafy foliage. the info. regarding food and feeding habits vary between sites and appears as if leafy foliage is a minor foodstuff. the alleheny mound ant apparently can kill vegetation and young trees 2-5 years old and up to eight feet tall by depositing formic acid ( or something like that) near their mounds. study done in west virginia. with the knowledge and experience of contributors from this region such as jellyman, scott smith and others and nobody mentioned this, i suspect this must be incredibly rare. my efforts to find out exactly my specie of ant was somewhat unrewarded, but a ray of light may come from the local ext.office. wasu puts out a pamphlet identifying washingtons ants, will try to pick 1 up. i'm mainly worried about the mound so close to the tree rather than the stinkpots eating my leaves. we're in a cold rainy spell and the leaves look as though they may get a jumpstart on the ants as insect activity has been low. it sure appears as if they are eating leaves or at least chewing them and spitting them out. where the ants are still and then move when a cocked finger comes toward them, there is missing leaf and more interesting black stuff along the "eaten" part. i don't know if that is from saliva or other secretion they are leaving behind. the black stuff crumbles off when i touch it. in comparison to other insects chewing leaves on nearby cherries and apples-no black stuff. i observed two "still" ants with their little heads bobbing up and down the leaf as "eating". i do have carpenter ants but never saw any in a tree. gonna pick-up a magnifying glass and see if i can find out anything more revealing. this has now piqued my interest. JELLYMAN, you hit the nail on the head ! they are wildlife and as such i don't wish to kill them if it is unnecessary. i belive in a well balanced, healthy and interactive ecosystem. like smelling the roses, i rarely walk by an anthill without stooping over and watching them. just like your squirrels though, if it's the tree or the nest, i will be ruthless as they are not endangered as i know of 3 other mounds on my place. after watching a dog once dig up a mound in a few seconds ,i think i will just try and relocate the mound with some quick shoveling (soft mounds) away from the trees. the "dogs" mound showed back up a couple weeks afterwards about 20 feet from the original "carnage". same ants-i don't know but maybe i'll get lucky. this way no spray, although organic, may be needed if they relocate further away. as far as computer tapping goes, the biggest lesson i learned was never try to identify a specific ant specie on the net unless it is a carpenter ant or u know it's latin name in which case u don't need to search anyway. thanks guys ! wildlifeman

My blueberries are still rather small and less productive, but this year they turned a corner and started growing. I probably had about 8 pints total from 20 plants but considering I didn't get a half pint last year, I was happy. In a nutshell, I fixed a drainage problem from my original planting, sprayed all of the plants with lime sulfur to kill off fungal diseases, and used elemental sulfur to balance the pH. Those three changes have allowed my plants to almost double in size this year and start thriving instead of just surviving. All of the my blueberry plants (except Sweetcrisp) made it through this last very cold winter without any damage. Even my two rabbiteye plants (Tifblue) survived unharmed and have fruited. The only blueberry with any cold damage was the Sweetcrisp, which resulted in no fruit but both Sweetcrisp plants continue to grow at a fast rate in their pots. The flavor of the various blueberries was good overall but the Kabluey did have the consistently best-flavored berries. I believe it must be at least a partial southern highbush if not a full southern high bush because it has a different growth pattern and appearance from the other blueberry plants. Kabluey (very good flavor) Reka Duke Blueray Rubel Patriot (notably good flavor) Bluejay Bluecrop Toro ((notably good flavor) Pink Lemonade (not yet ripened) Tifblue (not yet ripened) Bonus - (did not fruit) Sweetcrisp (did not fruit)

Ant colonies do indeed kill various plantings at times, such as, blueberries and tomatoes for me. It is quite likely that roots would take up all kinds of things from the soil and go systemic throughout the plant, including several ingredients from your Raid can. So far there is no known mechanism whereby living creatures such as e-coli can go systemic through root absorbtion, but there aren't many safe guards against chemicals.

I am anti insecticide so I look for solutions that won't do much harm to the beneficial insects in the yard. Is there a chance these are fire ants? The clues are GA, recent rain, and new ant hills. Fire ants in the south usually build a mound like that right after a rain. If they are fire ants, then the product of choice is called Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve One bag should be a lifetime supply. For a mound that size I would only use a two-finger pinch. Conserve is the active ingredient. It is a disease called spinosad that causes immediate paralysis in insects. Use it sparingly and try to target your pest, because it does affect caterpillars, bees, wasps, flies, and some other insects which are often beneficial. This product should work on any protein gathering ant (like fire ants). If they are sugar gathering ants, then any bait you can make with baking yeast in it will take care of them. It takes longer but it works. A 50/50 mix of sugar and molasses is the bait. Put a teaspoon full of yeast per cup of bait and dollop that into their trails. They will bring home the yeast which biologically contaminates their food supply. Then they are gone.