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by Amjad
(amman,Jordan)

Hello Jackie,
more questions to you,you have been extremely helpful,
i have on my chrysanthemums ,and on my dracenea compacta,
on the foliage,very tiny,fat short “ants”that you cannot even feel
when you crush them,since you cannot hold them,
i lost a huge number of my mums to them,
i have these main 2 materials at hand(Ethion50% W/V
and ,triadimenol25% W/V ,
are they good for these creatures,and …..what are these?

Please accept my thanx and wishes of a merry x-mass
and a blossomful 2013
Amjad

Hi Amjad, without seeing a picture of your ‘ants’ I would hesitate to suggest any kind of treatment – don’t start randomly poisoning the earth, just to kill off some kind of unknown insect.

I would just keep an eye on them, observe their habits, and then maybe try some kind of non-chemical type of treatment.

I don’t use any chemical pesticides so I can’t advise you on the ones you’ve listed but without identifying the pest, it’s not going to be much benefit.

Some ways you can use that don’t poison the whole environment are:

  • sticky traps, which are cardboard or plastic covered with some kind of glue (make your own with vaseline or other gummy substance on a piece of cardboard) – these only work on actively foraging types of insects, which will wander across the board and get stuck.
  • diatomaceous earth (get the kind that is food grade, used for weevil control in grain in storage – totally harmless to people and pets, deadly to insects which are killed by the scratching of their outer coat) – apply with some type of puffer or just put some on a small cloth and dust the leaves with it – wear some kind of breathing protection or dust mask when doing this as the fine dust can cause lung damage.
  • mix up my favorite all purpose non-lethal spray; one liter (one quart) of lukewarm water, add a couple of drops of dish soap or hand soap, and a few drops of any cooking oil, shake well, spray as needed. This could mark hardwood floors and upholstery, so make sure not to damage those when spraying.

Hopefully, that will take care of the insects.

Best of luck, and best wishes for 2013!
Jacki