Ant lions are great (and entertaining) but don't help with serious infestations. My beast ants are fire ants and elongated twig ants. The former seemed to be kept barely under control with slow acting baits. Both of these biting ants suddenly disappeared completely when the crazy raspberry ants invaded. So now my ankles and the back of my neck don't have welts but there are aphids and sooty fungus on every susceptible plant unless I spray with detergents regularly. Regards, Phil PS- The native ant species are generally pretty innocuous. > Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 14:49:04 -0400 > From: dkramb@badbear.com > To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Subject: Re: [pbs] ants > > In my sand bed I have lots of ant lions. That keeps the ant problem down to > a minimum! I have not watched for wasps... but they sound cool. The ant > lion pits make it look a like a lunar landscape. > > Dennis in Cincinnati > > > As an aside, in my previous garden I had a sand bed that was wonderful for > > growing some of the fussier alpines. Ants were never a problem, but > > burrowing wasps loved it. There were at least three different kinds that > > excavated long tunnels, often under plants. Fill then in, they come right > > back. Losses were minor, however, and they were fun to watch. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/