Guy rang my doorbell yesterday to offer to treat my yard for "ants and spiders"

[struggle4progress]

I'm not excited when I find ants in my house

But I really don't mind ants in the yard. In fact, I suspect ants are really good for the yard

We have a hard red clay that underlies very thin topsoil around here, and it's sometimes hard to convert enough of that hard red clay into a decent growing medium: I generally try to crumble it and mix in a lot of organic matter. But there's a circumstance in which the soil seems naturally prepared -- sometimes I'll accidentally hit what seems to be an abandoned ants nest: an extended region seems to consist of tiny little dark crumbly grains like those forming the small mounds at nest entrances

I'm not any sort of expert on soil ecology. But I kinda suspect the little worker-girls are really doing me a favor, long-term, conditioning the soil by drilling little holes that make the ground more permeable to air and water, gradually turning over the first few inches, pulling clay to the top and mixing it thoroughly with organic matter

I'll listen to other ideas about this. But that's my take. I shooed the doorbell-ringer on his way

[XemaSab]

1. Ants are totally good for the yard

They increase permeability and bring organic matter into the soil. :)

[ejpoeta]

2. as far as i know, insects are generally good for the soil.

unless of course you get something that is not from around there that hitches a ride... some kind of parasitic thing. but ants i believe are good for the soil as are worms and other things like that.

[Sonoman]

3. Actually, the 'little worker-girls' are 'guys'.

As long as they are not Fire Ants, keep them around.

Sonoman

[struggle4progress]

5. I've heard the workers are all sterile little girls:

... A typical ant colony includes one queen ... worker ants are always female .. Male ants, which come from unfertilized eggs, typically serve one purpose: to mate ...
UNUSUAL REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF ODD ANTS SURPRISES SCIENTISTS
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/harvant.htm

[mike_c]

13. nope, they're all sisters....

Worker ants are uniformly female, all siblings (except in polygyne colonies, where there are multiple queens and therefore multiple sibling lineages, but still all female). Males are produced only to disperse and mate with new queens founding new colonies.

[LeftinOH]

4. A yard without ants or spiders is probably a pretty toxic patch; pets and kids would

be better off not walking or playing on it.

[mitchtv]

6. I don't know if this is true or not, but

I was told that ants kill termites

[struggle4progress]

8. My theory of termite control is to leave plenty of dead damp wood at some distance from

the house, where the termites can find it and enjoy it

Of course, I picked up this theory from another crazy dude, so I can't promise it works

[izquierdista]

7. Drywall

If you want to soften up the red brick under your yard, you can start by crumbling up drywall and letting the rain soak it into the soil. Even if it is that high sulfur Chinese drywall, it can still be beneficial for your yard. At a typical new home construction site, they throw away hundreds of pounds of drywall, so it isn't even going to cost you. More details: http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/gypsum-as-soil-amendment/

[struggle4progress]

16. Thanks for the tip!

[hlthe2b]

9. I can't imagine wanting to put poison on your yard for any reason.....

except a life-threatening pest. Then again, the guy could just be scamming--planning to spray nothing other than water or something equally inert. How would you know, after all... :shrug:

[liberal N proud]

10. Lawns are an ecosystem and don't require chemicals

[Arkansas Granny]

11. I'd almost be willing to bet that this was someone whose sales are way down

trying to drum up a little business. With the economy the way it is now, we are taking calls at work and at home from people who are just trying to scrounge up a little business to make up for the shortfall from normal. Where I work, we've cut back to 32 hour weeks for the first time since I've been here (17 years) and we are starting to get a little desperate.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. You did good in shooing the pest control guy away.

Ants are beneficial, spiders are beneficial, worms are beneficial, as are many other insects. And if he is going to kill "ants and spiders", he is going to kill everything else too. To my knowledge, there is nothing that will target just those two insects, even if you wanted to get rid of them. My yard and garden are toxin-free, even if it isn't a showcase of the neighborhood. Too many weeds, too many grubs. But the birds and other critters are happy and it doesn't harm me at all. Don't fall for that perfect yard image.

[hunter]

14. Thus making room for the cockroaches, termites, fleas, and silverfish.

No thanks.

Ants and spiders are predators. They eat critters that are worse.

[MineralMan]

15. A "No Solicitors" sign works wonders.

We were getting a constant stream of siding sellers, window purveyors, lawn system front men, and every other sort of door-to-door salespeople ringing our doorbell. I put a "No Solicitors" sign on the mail box next to the door, and the problem ended almost completely. When someone does show up, I just point at the sign and close the door.

I would never buy any of those things from some salesperson coming to the door. If I need services, I check Angie's List, then make a call.

[struggle4progress]

18. Not that many come by. One every month or two. Mostly lawn care and magazine sales.

Now and then a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses. More rarely, a political or activist canvass. I shoo the salesfolk along. The Jehovah's Witnesses I think are crazy, but I largely agree with their pacifism and tell them so. If a political or activist canvass drops by, I'll try to spend a few minutes chatting with them

[Odin2005]

17. As long as they stay outside they are your friends.

That idiot is FOS.

[txlibdem]

19. We're overrun by fire ants here in Dallas

We treat the mound and kill the queen. Before we went with a "green" pest company, I'd just get a big pot of boiling water and pour it on the mound. It worked about 1/2 to 1/3 of the time, repeat as necessary. We just ended the 1 year contract with them, not sure we'll renew because we've had more infiltrations of fire ants inside the house than before we contracted with them.

[Nihil]

20. Not an atypical response ...

> we've had more infiltrations of fire ants inside the house than
> before we contracted with them.

Make the outside toxic and they'll move to a safer place - inside.
Nature is "smart" like that ... :-)

Your "home cure" is more effective in that sense because it is very
localised (thus no need for the ants to migrate en masse out of the
area) yet still eliminates the immediate threat of that specific
nest-full of ants.

:hi:

[txlibdem]

21. Agreed. And their methods are just as "hit and miss" as mine

But I did say they claimed to be a "green" pest control company, not one of those that coat the area with tar sludge and dimethyl-whatever (just made that last word up... I see a second career coming on...)