I think ants are attracted to any place where they will have a better chance of irritating or biting me!! Other than that, they are attracted to ripening fruit on bananas and I think to the sap secreted by them. Add that to the loose soil and the proximity of my terrace and I had a bunch of ants trying to set up housekeeping in there. I don't want to use bait (cats) or poison (bananas) so... I have found that the ants don't like to walk on or build nests in coffee grounds. I pick up a small bucket or two every week from a friend's coffee shop and dump a lot of it in and around the bananas. It has seemed to work, there are a lot less ants in there and I haven't seen any nests come boiling up when I water.

Our ants are a little tamer than that
😀
Have you tryied diatomaceous earth?

They really hate walking on that stuff!

Ants Hate them too...they hate the cinnamon line too

I found that advice about cutting a banana plant about a foot up so interesting; has anyone actually tried it with any success? Also wondering how quickly it would fruit ( is that the word) again? Up to now I have been cutting mine down to ground level and just making room for the new shoots. It sure seems that if cutting a foot above works, it would save a lot of trouble, but it also makes sense "if it works".

Jim

Hi Jim, I can only speak to the cutting part as I've never gotten a banana to fruit up here. I regularly cut selected M. basjoo back to "clean up" the clump and they don't miss a beat. If I want to eliminate that corm entirely without digging it up I cut back to ground level repeatedly until it gives up the ghost. As an aside all are cut back to about a foot to overwinter.

I can be your test case Jim as I have a mother plant that was just cut back to about a foot. I'll let you know how soon it sprouts again and if it fruits faster than a pup.

Oh, Swayback, I haven't found diatomaceous earth here. I haven't looked really hard either though, I guess it might be available at a pool supply store?

I'm not sure if filter grade DE is as effective, I would think ordering it would be the best bet, use food grade inside, regular outside, it should look like cake powder to be effective...

If only... ordering things online is not the simple process here that it is in the US and ordering from another country (in this case the US) adds all kinds of bureaucratic nightmares. I think I will stick to my low tech coffee grounds

jimsned2 said:I found that advice about cutting a banana plant about a foot up so interesting; has anyone actually tried it with any success? Also wondering how quickly it would fruit ( is that the word) again? Up to now I have been cutting mine down to ground level and just making room for the new shoots. It sure seems that if cutting a foot above works, it would save a lot of trouble, but it also makes sense "if it works".

Jim

I have done it North Carolina Jim...It does work.

extranjera said:If only... ordering things online is not the simple process here that it is in the US and ordering from another country (in this case the US) adds all kinds of bureaucratic nightmares. I think I will stick to my low tech coffee grounds

Well certainly keep an eye for it locally!

I was worried that you might say something along these lines, if it would help... I'm more than happy to ship u a bag... I send boxes all over the world, so far nothin to Asia...and never Australia!!!!
Never ever!

Thank you Jonna and all, I'll keep a keen eye. About that Diatomaceous earth, it's very important that it be labeled "food grade", and it does work. my understanding is that insects walk on it and it would be like us walking on a razor, it cuts them open and/or disables them. Some folks even mix it with liquid and drink it for whatever reason.

Jim

jimsned2 said:Thank you Jonna and all, I'll keep a keen eye. About that Diatomaceous earth, it's very important that it be labeled "food grade", and it does work. my understanding is that insects walk on it and it would be like us walking on a razor, it cuts them open and/or disables them. Some folks even mix it with liquid and drink it for whatever reason.

Jim

Please correct if I'm wrong but, It only needs to food grade if used in locations where humans contact it, it's a waste to use food grade outdoors, it's about 5x the price!

It needs to be reapplied every few weeks or after a heavy rain...

People drink it to cleanse their system...it's not terrible..it tastes like clay...not great either, and it is in fact like tiny razors to invertabrits, it pokes tiny hole in their exoskeleton and they lose all their fluids.

it is in fact like tiny razors to invertabrits, it pokes tiny hole in their exoskeleton and they lose all their fluids.

That hit a sadistic nerve in me. I'm battling caterpillars right now, huge black ones appear on everything and the red ones have destroyed my passion fruit. I'm not a fan of butterflies and moths because of the incredible damage from their offspring. I'm sick of squishing the black ones, it took a lot for me to be able to do it when they are that large but I'm doing it. It's gross though. I rather like the idea of spreading little knives around to cut them up.

I hate to break this to ya, I'm told it won't work on sift bodied insects...such as...you guessed it, caterpillars, no personal experience there, but I can attest it won't work on slugs!

Plus side: it doesn't hurt earthworms either...

Bummer! Guess I have to keep stepping on them, which is bad enough but picking them off the plant means touching them with my hands not my shoes and that is worse. I've given up on the passion fruit, no fruit for me this year the blasted caterpillars have eaten all the leaves and the buds. I'm still watering it but I'm considering just ripping it out, if I can't have fruit then why should I feed them?

M. Aeae



M.Tanee, Aeae.

Kudos to you Drew!

Neither of those is easy to grow!

Especially that ae ae!

The very idea...a full sun tropical that burns in full sun!

Loose fertile loam, plenty of water...no burn!