Ants, wasps, and hornets

[flgflowers]

I don't know if anybody is having the same problem as I am but I have not seen any monarchs for the past 5 days.

This year it seems like I have so many wasps and hornets visiting my milkweed plants. I have all kinds of milkweeds but no cats.

Also, this year the ants are running all over my passion vines getting eggs so, therefore, no more GF cats.

I feel so bad because this year I have all kinds of butterfly nectaring plants - butterfly bushes, cassias, firebush, purple sage,zinnias, etc.,etc
and no monarchs to enjoy them.

I did manage to get about 17 eggs off plants about 2 weeks ago and shd have 17 butterflies in flight in the next 5 days. Hope some of them stay around and visit my garden and lay eggs.

[Paul Cherubini]

I've had the same problems. We have paper wasps where I live that build nests under eaves. The wasps spend all day long in my yard hunting for monarch caterpillars. I've found that if I use a little aerosol wasp spray on their nests and then knock the nests down with a strong stream of water the wasp population in my yard will be greatly reduced. For Ants, spiders, earwigs and aphids I do a yard spray with Ortho Malathion Plus using an Ortho Dial & Spray hose attachment type sprayer. I use the dosage recommended for aphids (2 tablespoons in a gallon of water). Walmart carrys these items. 10 minutes after spraying I water the yard and plants thoroughly to dilute and wash away the Malathion residue. In Florida a good time to use Malathion might be just before an afternoon thundershower. The Malathion treatment greatly deminishes the ant, spider, earwig and aphid populations. A unique characteristic of Malathion is that it washes away so well that the treated plants can be safely fed to monarch caterpillars a day after spraying. Malathion is also a safe insecticide that, in the past, has been approved for postharvest treatment of grains and nuts going into storage and is also still available (by prescription only) for use in head lice shampoos for children.

[flgflowers]

Thanks for the information on the malathion! I have ALOT of ants in my butterfly garden and I definitely will use it out there. Here in Fl we have alot of small lizards which I wouldn't want to kill since they do get some of the bugs so I'll have to make sure it won't hurt them.

[Andrea]

It's been about 6 years since I last dealt with Malathion but I'm pretty sure that some of its daughter products are more toxic that the mother product (Malathion).

At that time I was collecting sediment, water quality, and macroinvertebrates from some water bodies during a large malathion spraying event that covered a few counties south of me. We were trying to figure out if it was negatively affecting the critters. Most pesticide tests are usually for the mother products and the daugher products are not so well understood. I beleive USGS did some studies on the toxicity of pesticides and their daughter products in some FL lakes a few years ago.

I guess my take on all of this is too really shy away from using these products in my garden esp. around my flowers.

Andrea.

[Teresa]

I'm kinda glad I live in the woods. I don't have to deal much with wasps but I do deal with aphids, stink bugs and those dang flies. As soon as I see a wasp nest it comes down and I encourage my neighbors to do the same. As for the aphids I've found the best way to discourage them is to squish them on the spot. I wear latex gloves sometimes (the kind healthcare workers wear) and I walk my milkweed patches every nite. You can never get them all but I sure get alot of them. As for the stink bugs, when i see them its too late

[Mona Miller]

Make sure you read pesticide label directions and follow the directions carefully because doing otherwise is against the law and can also cause problem for you and the environment. Spraying on pesticides and washing them off can cause potential problems with runoff and ground water pollution.

http://www.epa.gov/nps/MMGI/Chapter2/ch2-2d.html
Polluted Runoff (Nonpoint Source Pollution)

[Paul Cherubini]

Spraying on pesticides and washing them off can cause potential problems with runoff and ground water pollution.
http://www.epa.gov/nps/MMGI/Chapter2/ch2-2d.html
Polluted Runoff (Nonpoint Source Pollution)

Edith Smith, the founder of the Association For Butterflies http://www.forbutterflies.org/conservation.htm and a high volume monarch breeder also recommends rinsing the Malathion off treated plants. However, after conducting some tests, Edith found monarch caterpillars weren't harmed even if the treated plants weren't rinsed. On Dec. 19 & 20, 2007, Edith wrote the following on the "'Butterfly farmers and enthusiasts mailing list'" <butterflyfarming@butterflymarket.com>

"We use Malathion all the time. We have dunked milkweed into mixed Malathion and fed it directly to caterpillars, they pupated, and emerged with no problems. We don't guarantee it to other people, of course, as you never know what other 'inert' ingredients are in some Malathion mixes."

"Since we use Malathion and recommend it for milkweed aphids, we did a test with a few caterpillars to be sure that what we recommended wouldn't harm them if they didn't rinse well or something like that. Of course, you never know about the carrier agents in sprays ... sometimes a carrier or 'inert' agent might do harm."

"I have talked with people who thought their caterpillars were diseased so they sprayed them with Malathion and it never hurt them. They were shocked... two ways. One was that it didn't hurt them, the other way was that they were wrong; their caterpillars weren't diseased!"

~Edith

[Mona Miller]

http://butterflymarket.com/pipermail/bu ... 05010.html
There was some good discussion on this list serve of the use of pesticides and wildlife.

[Paul Cherubini]

[ http://butterflymarket.com/pipermail/bu ... 05010.html
Malathion is a restricted use pesticide here. (Michigan) As a licensed applicator I will not use it because of the wide spectrum of the foodchain it affects. It is harmful to a wide array of living things including humans and pets. This is why they do not make this class of pesticide anymore.

According to the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch_ ... 7200_7.pdf
"Malathion is a general use pesticide considered by the EPA to be slightly toxic." So this means garden centers and retail stores in Michigan sell products like Ortho Malathion to the public just as is the case in the other 50 states.

The Michigan Dept. of Agriculture has also approved a 0.5% strength Malathion formulation for use on childrens heads to control head lice:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Final ... 3750_7.pdf
Malathion (0.5%) "The lotion is applied to the hair, left to air dry, then washed off after 8 to 12 hours."

The 0.5% strength approved for use on children's heads is 5 times stronger than the 0.1% strength used to control aphids, spiders, etc. on milkweed plants.

[Mona Miller]

[quote="Paul Cherubini"
Malathion is also a safe insecticide that, in the past, has been approved for postharvest treatment of grains and nuts going into storage and is also still available (by prescription only) for use in head lice shampoos for children.[/quote]

http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/
"The medical research below was located from the University of Florida and University of South Florida Medical Libraries. As can be seen clearly from the research summarized below, contrary to what the public is being told by the Agriculture Industry and some governmental agencies, scientists are stating that malathion (even at low levels) is in fact, a harmful chemical."