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Carpenter ants are big ants that live in most parts of the world. They like to construct their nests or colonies from dead, damp timber. However, contrary to general opinion, they do not feed on wood as termites do.

They use timber to build their colonies and tunnel through it in their search for new sources of food. This is evidenced by piles of frass, which is the debris that the carpenter ants have hollowed out of typically damp. dead wood.

There are over a thousand species of these large, typically black ants, which belong to the genus Camponotus. Carpenter ants live in colonies and have colonies both indoors and outdoors in moist, decaying or hollow timber. They like to travel through this rotting timber by chiselling out galleries or walkways in timber length-ways up the grain in order to provide passageways from one part of the nest to another.

The parts of a house that are most prone to be of interest to carpenter ants are floor joists, window frames and rafters in the roof. In fact, anywhere where you are liable to have a difficulty with water entry. Decks and porches are also obviously at risk.

An interesting fact about carpenter ants is that some species produce inhabitants that can explode in order to kill attackers. These so-called exploding ants are found mostly in South East Asia where there are at least nine kinds that can cause their bodies to explode, thereby committing suicide.

These ants have a massive abdomen which provides a type of glue which is fired out of the head onto invaders. The exploding ant dies, but all the attackers caught up in this web of glue are glued-up as well.

How do you know whether you have carpenter ants or not? Well, the best way of idetifying carpenter ants from other ants is by looking at their waists. A carpenter ant has only one node or hump and their thorax or upper body is well-rounded and smooth. Other similar ants have more than one node or an uneven or two-tiered back.

If you are looking at flying ants, then the difference between carpenter ants and termites, with which they are frequently confused, is that carpenter ants have darker-coloured bodies, narrow waists, elbowed or bent antennae and, if they have them, the rear wings are smaller than the front wings.

Another factor is that carpenter ants are quite happy to come out and be seen, whereas termites are light-shy, even though carpenter ants are most active between dusk and mid-night and reproductive termites will take to the air during the day time.

Carpenter ants eat protein and sugar such as other insects, living or dead and spilled honey or sugar. This honey can also be extracted from aphids or greenfly, which is called honeydew. Therefore, if you want to trace carpenter worker ants back to their nest or nests, you have to lay down something like honey and watch the ants take the food back to their nests. This is the first step in destroying colonies of carpenter ants.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Getting Rid Of Carpenter Ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

If you are one of the increasing number of people worldwide that thinks that we should start using less chemicals on our planet, then you have probably wondered about home-made pesticides. Once you have had a lung full of ant spray or cockroach spray, you understand that it would be a good strategy if you could utilize something less appalling.

The problem is that we have come to rely on a spray of this to kill ants, a spray of that to kill cockroaches and another spray for silverfish or whatever. This is all a big con. You do not need three or four sprays to kill or deter all the insects that you are worried about.

In fact, many sprays contain the old-fashioned pesticides, but they are packaged so as to make you pay a lot more for them.

Boric acid can be used to kill all insects that have jaws and forage. If you want to kill ants, mix it with water and sugar. It will be taken back to the nest, if you do not make the solution so strong that it kills the ants before they can get home. Boric acid will also kill cockroaches. Mix it with flour or pour it in liquid form on bread.

You can destroy greenfly or aphids pretty effortlessly, by spraying them with your used washing-up water. Soapy water is all you require to eradicate these pests.

The Colorado potato beetle is a pest in some countries. You can kill or discourage the Colorado potato beetle with a spray made from soaking cedar wood chips in water. This will make a tea-coloured fluid. It is a powerful pesticide and an antibiotic too. Spray it onto the foliage.

You can also use a foliage spray made from tansy. The process is to dry the tansy and then grind it down – as finely as you can be bothered to. Use a pestle and mortar and then combine it with water. The finer you pulverized the tansy, the fewer blockages you will suffer in your spray gun.

Cutworms can be overcome by combining pineapple weed with water and spraying it on affected areas. Sagebrush and water will have the same result, but you may have to boil the infusion to extract the essential oils.. If you do not have these plants where you reside, you can combine molasses with bran or sawdust and spread that on your plants just before dusk.

The tomato hornworm causes a lot of damage to tomatoes where they live. This method of killing them is not a pesticide as such, but it is very effective. Spread cornflour around your tomato plants, the hornworms will eat this too, but they cannot digest it. It will soak up their digestive juices , expand, and blow them up. This method can be used on cockroaches too.

A spoonful of canola oil and a drop or two washing-up liquid in a spray gun will exterminate most soft bodied grubs

Diatomaceous earth is a good barricade to all insects and is one of the few ways of clearing out bed bugs as well.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on quite a few topics, but is at present concerned with Terro Ant Killer. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please visit our web site at Killing Carpenter Ants.

By taking time to really think through what you will be using your hedge trimmer will save you from buying something that does not do the job you want it to.

Basically, hedge trimmer blades can be categorised into one of three groups.

1. The type of blade action. Will you be using your hedge trimmer for extended periods of time? Vibration from a petrol hedge trimmer can be a major problem, causing operator fatigue, aching shoulders and sometimes, even white finger disease. But if you choose a model which has what is termed double action blades, most of this vibration is cancelled out and you should not have any problems.

2. How thick is the growth on the types of hedges you have to cut in your garden? Whilst no hedge trimmer, even the most powerful petrol hedge trimmer, is designed to be used as a chain saw, if you have a lot of twiggy branches to cut, you will need a more powerful model with wider teeth blades. If on the other hand, you keep your hedges regularly trimmed so that they never get time to grow thick, twiggy growth between cuts, you will be able to use a less powerful narrow teeth blades model which will give you a fine finish on your well-manicured hedges.

3. How much hedging you have to cut and whether time constraints are an issue. More hedge can be cut in one pass if you choose a model with longer blades. However, it is also very important to take into consideration, the ease of use, as inevitably, greater blade length adds to the overall weight of a petrol hedge trimmer.

By taking into consideration the three points that I have outlined above, you will be sure to choose the right model for your requirements.

If you are looking for a petrol hedge trimmer that will satisfy most requirements, you need one with minimal vibration, teeth spacing that suits the type of hedging you need to cut and an easy to work with blade length.

Knowing exactly the features you want, before you start shopping for your hedge trimmer will ensure that not only do you avoid a costly mistake, you will be very well placed to spot a bargain that has just the features you are looking for.

You will find that there are bosch hedge trimmers in all shapes and sizes like the bosch isio shape & edge that will help you get your garden jobs done.

Orchids have the reputation of being difficult to grow in the West. Gardeners shy off from attempting to grow them because they think that they are difficult to grow and because they are expensive. This is easily understood, but there is more to the story than that. The fact is that most countries have their own native orchid species, so it is possible to grow orchids wherever you live, if you choose the right species.

The other side of the coin is that what most gardeners in the West think of as orchids are orchids from exotic countries and they can be a problem to grow. I say difficult to grow, but that is not the whole story either. If you can create an environment similar to where the orchids come from, it need not be a problem at all.

A lot of the spectacular orchids are parasites, like mistletoe is a parasite plant in the temperate countries of the West. These orchids often grow on trees. In trees and on trees, that is. So, their natural environment is to become attached to the bark of a living tree or to be lodged in the fork of a branch.

The orchid will then draw its nutrients and water from the inside of its host much in the same way as does a flea or a bed bug. Another thing to be aware of is that if a plant lives under the canopy of a tree, it seldom, if ever, experiences direct sunlight. Wooded areas are also fairly humid. It is also worth mentioning that exotic plants usually come from warm or hot countries.

Therefore, if you can recreate these conditions of providing warmth, humidity and a host, growing exotic orchids should not become that much of difficulty. And in truth, it is not, although in the West it might require a greenhouse.

Thailand is home to numerous parasitic orchids, most of which grow on trees in the forests, which are warm to hot and humid, but most people do not live in those conditions. Most Thais live in either open villages or cities where conditions are not favorable to growing jungle orchid varieties. However, most Thai gardeners do not want or even have greenhouses.

Instead, if a Thai gardener is interested in nurturing jungle orchid species, he or she will purchase (or acquire) the root complex of a dead tree which also has a tree stump of, say, a metre attached. They will then move this tree stump in to a very shady position, say, under a canopy and grow their wild jungle orchids on that.

How is that done?, you may ask. Well, it is actually simplicity itself. First you acquire a sample of the orchid and then you affix it to the stump with a ‘strap’ of something that will both permit the orchid to expand and to breathe. Most Thais use some of the fibres from inside a coconut.

The gardener will strap the baby orchid to the stump using the coconut matting as a band-aid with either staples or small nails. By the time the orchid has sunken its roots into the host, the matting will have rotted away, as will probably the staples.

The only thing left to do is to keep the tree and the infant flower well watered so that it can draw the remaining nutrients out of the dead tree. They will flourish for numerous years under these conditions and the tree stump will be a living flower pot, of sorts.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now involved with Loy Krathong. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Package Holidays to Thailand.

It is laudable that these days many people are trying to do without chemicals in their daily lives. There is, no doubt, plenty that most of can do to reduce the amount of chemicals that we use. Take a look under the sink in many homes and you will see dozens of bottles, cans and sprays to cover all of the routine household chores.

Many of them are superfluous and could be replaced with home-made formulas. Except that most families have forgotten how to prepare them and it is easier to get a tin off a shelf in a supermarket. However, there are some jobs that are just too tough for the raw materials available to us and killing termites is one of them. Regrettably, there is no known home-made termite killer that is as successful as some of the chemical compounds.

In such a predicament, all you can do is lessen the load on the planet, while accepting that there will be some load. That is, use a chemical compound that will have as little impact on the planet as possible. Some of the older ways of poisoning a house and its earth to either discourage or eradicate termites like the spreading of the inorganic metal arsenic trioxide or insect growth hormones like fipronil are the least recommended techniques. However, these slow-acting toxins will lay around killing termites for weeks and will finally wipe out the colony.

These days, rather than poison the soil for a hundred square yards or metres around your home, you are recommended to lay bait boxes instead. Bait boxes are toxic food sources for termites. The chemicals are confined to the bait boxes and can be removed when your problem has disappeared or can be left in situ to kill any future intruders.

These bait boxes are put where you have or are likely to get a problem, that is, wherever timber comes into (close) contact with the ground. They have an active lifespan and so have to be replaced or recharged, but they last quite a long time.

Other preventative measures you can take include sweeping up damp leaves from around the base of your house and not stacking wood on the ground around your house. Keep a close eye on any timber that comes close to the ground and be on the look out for pencil-like tubes of earth and wood pulp which are the termites walk-ways

If you are purchasing a new house in a termite danger zone, make certain that it has been constructed in a manner that is unfriendly to termites. There are termite barriers that can be put under your house to inhibit the ingress of termites, one of which is inedible concrete. You would have though that went without saying, wouldn’t you – ‘inedible’? However, ordinary concrete is not a hurdle to subterranean termites. Neither is plastic or rubber, in fact they love it.

If all else fails, you can eat them. Termites are eaten in several parts of the world. The flying termites are a good source of fat and protein and can be fried on a hotplate without adding oil or fat. Apparently, they taste mildly nutty.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with Termidor termite treatment – a termite killer. If you are interested in this or if you are wondering: What Does A Termite Look Like?. Please go to our web site now for further details.

Do you have a termite concern? If you have, you should get on to it right away, because the eventual future of a house ridden with termites is a demolished house. Termites can be eliminated, there is no question about that, but the technique you select is important. One of the methods that some professionals use is termite tenting.

If you and your termite exterminator decide to use this method, the professional will put up a huge tent around your house to contain the noxious gas that he uses to kill the termites within your house. The house has to be tented to enclose the gas in and around your house and to stop it from dispersing, because it is injurious to human health as well.

Some say that termite tenting is old-fashioned and just too dangerous, others say that it is the only certain way of killing all the termites in a house. Some people say that it is very expensive, others say, so is a house. At the end of the day, the choice is yours, obviously, but please be aware that there are other alternatives of getting rid of termites these days, although not all are as fast-acting as termite tenting.

In fact, termite tenting may be the only option open to you, if your house is about to fall down, because you will be able to get on with the repair work that much more quickly. Other contractors do not agree, saying that if you use a slow-acting poison, you can still work alongside the dying population of termites. You would be best advised to get a couple of quotes for the job and a few opinions.

If you go for termite tenting, you will have to pack up all your food and clothing in air-tight plastic bags, which the contractor can normally provide. Then, they will make a large loose-fitting tent around your house. Next, they will release a poisonous gas into your house and have it circulated into every nook and cranny by means of fans.

This gas is harmful to humans, so you will have to move out for two or even three days and neighbours will be warned by signs to keep away from your house while it is being fumigated.

The termite tent will be taken down on the second day and the clean-up process will begin. Now the powerful fans will be used to expel the gas from your house and sensitive instruments will be used to monitor when it is safe for you to come back. That often takes another twenty-four hours to be definite.

Although the gas is toxic, it does not form a film on surfaces, so when the house is deemed clear, it really is safe. Many people worry that it is not. This fear is groundless, which is borne out by the fact that you are warned to have your house inspected for termites in your annual house maintenance routine because they can come back and you will not want another termite tenting treatment.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with Termidor termite treatment – a termite killer. If you are interested in this or if you are wondering: What Does A Termite Look Like?. Please go to our web site now for further details.

As much as we love the warmer months of the year, there is one thing we do not look forward to: mosquitoes. Oh yes, these insects are not friendly at all. They carry more than one sort of disease. Yes, these insubstantial insects, which float in the air about us, pick up numerous illnesses from who knows where, will leave red, itchy marks on your body.

As Spring time and Summer time roll around, it is nice to have doors and windows open, but it is also vital to have screens fitted for a home’s doors and windows. These screens are particularly necessary when it comes to opening up your home in the warmer months. Having these screens for doors and windows have been the best invention for holding mosquitoes outside.

Once outside though, Mosquitoes will be zooming into you. Well, onto your skin more specifically. There are well over 300 scents that mosquitoes are drawn to and most of these scents are from human skin. For human beings to live, we need to exhale carbon dioxide.

Well, this is one thing Mosquitoes are attracted to. Yes, as soon as anybody exhales carbon dioxide, Mosquitoes are more likely than not, to make a b-line for your body. When eating outdoors, mosquitoes are going to want not only you, but your food too.

They, like human beings, like salty foods. Foods rich in sodium are also filled with lactic acid. Another thing that draws mosquitoes to human skin is body heat and if drinking alcohol, that too attracts these pests.

Okay, so now you are wondering what you can do to fend off these pests. There are several ways that you can use to repel them from your skin. If you are looking for something natural to repel any and all mosquitoes, try adding more garlic to your daily food intake. For some reason, garlic reduces the attractiveness of our skin.

Now, you do not have to quite eat garlic, but instead take garlic supplements, along with B complex and vitamin B1 supplements. Changing your daily diet, by taking certain supplements, particularly in the hot summer months, will fend off these unwanted insects.

Now, if using natural products is not the path for you, there are lots of chemical products on the market. Let?s see, anyone who is not a lover of mosquitoes, can go to their local grocery store and look for such mosquito repellents as DEET, Oils and Electronic Repellents.

DEET is made from such ingredients I can not even pronounce, but is mainly sold in solid or liquid form and is highly poisonous. If this does not sound good to you, there are a range of oils which can be placed on your patio table or wherever you sit outside.

Some of the more widely used oils are botanically based like Citronella, Eucalyptus Oil and Soybean Oil. Naturally, anything botanically, is considered natural or organic and while used as suggested, will not injure the you.

Electronic mosquito repellents have been used for a some time now. In fact, they are used in the desert, such as the Middle East, by American Soldiers. These electronic devices are made with chemical pheromones to attract them and electrified wires to instantly electrocutes these horrible insects.

These days, there are also mosquito repellents which you can clip onto your clothing. This type of repellent permits the user to be free of mosquitoes for 120 hours and repels them from 15 feet away. This certainly is one amazing, personal, repellent on the market today.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with Electronic Bug Killer devices. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at electronic insect killer

There are over 1,000 species of carpenter ants. Most of them are large, between a quarter of an inch and an inch long, and black, although there are red ones as well. There are even a few species in South East Asia which will explode if attacked, ejecting a sticky substance out through their heads which immobilizes the invaders. The exploding carpenter ant dies.

Carpenter ants are thought to do a lot of damage to timber, as they gnaw their way up the middle through its length. However, this is a popular myth, unlike termites, carpenters do not eat wood, they gnaw their way through it to get somewhere. They spit the gnawed wood out. This is called frass and it can often be seen in heaps like sawdust. It is a good indication that carpenters are busy in or around your home.

Carpenter ants like to travel through the length of damp or rotten dead timber in much the same manner as termites do although they do not consume the timber. Carpenters feed on dead insects, dead animals and honeydew from aphids and scale insects outside the home, but if they come inside your home they will be looking for dropped or uncovered food, especially anything sweet and sugary. Therefore, hygiene is an important factor in clearing carpenters out of your home.

These ants will walk up to a hundred yards while foraging, but they like to be near a recurring supply of food. A characteristic of carpenter ant colonies is that they may build satellite nests away from their main colony. This is often why they enter a home.

If they regularly find spilled food in the kitchen, they may make a nest in the wall to take advantage of it, particularly if the window or door frame is a bit decayed. Inside the home, they will probably nest in a cavity wall, outside the home they prefer to construct nests in decaying tree stumps.

It is no good spraying carpenter ants with insecticide if you want to get rid of them – especially if you kill large numbers of them. This may sound odd, but the reason is that the nest will miss these workers and so the queen will increase her production of eggs to counteract it. If she over compensates, you are in a worse situation that you were before spraying.

The only way to wipe out a nest of carpenter ants is to destroy the queen and the whole colony with poison. This is not difficult although it does take a bit of investigative work. Carpenters are most active between twilight and midnight, so put out honey on glass or sticky tape where they are active and follow them when they take it home.

Do not forget, they may have a number of nests in their colony. If you need light, wrap red cellophane over a normal flashlight, because ants can not perceive red light. When you have found their nests, put poison down outside each nest as directed on the label. Do this for several days in a row until you do not see anymore carpenter ants. If you are still getting them, you have missed a nest.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with Getting Rid Of Carpenter Ants. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

Because of its situation in the tropics a huge range of fruit, vegetables and flowers grow Jamaica exceptionally well. Because of its highly favourable climate, commercial cultivation is an important aspect of the economy. Many products grown here find their way to supermarkets all over the world.

Spices are grown in great quantity. Ginger, nutmegs and cinnamon in particular are easily available. Because of their abundance these spices feature in so many Jamaican recipes. Ginger beer is a popular drink here. Many of the fruit juices are spiced up with cinnamon and the porridges are commonly seasoned with nutmegs.

On this island as with the entire Caribbean and much of the tropics as a whole, bananas are a staple. They do best when cultivated in a truly tropical environment. There are a range of varieties available and each island has a banana variety that is unique to it. The cooking bananas are called plantain and these are boiled or fried for a delicious staple.

Large fruit are commonly found in tropical locations. They tend to have thick skins with a soft interior. They are usually very juicy. Good examples would be the jack fruit and the mango. Breadfruit is also large but it is eaten before ripening as a carbohydrate staple.

If one is talking about what grows in any Caribbean island one must mention sugar cane. This tough grass stalk is similar to bamboo in appearance and is equally as tough as many types of bamboo. This is the crop upon which the slave owning planters grew rich in the islands after many adopted it in favour of cotton and tobacco. It is still cultivated in Jamaica today.

If you are looking to set up your own garden to grow Jamaica, be sure to do your research well. There are specialist garden centres and agricultural centres on the island where you can get quality seeds and expert advice.

Learn more here: grow Jamaica

Your backyard is your own personal space that could be made as an extension of your interior, as many people are doing these days. People are decorating much like they would be interior of their homes, only with a twist on the outside, such as by adding a water feature to add interest, beauty, and get you closer to nature. When installing a water feature like a pond in your backyard, it is important to maintain it properly and that requires some special attention and products. Below, you’ll see how important it is in getting to know the basics of pond pumps.

Many consumers feel confused and overwhelmed with the daunting task of selecting this device because there are so many models, sizes and efficiencies to pick from. If you apply yourself somewhat, you may help to clear things up and put things into perspective. That said, it is imperative to understand that this device is always referred to as the heart of the water feature because it lends a helping hand in the water filtration and oxygenation.

When choosing a pond pump, there are many factors that need to be considered in order to ensure that it is a good purchase. For instance, there are low efficiency comes available which are inexpensive, but unfortunately cost more to operate. Alternatively, high-efficiency models are more expensive at the point of purchase, but less expensive to operate. In fact, the more expensive model will end up paying itself off within the first year when factoring in the lower energy costs.

The high-efficiency model will often come with a better warranty than those low efficiency models. Aside from that, the consumer also has to make a decision with regards to the type of pump. Here, there are two choices, the in-line and the submersible. The in-line type is more complicated to install but it is easily repairable. On the other hand, the submersible type is more difficult to install but may be repaired if necessary.

The right size also has to be purchased in order to get the right flow rate and height. One should never take the pond pumps lightly because they handle a variety of functions, such as with circulating and filtering the water to remove any toxins, reduce algae growth, and even deter mosquitoes from laying their eggs in your water feature.

So, it is safe to say that this device is extremely important and requires great knowledge before making the investment. The Internet is a great resource for valuable information to help you make this decision. You may also get more information by speaking with garden center staff members.

What is for sure is that when the filtration system is boosted, the health of any inhabitants will never be affected. Obviously, you are making an investment and you should be able to protect it by giving them the oxygen they need. Furthermore, it is likely that you want the water feature to look fabulous, as that is the only way it can be truly enjoyed.

Making an educated decision is one of the best moves you can make when it comes to your back yard water feature. Be sure that the right size is purchased for top performance.

True Pump carries a huge variety of pond pumps to choose from. We have many years of experience in pump sizing and will be happy to help you decide the best choice for your individual situation.