Question
Thanks again for responding to my question I asked you yesterday about using sugar to fertlize my lawn with instead of a chemical fertlizer. My question though is this: By using sugar do you have ant problems in your yard?


Answer
Hi brian;
Anys, right?
You water it in well, so it does not attract ants.
I don't think it does, anyway. I had ants before, but now I don't. I have a large herd of lawn livestock, toads, lizards, and grass snakes, so if any anys ate attracted, my lawn critters eat them.Everything you oput down to kill insects, also kills the critters that eat them. the critters do a better job.
I put chopped orange peels when it is time for fire ants to swarm, and they stay out of my yard.
I get a large bag of oranges, and get all the grandkids over. They eat oranges, and I chop the peels, and they help scatter them. they really get a kick out of that ritual. LOL
I don't use any chemicals at all.
The only down side I have found is, I used to get wild viloets in my yard. they are a weed, and since I have been using sugar, the wild violets will not thrive. I really liked them, and would like to have them in my yard, but not enough to go back to trying to deal with the other weeds, and using the chemicals.
When i first put the sugar down, in a couple of weeks, about half the weeds were just gone. nobody pulled or dug up a weed. In a few more mowings, there were no weeds showing. Some came up the following spring, and in a few weeks they were gone. aboyt the 3rd year, no weeds even came up, in the front yard and back yard where I used the sugar. In the alley, I was still getting poison ivy. It doesn't bother me, so I can pull it up with my bare hands, but my grandchildren were getting it on them. I threw sugar in the alley, and now I don't get poison ivy sprouting up.
I no longer have Dandelions, dollar weed, crabgrass, johnson grass, chickweed, clover etc.
Tree seedlings still come up. Trees LOVE rich soil, so I tie a piece of black plastic around little sapplings, and let the sun cook them. They die, and in a couple of weeks, the tap root on them is dead, and I can easily pull them out.
Instead of fungicides, I use baking soda disolved in water and spray my roses for black spot, and other shrubs that are susseptible to powdery mildew. It keeps fungus and molds off much better than the fungicides did.
I see lizards running along the top rail of my fence all the time, and i NEVER have aphid damage on my roses. i used to have to spray them with insecticide once a month, and still had aphid damage. Now ebery rose opens with a pure, unblemished bloom, and they smell better.
Charlotte