QuestionHi there... I have 2 questions. 1. The other day I bought a sweet potato vine plant to put in a bare spot in a container. The guy that sold it to me mentioned that the plant had a few holes in the leaves; which it did. I still bought it. When I got out to the car, I turned over a leaf & found the most beautiful silver (looked like a drop of mercury) beetle on it. Even tho it was very pretty I was concerned that the plant may be infested with eggs of this bug. So I flicked it off. And I'm going to take the plant back. I AM curious tho...never have seen anything like it. Do you know what it was? Was it harmful? It was about the size of a lady bug; small.
Also... last yr, for the first time in my condo, I got ants in an area of a small wooden pantry in my kitchen.I was WAY surprised at how long it took to get rid of them. I used my old standbye from years back..Terro. No apparent effect. It took me over a month of using various "hotels" (ant traps) Terro, etc to get rid of them. They weren't those tiny little red ants, nor were they the big black ones. Just average kind of brownish black ants. I don't have them now; just wondering what the best kind of ant killer is the best. I don't know if they were attracted to the goodies in the pantry or the wood. Any ideas?
THANK YOU so much... I appreciate your ideas & help! Have a good week.
Liz N.
AnswerLiz,
There are a variety of leaf-feeding beetles in the family Chrysomelidae that are distinctly colored. You'd need to submit a picture to get a closer id. Any of these beetles can be damaging so it is probably best that the plant went back.
The borate-based ant baits like Terro are very effective against a variety of house-invading ants. As long as you see the ants feeding at the bait station it is working. If they stop feeding try adding a little vegetable oil to the liquid bait. See http://www.livingwithbugs.com/ants_house.html for some suggestions for ant control. Baits are the best method for all of these ants.
Jack DeAngelis
http://www.livingwithbugs.com
