L. Barry

Posting here out of desperation to try and remove the colony of ants we have right outside our back door. We're on the east coast of Australia. Not sure what type of ants these are exactly (very small so hard to identify), but everything we've tried has failed, including a borax/sugar/water solution (soaked in cotton balls) and various ant powders/sprays. Obviously nothing has gotten to their queen to kill off the colony. There's no mound to be seen anywhere so we believe they're colonised within one of the cracks of the building. We're going mad as they quickly crawl up our feet and bite us to death when we step outside. We can't afford pest control to rid them that way either.

If there are any trade secrets that we haven't yet tried, please tell.

We've moved into a new rental home and have quickly noticed the kitchen benches/countertops will permanently stain VERY easily. Anything that should just be wipe-able becomes another permanent eyesore. Even upon moving in there were awful ring stains. I've successfully removed most of it with Barkeepers Friend; but I shouldn't have to use such a product every time we have a minor spill.

Is there some sort of protective glaze or finish we can apply? I'm assuming here that most countertops are treated with such a thing by their manufacturer? We've never had kitchen benches like this.

We bought some Federation Daisies yesterday, and when I pulled the plant out of it's pot today I found it's fully root walled. This is my first flower plant ever so forgive my ignorance but should these roots be trimmed or just placed in a bigger container of soil? I'm surprised they would be sold needing immediate attention like this but I'm sure I was told that roots need trimming at this stage.

Thanks for the replies. I looked up each one individually. One of them, basil, can handle up to 35c in full sun so I've put that with the bell peppers. These two plants are the only ones I've found so far that can take the heat and full sun all day. Everything else withers within half an hour, so we've had to be really careful. Parsley (I think) comes second for temperature tolerance, up to 30C. The other two can only tolerate 20-25C so they definitely need to be indoors. The difficult part is providing enough sun indoors. Some of our windows get maybe 2 hours sunlight in the morning but that's it.

My husband bought a 4 pack of herb seedlings today, being Italian Parsley, Sage, Oregano and Basil. One problem I find with googling plant care is frequently the care guide will not mention temperature tolerance, only amount of sunlight which can be an entirely different thing. We're in sub-tropical Australia and just coming into spring/summer. Daytime is already very hot (25c+) so we need to be careful how we care for these herbs. The biggest problem is while we have an air conditioned home with lots of windows, none of them really give full sun (good for us in the heat but not so much for plants), so our options are basically full sun in high temperatures (outdoors) or low temperatures and little sun (indoors). Can all of these herbs survive here in some way?

Funny/annoying thing happened today. I found the cat sat in the pot where I've got carrot sprouts growing. No idea how long she'd be there, but now the tiny things all look limp. Are they dead now?

One site says to cut about an inch from the base. Will the remainder of those leaves die or continue growing?

Is there a way to allow lettuce leaves to regrow without the stem going brown wherever the previous leaves used to be? I'd really like to have fresh lettuce on hand whenever needed but I find this problem occurs no matter what the lettuce species. I've heard some people use a knife to harvest the leaves. Does that prevent the stem going brown?

I'm in zone 2 (sub tropical) and we're actually entering into summer now. Gold Coast in Queensland to be exact.

So they may not be harmful to plants? I hope so. I've never seen them on the plants directly (heard the larvae eat the root hairs though?) so maybe that's a good sign. I'll try the sand method next.

The potatoes are outdoors far away from anything else that's growing. So they are appearing both indoors and out. I've tried the vinegar and dish soap solution but they aren't interested. Maybe they aren't fruit or fungus flies? I'd snap a picture but they are far too small.