So you had a fire ant nest in your hosta - glad you got the problem under control and your plant is on its way back to good health. Ants have been a real problem this year. I had to have the outside and inside of my house treated for them. Sorry to say, I have a bug phobia. Love butterflies and bees- that's about the extent of it.

DD

These ants came into the Port of Mobile way back when they still had the banana docks for United Fruit. So we hold the title of introducing fire ants to the country. From here they spread across the southeast. VERY hard to kill them. When we were kids, we called them "piss ants" because they bit the p.... out of you. Then the bite formed a pus-filled sore, got infected, and you had impetigo.....one thing after another. Their tendency to make the sores is not good news for a diabetic like myself.

The ants create a tall mound above the ground, made from the aerated soil of their below ground network of tunnels and chambers. In the case of Lakeside Full Tide, it was way up the petioles. With a lot of rain lately, they were seeking dryer quarters. So this was the biggest pot in the area, and they sure filled up the pot.

This morning the plant looks normal, and no signs of fire ants around it. In a pot, taking the mound out is delicately done, but a lot easier than if the mound is in the garden itself....they just move someplace else! Yesterday I moved adjacent pots far away from that spot, and used the poison in the vicinity, then watered it in where my digging doxies do not find it so easily.

Not sure what you used, Moc, but a fire ant pro on the Garden Clinic Forum (from Alabama) says her favorite fire ant bait is Amdro.

tj

Thanks for the fire ant intro, need any Emerald Ash Borers?

We'll detour them your way, maybe they'll eat each other.

dave

I'll have to introduce my DH to the Garden Clinic Forum. He should be very interested in that side of the forum discussions. I'm thinking Amdro is what I used; it seems to have worked.

LS Full Tide did not wilt at all. I repotted it with its really long roots into a much deeper pot. It had magnificent roots on it. And it had set seed pods as well.

Glad you blasted the nasty little b*st*rds, Mocc. Yup, keep an eye on those bites, needless to say. I hear you, as a fellow diabetic.

Don B.

P.S.: 'Lakeside Full Tide' is a nice-lookin plant. I think I want one. Oooh boy. : )