ANT HILL MEDIUM?

[Guest]

We can only prevent so much damage once we make the choice to grow outside. It is not possible to prevent all damage we inflict. The point is to try to damage the environment as little as possible.

Going out of your way to destroy entire ant colonies is not trying your best to cause as little damage as possible - infact, it is going out of your way to damage the environment. Once you go out of your way to needlessly destroy the environment, that's when I have a problem.


Believe it or not, ant colonies with thousands of ants play a major role in the ecosystem, benefitting MANY other organisms.

Going out of your way to destroy ant colonies is NOT cool. It may sound insignificant to whine about destroying ant colonies, but I bet you money they are more beneficial than you actually believe, at this moment.

Just because ants are high in numbers doesn't mean it's ok to destroy their homes. They are high in numbers for a reason - the ecosystem evolved that way.

Once again: The point is to minimize damage to the environment as much as possible - not prevent 100% of it - and not go out of your way to needlessly damage the ecosystem you are growing in. Be a responsible outdoor grower.

 

[Guest]

What type of ant hill? Are they native to the area? An ecosystem can be destroyed by an invading species. Lets not prejudge.

That's an exception, and a good point you make.

Say, fire ants - they are not native and are spreading throughout the US - so killing their homes would not be a bad thing.

But this should not mean people can just assume what they are killing is non native. People need to do research and figure out if the species they are wiping out is non native beforehand.

 

[Guest]

I'd say find out if it's native or not first if it is worth growing in.

Before anyone gets too worked up, I don't know about you but I'm guilty of killing off colonies of water bugs, hornets, wasps, ants around my house. Don't want them in my house and I'm sure I'm not alone on this either. Being eco-conciencious is one thing but don't be eco-hypocritical. I also hear southern folks aren't real keen to rattlers and scorpions around the house either.

J.

 

[Guest]

I'd say find out if it's native or not first if it is worth growing in.

Before anyone gets too worked up, I don't know about you but I'm guilty of killing off colonies of water bugs, hornets, wasps, ants around my house. Don't want them in my house and I'm sure I'm not alone on this either. Being eco-conciencious is one thing but don't be eco-hypocritical. I also hear southern folks aren't real keen to rattlers and scorpions around the house either.

J.

That dives into the realm of personal safety. Felling a dead tree isn't as necessary as getting wasps out of your house.

We all damage the environment, the point is to minimize that damage as much as possible

 

[Relik]

We all damage the environment, the point is to minimize that damage as much as possible

You've pretty much summed up what I had in mind. Very few people can claim to be 100% ecological, however it should be a common concern to cause as less changes as possible in the environment. Not only when growing herb outdoors, but also in your everyday life.

Peace

 

[muddy waters]

personally i think the damage is not significant if Jed is destroying a couple of ant colonies per year for his grow. IMO Gelatinous you are obviously well-intentioned but far too idealistic--agriculture is hardly ever an eco-sensitive proposition. if Jed is careful not to eliminate all the ants in an area--and why wouldn't he be, since he wants to use their ant hills in the future--then his method is probably just as ecological as digging a hole, which would also destroy billions of micro-organisms. in fact using the ants' natural fertilizer is also preferable to introducing chemical or even organic fertilizer from distant sources.

 

[Guest]

There are far less ants than there are micro organisms in the soil, and the fertilizer used in a hole would increase micro organisms in the soil if anything.

There's no point to be destroying ant colonies when you can just plant in soil. It isn't ecologically better to use an ant hill as fertilizer because that hill being eradicated poses more of a threat to that ecosystem than does buying organic fertilizer at a store.

There's no reason to do this other than laziness and irresponsibility far as I'm concerned.

Nobody needs to destroy ant colonies to grow their pot. There's no reason to and there is no benefit to the ecosystem in doing so.

 

[muddy waters]

There are far less ants than there are micro organisms in the soil, and the fertilizer used in a hole would increase micro organisms in the soil if anything.

that completely depends on the fertilizer being used. don't you realize that introducing even an organic fertilizer in large doses is greatly manipulating the natural ecosystem, potentially causing imbalance?

There's no point to be destroying ant colonies when you can just plant in soil. It isn't ecologically better to use an ant hill as fertilizer because that hill being eradicated poses more of a threat to that ecosystem than does buying organic fertilizer at a store.

again, not necessarily. you can buy organic fertilizer in a store, for instance, bone meal, that carries pathogens. or fish meal that contains heavy metals. or what about the massive agricultural operations needed to produce blood or bone meal, and the native land that was destroyed in building them? and you still haven't realized that even the digging of that hole and fertilizing it is disrupting the native ecosystem, altering the soil's characteristics, reducing the ability for native plants to reproduce. but humans cannot live and carry out their activities without affecting their surrounding ecosystem. i agree that this should be minimalized but i found Jed's method to be a creative way of balancing human needs and low impact methods.

There's no reason to do this other than laziness and irresponsibility far as I'm concerned.

well, i don't think guerrilla growing is the province of 'lazy' growers, first of all, and the method described here seems to demand quite a bit of physical exertion. irresponsibility in my mind would be if Jed went along and destroyed every ant hill in the area in order to plant. but he doesn't seem to be doing that.

Nobody needs to destroy ant colonies to grow their pot. There's no reason to and there is no benefit to the ecosystem in doing so.

that's like saying, nobody needs to grow pot to begin with, and there's no benefit to the ecosystem in doing so, which would be equally true.

 

[Guest]

that completely depends on the fertilizer being used. don't you realize that introducing even an organic fertilizer in large doses is greatly manipulating the natural ecosystem, potentially causing imbalance?

again, not necessarily. you can buy organic fertilizer in a store, for instance, bone meal, that carries pathogens. or fish meal that contains heavy metals. or what about the massive agricultural operations needed to produce blood or bone meal, and the native land that was destroyed in building them? and you still haven't realized that even the digging of that hole and fertilizing it is disrupting the native ecosystem, altering the soil's characteristics, reducing the ability for native plants to reproduce. but humans cannot live and carry out their activities without affecting their surrounding ecosystem. i agree that this should be minimalized but i found Jed's method to be a creative way of balancing human needs and low impact methods.

fertilizing is ESSENTIAL if you are growing outdoors.
eradicating ant hills is *not* essential.

 

[muddy waters]

yeah i see your point, but even planting and fertilizing without destroying an ant hill has negative repercussions on the ecosystem. potentially even greater than the destruction of a colony of ants. you seem to not be able to see that.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Ive planted in ant hills before and it does indeed make for some healthy plants.
The ants that make hills here are an invasive species of ant. Not fire ants but are probably the same ants TennesseeJed described.
I saw a show on the Discovery Channel that said lb.for lb.,ants weigh more than humans do on this planet.Thats a lot of damn ants.
I dont think that planting in a few ant hills is going to harm anything more than digging a hole anywhere else would. I never heard of endangered ants, anywhere.
People who speak about environmental damage and all have a good message that everyone should heed, for the benefit of all living things on this planet.
What they need to keep in mind is their message loses credence when taken too far and that their statements should be based on fact and science, not on what "feels good" or seems to be the politically correct thing to say.
Now Im gonna go hunt whales...
Peace. Capt.Ahab :wink:

 

[Guest]

'poon one for me, ahab!


LD

 

[Guest]

While this thread is heading this way, thought I might add this bit of info.

The destruction of natural peat bogs for peat moss is extremely destructive to the environment. In purchasing products that contain peat you are encouraging such behavior on part of corporations whos only moral is dictated by Accounts payable and Account Recievable.

With that said; I think it is hard to fully judge anothers eco-actions until you yourself are innocent - I am not.

J.

 

[Guest]

yeah i see your point, but even planting and fertilizing without destroying an ant hill has negative repercussions on the ecosystem. potentially even greater than the destruction of a colony of ants. you seem to not be able to see that.

Destroying a colony of a living organism like ants is a lot worse than buying fertilizer.

"Hey I got an idea! Lets just get rid of fertilizer use and rape the land." No. Bad idea. There aren't enough humans for the land to support in that fashion.

 

[muddy waters]

gelatinous what is most agriculture other than 'raping the land' for human benefit?

are you a hunter-gatherer?

 

[TennesseeJed]

"Hey I got an idea! Lets just get rid of fertilizer use and rape the land." I wonder if this fella dreams this up whilst he be having his cafe latte with 2/3 xtra creme in his plastic cup @ the mall where the fields and lowlands full of ducks and sharptails were bulldozed for the 'Mall' to be built. and chatting on the cell phone full of lead solder which gets tossed into the trash can when the cadmium batteries go dead.
like i said b4, "i didn't want to get into a pissin' match",now i gotta piss. ive used no fossil fuels to heat my house for 35 yrs. we 100% recycle. we grow our own veggies. 99% of our meat comes from the woods and lakes. on the heating with wood thang- they be as many ants living in trees as in the ground. so???? whats your point? dont cut the trees? they also black hornet colonies living in the maple trees thet i like to burn for heat. like has been pointed out "see the big picture'. BTW Muddy Waters---i use to come down and see ya @ the West Bank in the Cabooze in the waaaay early '70's

city folk just dont understand

up hear we call em c'idiots. now b4 Gelatinous put me on trial for crimes against the planet im gonna have me sum blueberry pancakes and go check my maple sap drip buckets. BTW they be runnin' full steam now, i should get enuf for 3 gallons of syrup. (damn i need to cut down sum more trees to render down the sap). Or, Gelatinous, are you suggesting i use electric thet is generated @ the nuclear power plant? or the fossil plant? and, have you replaced ALL ur incandesent bulbs in ur house for the cfl's? to reduce ur electric use? we have.

 

[Guest]

"Hey I got an idea! Lets just get rid of fertilizer use and rape the land." I wonder if this fella dreams this up whilst he be having his cafe latte with 2/3 xtra creme in his plastic cup @ the mall where the fields and lowlands full of ducks and sharptails were bulldozed for the 'Mall' to be built. and chatting on the cell phone full of lead solder which gets tossed into the trash can when the cadmium batteries go dead.
like i said b4, "i didn't want to get into a pissin' match",now i gotta piss. ive used no fossil fuels to heat my house for 35 yrs. we 100% recycle. we grow our own veggies. 99% of our meat comes from the woods and lakes. on the heating with wood thang- they be as many ants living in trees as in the ground. so???? whats your point? dont cut the trees? they also black hornet colonies living in the maple trees thet i like to burn for heat. like has been pointed out "see the big picture'. BTW Muddy Waters---i use to come down and see ya @ the West Bank in the Cabooze in the waaaay early '70's

up hear we call em c'idiots. now b4 Gelatinous put me on trial for crimes against the planet im gonna have me sum blueberry pancakes and go check my maple sap drip buckets. BTW they be runnin' full steam now, i should get enuf for 3 gallons of syrup. (damn i need to cut down sum more trees to render down the sap). Or, Gelatinous, are you suggesting i use electric thet is generated @ the nuclear power plant? or the fossil plant? and, have you replaced ALL ur incandesent bulbs in ur house for the cfl's? to reduce ur electric use? we have.

There is absolutely no reason to go around destroying entire ant colonies just so you can grow your pot. You can't give 1 legitimate reason as to why you NEED to be destroying ant colonies for your drugs. Using anthills for fertilizer at the expense of the colonies they house is flat out unnecessary.

For you to be sending the message to growers that this is ok to do so is irresponsible.

Outdoor MJ growers undertake the responsibility to do as little damage as possible to the ecosystem they are growing in, only doing things that are absolutely necessary in order to grow.

Specifically searching out ant colonies to plant in and therefore destroy them does not fall under the category of necessary.

PS: Don't make assumptions about those you don't know.

 

[TennesseeJed]

""but i do cop to shooting several deer, dozens of ducks, several limits of grouse, take many limits of crappies and walleyes, spear northern pike, pick several gallons of blueberries every year and chase the deer off the highways with my motorcycle."

Stop being selfish-- im sorry for being selfish

"BTW i burn 20 loggers cords of wood each year to heat my home which prolly comes out to 150 trees"

Just because you pollute to the extreme in other areas doesn't make it ok to damage the ecosystem---hmmmmmmm







.IMHO i think using the occational ant hill for growing medium is using a resourse that is OUT THERE rather than hauling it in

STOP damaging the ecosystem needlessly by destroying anthills------hmmmmmm ok


"wonder if this fella dreams this up whilst he be having his cafe latte with 2/3 xtra creme in his plastic cup @ the mall "

PS: Don't make assumptions about those you don't know----hit the nail on the head !!!

 

[Sammet]

Don't kill ants please.

1. Ants are useful for clearing out insect pests and aerating the soil. A handy source of Biological Control - Ants > pesticides.

2. Seen the film "The Ant Bully" ?

3. The Buddha teaches to refrain from taking the life of living beings. (as good a reason as any)

 

[Guest]

""but i do cop to shooting several deer, dozens of ducks, several limits of grouse, take many limits of crappies and walleyes, spear northern pike, pick several gallons of blueberries every year and chase the deer off the highways with my motorcycle."

Stop being selfish-- im sorry for being selfish

"BTW i burn 20 loggers cords of wood each year to heat my home which prolly comes out to 150 trees"

Just because you pollute to the extreme in other areas doesn't make it ok to damage the ecosystem---hmmmmmmm







.IMHO i think using the occational ant hill for growing medium is using a resourse that is OUT THERE rather than hauling it in

STOP damaging the ecosystem needlessly by destroying anthills------hmmmmmm ok


"wonder if this fella dreams this up whilst he be having his cafe latte with 2/3 xtra creme in his plastic cup @ the mall "

PS: Don't make assumptions about those you don't know----hit the nail on the head !!!

Can you just give me a clear reason as to why it is essential for you to kill ant colonies and grow in their homes? What is or are your reason(s)?

We've gotten this far in this thread and I'm having trouble putting together why you need to do this. I see bits and pieces of reasoning but I'd like for you to state exactly why in 1 post.

Not being an ass, just want clarification. Thanks