17% extra isn’t much, especially if the manufacturing is within the EU, where it could be seen as an investment.
It’s not zero either. I wish the real “savings” of relying on final products imports would be more quantified like this. It might not be worth it, sometimes.
But then, how much of that supply chain is china-free, once you go past the first level of the bill of materials.
Well it’s not “solved”, and they seem to be increasing in number, but its not like that became the “hive” (which I’m sure it’s not the right name for ants). Way way more cocoons are appearing and disappearing than the average amount of “nurses” shuffling them around. And crucially, while they walk around a metal beam inside, they don’t seem to care about my tomatoes and my plants. The feeling I get is that they are guests. I’m ready to regret my choice of not acting, but so far they keep behaving.
slrpnk.net was gone for a while, and I didn’t update the thread, but I wanted to thank you again, @StopSpazzing@lemmy.world We went through a cold-ish and super rainy week and into a heatwave, and while they kept shuffling their cocoons around, they seem to clean up after themselves and leave when hatched. Now, it seems like it’s an invasive species around here, and they are a bit annoying in some places (my wife’s workplace had an indoor wave of them). I’ll confirm the species when I get a chance. But for the specific case of the greenhouse, they are very considerate guests, ignoring my plants, nursing their babies, and GTFO. I think they leave the panels cleaner than they find them. A+ guests, would host again :D
The location is southern Germany. I don’t know if carpenter ants are a thing here.
They now amassed almost everything in the sections of the panels that are partially covered by the structure. It rained hard for 24 hours, so they are not shielding from the sun,
The ants are now spread on at least 4 panels (but crucially, not in the one that I flushed, fully damaging the tape). I guess it’s very humid in there, I let it bake off a bit before reinstalling it, but then I thought it would dry also while installed, given the damaged tape. The heavy rain didn’t make it worse (the openings are in a protected area)
I will have to spend the better part of a day to remove and fix all panels, so I guess I’ll observe the evolution until the weekend. I would not have the time (and the weather!) for major maintenance until then.
The garden has several spots with heavy ants activity. I naively expect that after hatching they will move out…
Yesterday night there was heavy rain, it must have been bumpy in there.
Are these crumbles a sign they hatched or broken? There seem to be more ants around today… Do they come out of that cocoon fully independent?
They also seem to be accumulating under the frame, so it might be already getting a bit too hot for them?
It’s fun to watch, I hope I don’t regret it 😅
Thank you! That seems to agree with what I observed in a mostly shady southern panel, where I observed the same early in the year, and while there are still some, they seem to have moved on (well, as long as I dont look on the north side :))
That is fascinating about them using it as incubator. I forgot that ants don’t all lay eggs… So they must be taking them there from where the queen lives?
I’ll leave them alone and observe for a while and ping you here if I have questions, thank you!
It’s on the north side, it gets sun but not too direct. The same cannot be said for me, working on it on the hottest day of the year so far. Stick a fork in me. I’m done.
My mind went to sounding balloons electronics. Launched multiple times a day from multiple locations, land pretty much wherever, often recovered by amateurs but often not. Electronics are not the worst environmental offender on those payloads (batteries, Styrofoam case…) but it checks the tickboxes of short lived electronics.