Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 24 February 2016
Celebrating their 18th Page 7
Ant plan needs support Kate Russell
Two Nelson residents believe they may have come up with a cost-effective and long-term solution for controlling Argentine ants in the region, using bait made from just sugar, water and borax. But, they say it will only work if the whole community gets behind their idea. Dr Kay Sneddon and Andrew Goldsworthy have teamed up to develop the bait, which is based on a similar project carried out in California where Argentine ants are regarded as the number one pest. They say the key to the bait’s effectiveness is using a low concentration of borax, a household product, which is a natural salt and has a low level of toxicity. It is not poisonous to animals or hu-
mans in low concentrations as long as precautions are taken. “Borax has been used to combat ants for ages - it’s not new, but what is new is the concentration,” says Kay. “People used to use it in very high concentrations, but it would kill the working ants straight away so wouldn’t have a chance to bring the bait back to kill the queens, which is what we need to do. But this low dose bait will allow the worker ants to return to the nest with the bait and get it into the colonies.” Andrew says the reason Argentine ants have established themselves so strongly in Richmond and Nelson is because they have multiple queens and form ‘supercolonies.’ And it’s a problem which
SEE PAGE 2
RUGBY DRAW liftoUt
Close to Paralympics Page 27
18 - 19
BRIGHTWATER WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL: Nelson's Anna Thompson and Brightwater’s Marian Goodman enjoy a glass of the crowd-favourite Middle-Earth Rose at Sunday’s Brightwater Wine & Food Festival. Photo: Brittany Spencer.
Huge crowd for wine and food festival Wine and music were flowing as over 4000 locals filed into Sunday’s Brightwater Wine & Food Festival, armed with umbrellas, picnic blankets and an endless sea of sunscreen. Middle-Earth Vineyard played host to the annual festival once more and was joined by the Mussel Inn, Waimea Estate, Millcrest Wines, Dale’s Brewing and other local vineyards, breweries and food stalls. Brightwater's Marian Goodman lives only a stone’s throw from the event. “This is our fourth year com-
ing, it’s such a cool community event and I only have to walk across the road.” Organiser Kevin Gear says Sunday’s festival was a dream. “It was a great day with no trouble, the weather was fantastic, the venue looked superb and everyone was just enjoying the music, food, wine and beer.” Kevin says the big winner was the camper vans, “We had around 50 turn up from all around New Zealand and they had a great time.”
For the first time, the festival opened its gates to motorhomes, offering a free stay amongst the vineyards. Noel and Barb Bain, who travelled up from Oamaru with Raewyn and Terry Thorpe, made the most of the festival’s new addition. “It was a good stay last night, everyone had a good time and it was very sociable,” says Terry. The group had never been to the festival before but said they were having a great time and recommended the Middle-Earth wines.
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