So I was planing our little garden, right outside our kitchen door to the back yard. Well, as soon as I put the shovel in the ground, a ton of ants came pouring out. Now I see why with every crumb we drop, the ants come marching inside.
So I planted my garden anyway, but I'm wondering how to get rid of these little buggers. Luckily, they are just harmless black ants, and aren't biting red ants or aggressive.
I've tried boiling water and pouring it on their little community - no help. I tried mixing sugar with Borax thinking the Borax would poison them when they ate the sugar - no help. I'd prefer not to spray poison as they are so close to the house and literally in our garden.
Any advise?
TIA
You can also put out corn meal. The ants will eat it but they can't digest it thus killing off the nest.
For the inside I would try ant baits under your fridge or any other places kids can't get to but ants can.
For the outside I would try Diatomaceous earth (available at garden centers). It kills ants and fleas and it's completely non-toxic. It's actually just 100% fossilized skeletons of diatoms and algae, crushed up to a fine powder. It's great for plants but dries out the bugs and kills them that way.
You apply it by shaking it on the ground anywhere there are ants or other pests (I did our whole yard). I had to wear a dust mask and keep the kids out until the powder settled because it's very fine, like talcum powder, and easy to breathe in. Once it settles on the ground it doesn't become airborne again.
FYI: I was pregnant at the time and asked my OB about it (I brought in the information for her to look at) and she said it was harmless, and that some people feed it to their pets as a supplement!
Put Terro liquid ant baits in your kitchen and they'll be gone within a week.
Get some diatomaceous earth (pool supply places will have it) and pour it over them and around the area.
They'll shrivel up and die fairly quickly and you won't be poisoning any food/herbs you might be growing there.
I have to 'third' the terro ant bates...
We just put in a new roof on an OLD house...I do not know if that is what stirred things up, but all of the sudden TONS of ants in our upstairs bathroom...I mean TONS!!
Got some terro baits...and gone seemingly over night (well...a few days anyway).
Best!
I find that to truly eliminate a nest outdoors, an exterminator is best, but I don't bother any more -- ants come and go, and eventually will just be gone (a very heavy rain here eliminated our ant problem recently; it drowned out the nest). Meanwhile, yes to borax outside; yes to Terro inside; but if you want a more natural route for inside the house: Terro disks where kids can't get them, bu also keep counters and sinks extremely clean and spray them down with white vinegar and wipe; put a bowl of cinnamon in the microwave whenever you're not using it; put a line of cayenne pepper across where you see them coming in the wall or cracks around the windows. Ants hate the following: Cayenne; peppermint oil; cinnamon and of course borax. Cayenne can stain paint and surfaces so put it onto a piece of thin cardboard.
I put out ant baits in our kitchen and they worked only OK; I think it helped to also, at the same time, use plenty of vinegar after cleaning, refresh the cinnamon in the microwave, etc. Good luck. They will disappear eventually, and they frankly are always going to come back next year.....
We had ants and tried everything on the market and all the home remedies on the Internet. Nothing worked until we got an exterminator. We had pretty young kids so we made sure it was safe for children and pets. It seemed really expensive, but the amount we were spending on ant traps and other things was really starting to add up. Our ant problems have disappeared.
I would use more borax and less sugar. Its hard to get just the right mix and they have to bring it to the queen in their nest.
You can also try some organic pest killer, they sell it at Home Depot and its made from botanical oils. It is safe for you garden and home. I use them but you need to reapply often.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-64-oz-Ready-to-Use-Or...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-10-lb-Lawn-Insect-Kil...
Combat Ant Gel - I can't say enough good things about it. You put it where the ants can get to it, they carry it home and it kills the whole colony in 2-3 days.
http://www.amazon.com/Combat-Ant-Killing-Gel-27grams/dp/B...
If you can get your hands on some Peppermint essential oil, that will wipe them out! I put 2 drops in an area of my kitchen when I saw an army of ants there. Next a.m. they were gone.
diatomaceous earth is not the cure-all we'd like it to be, but one thing for which it IS really effective is ants. i get 50lb bags of the food-grade (not pool-grade) DE so that if one of the critters does inadvertently hoover some up it won't hurt them, but ants just hate it.
khairete
S.
Borax is poison, but it worked for my ants. I just sprinkled it and they did the rest of the work.
I would try the terro outdoor traps. I have seen them but didn't notice the ingredients. If it is like the indoor ones, it is borax and sugar. But I think the outdoor traps would be good with the elements as it won't wash away and the ants have a single place to go get their food/poison.
