Ants eating my kale

Ok, I'm not new to gardening, but I've got kale that is being eaten through by ants. I've never had an ant problem like I am having now. They are fire ants. I live in Florida and ants are just a part of life...especially fire ants..but usually they aren't eating through the stems of my kale!! its weird. I've tried boiling water, over watering in the areas without kale, bone meal, borax and I don't use pesticides...especially for ant because it just runs them into the neighbors yard and then they spray and they run back into my yard.

To make a long story longer, I've got some diatomaceous earth but I also raise worms and need them in my garden beds 'cause I don't till...so will the diatomaceous earth kill my worms?? And does anyone know if I would have to mix the diatomaceous earth in with the soil or just coat the top? I'm about to plant tomatoes but I don't want to plant them with all the ants around cause then I will just be giving myself an aphid problem!

Help!!

salohlee

This message was edited Apr 5, 2010 4:08 PM

salohlee

This forum is for question relating to adding data to the BugFiles database.

We have a forum on Garden Pests and Diseases here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/pad/all/
and a forum on Insect and Spider Identification here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/bugid/all/
and if you post your question on either of these, you may get some help,

Kennedy
BugFiles Administrator