ants in vegetable garden

how can I get ants off my okra without using poison?

dust them with cinnimon

Beginner Vegetables Third thread from the bottom Bug B Gone It work well . and dont for get to let it ferment . the cinnimon works too.


Sarge

If you have ants you probably have aphids. The ants are attracted to the sticky sap the aphids secrete. A good blast from the hose will knock the aphids off. If you see ladybugs or lady bug larvae they will eat a lot of aphids in no time.

For the most part, I don't worry about ants in the garden. I do worry about them when they start eating my plants, though. Spray for aphids using a mixture of a squirt or 2 of Murphy's Oil soap in a bottle of water. Apply liberally and as often as you need.

Kelly and tx are giving you the straight dope. The ants are after the aphids. Sometime in a dry spell ants will suck the blooms or even the okra pod itself for moisture but mostly it is for aphids.

Last year the ants tried to eat my corn, the buggers, but other than that they don't bother my veggies too much. I just don't like the little buggers, but they are more a nuisance than any real danger to your crops. The aphids on the other hand will literally suck the life outta your plants, so get rid of 'em.

Hey, at least my ants don't bite...

Silica dust and all natural citrus oil cleaner works good in addition, it brakes the waxy coating off the ants and dehydrates them and kills them .

Sarge

Ya'll don't have fire ants Kelly? I might be fixing to move if you don't.

Nope, at least not where I'm at... Just those little black annoying ants.

No fire ants here

You can always tell a guy from Louisiana, when he stops moving he always looks at his feet to make sure he isn't standing in a fire ant bed. Doesn't matter that he is in the living room.

ROTF and FL folks they do the same thing thats funny my brother does thatand shakes his feet when he stops and look down.lol

It is called self defense, Sarge.

After my bro came up from FL for a month and was still doing it I finally stopped laughing and asked why he was doing it ? he said the same thing fire ants ! down there would eat you up . I told him o thought he was not use to the grass or the girls hair hah got on his feet or something .lol he said nope but the first time you step in fire ants you will never forget it !

Sarge

Sarge, don't get too comfortable. They're headed your way...

RUN!!!

If I feel anything like an ant bite on me when I'm outside, I start stomping my feet and shaking my arms. It's kinda comical if you see me! LOL I remember very well stepping into an ant bed when I was a little girl at my grandmother's house. I had bites all over me! I couldn't have been more than 5, but I still remember the pain to this day. (And I'm a few years older than 5! LOL) I try to watch where I step, but sometimes it just doesn't work out very well and I get bit.

I lived in south Florida for 30+ years so have been bitten by fire ants more-than-enough times! Mowing the lawn is especially hazzardous.

One thing that will cut back on fire ant numbers is citrus peel. Take it outside, and tear it up over the nest and drop the pieces. Then run! There's something in the oil that is heavier than air, it sinks into the nest and suffocates the ants. Not all of them will be killed, but enough that you can safely mow the area without getting bitten.

The only chemical control that I found worked was "Amdro" - just follow the directions on the label.

Ya know how BAD something is when I'm willing to use a chemical to control it!

lol i got something for them lol

Beneficial nematodes sprayed regularly to your yard will help the ants, even the fire ants. When the ants of any variety start chomping on my plants, I apply a product called Mound Drench, which has orange oil in it. Wonder if I applied straight orange oil to the mound if that would kill 'em? Wouldn't want to apply it where something is growing because it would kill the plant, but it might be worth a try in a spot that's in the backyard away from prying eyes.

stephanie - using the orange oil on an ant mound is worth a try. What does the label say?

Except for fire ants, ants overall are considered beneficial insects. North American ants do not eat plants!

I don't know what the label says, but I do know you can use orange oil for cleaning greasy stuff in your kitchen, especially your stove and oven. The bonus is that it smells nice, too!

stephanie - yes it does smell nice. I'm allergic to citrus, the orange oil makes me sneeze and gives me a violent headache! I purchased some many moons ago and found out the hard way it's affects on me. Don't remember what happened to the container, but it disappeared in a big hurry!

Neem oil does the same thing.

HoneybeeNC,


The Natural Citrus Oil found in lemon juice and orange oil mixed with Soap and sprayed on an ant mound after it has been disturbed will kill 99.99% of the ants that live there. Ants have a wax type coating on their bodies the soap, citrus oils and juice breaks the wax down, and they “cook from the inside out or “dehydrate” and die.

Also for Smaller Mounds you can dust with silica gel dust the ants will take to the food storage area thus killing the food and the nest it will dehydrate the nest from the inside out .

I posted this info on another threads for a few folks … ~;{>)


The Sarge

Thanks, Sarge. So far I've not had a fire ant problem here in NC. The other kind of ants don't bother me, although I have been bitten a few times when I've accidentally disturbed their nests.

For the most part, I let bugs work it out for themselves good bugs -v- bad bugs!

The mounds of fire ants aren't hard to kill. The only problem is they are satelite mounds. The one with the queen is hidden somewhere that you'll never see. Bait like Amdro is the only effective remedy. They had them stopped and nearly wiped out a good many years ago. They were flying on myrex mixed in ground corn cobs. Some body found a dead fish and claimed it was the myrex and got it out lawed.

Grits sprinkled around a mound will kill it.