does anyone have an organic solution foar ants in our garden

We have ants stripping our fruit trees of all its leaves and also eating our garden seedlings, does anyone have an organic solution to this problem? We don't want to use chemicals.

I have kept the leaf cutter ants off my trees by tying a rag soaked in repellent (citronella?) around the trunk.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I've heard of burying a can full of water up to the rim and they fall in and drown. Gonna try that out today, also.

You could also use Tanglefoot- a very sticky paste- put a band of it around the trunk and no crawling things can go over it. I use it on the supports of my hummingbird feeders- it lasts for a long time and stays sticky.

Plant tansy. Lots!

Thanks for the info. What does the tansy do? Is tangle foot the stuff that is painted on the red balls and hung on a tree limb?

chance, Tanglefoot is extremely sticky, and can be used as a barrier anywhere for stopping crawling bugs. It comes in tubs or tubes. I have a pint tub that I have had for about 20 years! Still sticky!

Chance, I don't know exactly what the tansy does, but the old timers used to swear that planting it kept ants away.

Thanks for all the info. realy got to figure this out. Out of 2 20' rows of sugar peas, I might have 8 plants left, the ants are realy taking their toal on them.

Tansy has a toxic substance called thujone, the levels can vary, it is genetically determined. I have read that back in the day, cooks rubbed it on their tabletops to keep bugs away. It has a pine scent when crushed.

Have you ever thought of planting things like dill to attract predators of ants? I hate spiders and wasps but leave them alone when I see them in the garden.

Beneficial nematodes - I just purchased Scanmask for controlling cut worms in my garden. On the label there were instructions for killing mounds of fire ants.

Google "beneficial nematodes"

We pour boiling water on the mounds.

Your ants are probably small, not like the ferocius fire ants we've had to fight here in Texas. But if you can find the mounds, pour boiling water down the entrance hole. Inexpensive, nontoxic and fast. Just be careful to avoid hitting any plants with the hot water.

We have the big reds and the big black ants here. The only problem I have with the boiling water is the mound is in my peas.

chance, the best "organic" remedy is to hoe the mound, disturbing the ants. You can also water the anthill several times. Doing either of those will let the ants know it is not a safe place to live and they'll actually pack up and move elsewhere. I see no need to kill something as tame as the ants you have.

I've also sprinkled wood ash on the mounds and around plants as ants don't care to crawl through it. Hope you or a friend has a wood stove for plenty of ash.

Hope this helps.
Shoe

Thanks for the info shoe.

You're welcome. Hope you have success; ants love to herd aphids so keep an eye out for them on your peas.

Wishing you a great pea harvest! Mine are only up about an inch so far but I'm tasting them already (in my mind)!

Best,
Shoe

Planting marigolds with your maters will keep the cut worms away.

CajuninKY: I do have marigolds around the tomatoes. I've seen some 'caterpillar poop' lines on the leaves, but so far, so good!

Now if I can just figure out what's eating the leaves on my bush beans....

Hello Chance :) I live in the same desert as you and have been having issues with said large red and black ants. We recently bought our house which had been empty for some time. Between both our neighbors bug sprays and the house having an all dirt backyard which was undisturbed for a year, we had at least 50 ant hills! The only way we were able to get them out was just as HorseShoe said, hoeing and watering! Within the week they all relocated elsewhere. Amazing what happens when someones home is messed with :) Good Luck!

Get chickens

Thanks for the info. I have been trying the water trick, it worked on a few mounds, but a couple of them are persistant.

Put a shovel full of ants from each mound onto the other mound. They will kill each other.

If those are fire ants, that technique doesn't work any more. They seem to have united in an us-against-them pact.

Oh yes, and my chickens won't eat fire ants either.

This message was edited Apr 25, 2011 4:09 PM

Wow. I have been away a long time. I'd go with the boiling water.

Actually the ants in question sound like leaf-cutter ants so my comments really do not apply.

I though those only lived in the jungle.

Nope they live in on the riverbank behind our barn.

I had no idea. They are interesting as a species but I wouldn't care to have them as neighbors. LOL

aparently I need a lot of chickens, they arent fire aunts, I dealt with those when I lived in Tx. I think they are carpenter's. Mostly they eat the mesquites but my other plants are getting eaten' as well now.

When the leaf cutters (carpenters?) first showed up I found them fascinating and watched in awe as they stripped every leaf off a peach tree. I became a little alarmed when they then moved on to the next peach tree and that is when I tied the rag soaked in insecticide around the trunk. That worked; they moved on to tree #3! They do stay out of the chicken pasture but there is a huge colony of them on the river bank. I bait them with Grants when they threaten the citrus trees. Organic control? I don't know any.

Chance,

Here are my first two choices and my best for just about any & every location, with the exception of a few that it can not be shipped too.

The First is Pyrethrin and here is where you can get it :
http://www.nextag.com/pyrethrin/compare-html

The next is Maxforce Ant Baits and here is that site :
http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/Catalog/Ant-Baits

Both will kill your ant problems fast and efficiently and the products are Awesome!

Good luck and Best Regards

Sarge

Thanks for the info.
Sarge, did you retire out of Ft. Campbell?

Chance,

Funny thing my retirement came from Tucson, AZ on the Border Mission known as Operation Jump Start and the security of the border. t was stationed there in Tucson.

Sarge

So, question:

I have small red/brown ants which (my father says) are supposedly farming aphids, and just the other day I found a few carpenter ants messing around on my zucchini.

HOW DO I GET RID OF THESE BUGGERS WITHOUT GOING NUCLEAR ON MY PLANTS?


*desperate here*

thanks.

The small ant is commonly called a sugar ant or a pissant. It is an Argentine ant. I use Terro ant poison which works slowly but works. http://www.terro.com/products.php?product=liquid_ant_killer

Yes, your father is right, they are "farming" aphids. The aphids will cause the plant to drip a sticky sweet that the ants love. Terro is a sweet, sticky type of syrup with poison that they eat and carry back to their nests. Eventually it will kill them all off. Terro does need caution as pets and children will be drawn to it also.

This is a remedy and information I saved that you can make http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/228658/ but again, be aware the boric acid is harmful to pets and children.

I have no experience with carpenter ants, sorry.

podster:

the ants are in my raised vegetable garden - is this product safe to use around food plants, though?

thanks.

I don't see why not. It is a liquid that you put on a piece of cardboard which you place in their path. They eat it and take it back to their nest. There is really nothing that would be applied to your soil or plants.

I would place the cardboard with the feast on it under a clay pot which is propped up shallowly. That would keep critters or the wind from bothering it. The minute amount they might track over your soil or plants will hurt nothing.

I see Terro also has carpenter ant treatments. Just nothing listed for the "blessed" fire ants! http://www.terro.com/guide-ants.php

BTW, boric acid is also commonly used in roach powders. I was given a roach remedy by an elderly gal and it works.

We have really big ants - they are grey, about 12 or 14 inches long with another 10 inches of fluffy grey tail, trees seem to be their favorite location but they climb anything with abandon.