ants

Hi,

Back again...it's been a while I know:) I am starting some fall veggies in my raised bed garden...took me lots of hours to tear out all the old stuff and weeds...but it is done...It just got too hot here in Florida to veggie garden over the summer. Now that I have planted some things, I noticed that I have TONS of ants. I believe them to be fire ants, but there are no mounds. Any ideas how to get rid of them safely. As in safe for my veggies...I could care less about the ants:)

desperate here:)

I do believe these are ants that if they bite you they are very sore spots indeed, thankfully we don't have any of those here in UK however, all ants are difficult to get rid of and I am sure some other folks will come in and help you out better than I can, the ants we have here get everywhere and bite, I buy a small plastic disk from garden store and hide this poisonous disk under a flower pot so other insects, birds and cat don't get to it, the ants are attracted to this stuff and take it back to the nest and the idea is it kills them off however, I have done this 2 years in a row and still have ants that climb up the climbing roses and protect the greenfly, the sticky mess from these flies is food for the ants, anyway the truth of this is, whatever this poison stuff is, it aint killing off all the ants so I personally am of the opinion that poisons are a last resort and as it didn't work, don't keep using it. I am sure there will be stuff available in USA but again, hope others come in to the thread.
A couple of years ago we had a thread going on that very subject and honestly, it was so funny all the things everyone had tried to rid their garden of ants and to be honest, am not sure any of the things tried worked, but it sure amused us when reading the thread.
Good Luck, WeeNel.

for the first time in years i dont have an ant problem and the only thing i can attribute it is an abundance of little toads. we had a very wet winter(for us) and tons of tadpoles hatched and grew. they are hopping all over the yard when i water and i see almost no ants. it is wonderful and i can only hope for more of the same this winter.
kc

Amdro bait worked best for me. I had a serious ant problem inside and outside when we moved into our house. And had the exterminator guys come monthly to battle them. For a year they tried and still we had ants. Then I tried the Amdro baits and voila, the ants in the house are gone. Still have some in the yard, but that's very managable. There are different kinds as well and I just put out some of the bait every 2 months, keeping them in check.
Timing was a key issue I believe. You have to put the bait out when they are in feeding mode, if they are programmed to move or do something else, they will not eat the bait. Just put some bait, where you see them and watch if they take it, if they do, put out some more bait, they'll take it to the nest and it'll kill the queen and then the whole nest will dye as well. If they don't take the bait, try in the next evening or next morning.

Amdro is the best for Fire ants. Heck for all ants.
Sprinkle a bit on each mound and in a week or so they should all be gone when the queen dies.
then just keep an eye out for new mounds and take care of those the same way.



This message was edited Oct 11, 2011 4:08 PM

Daniellenerik - if they are fire ants, then Amdro will kill them. If you want an organic way - tear up citrus peel over the nest, drop it onto the nest and run! Citrus oil is heavier than air and it will suffocate the ants nearest the surface. We used to have a grapefruit tree, and hubby would throw the peels all over the lawn before he mowed! We lived in Palm Beach County for 30+ years before moving here to NC.

If they are not fire ants, I would suggest you leave them alone. Native ants will invade fire ants nests - they hate them as much as we do!

Most of the time when I have fire ants in one of my raised beds, I will find a spot right out side the bed where they are working. I dust that area lightly with Bayer Dust and the next day those are gone as well as the ones that were inside the bed. Whether it kills them or runs them, I don't know. But there is no waiting and I can work the bed or harvest without worrying about getting wrapped up with the rascals.

I have a big nest of them in my big main bed. small mound, raised on the sides with a depression in the middle with the hole to get through to the ants. I've tried the boric acid ant slurry, and also Terro on pieces of vertical blind next to mound, but not seeing any real improvement.

I've tried digging it up a bit, and all I did was piss them off. I'm at the verge of digging up that area with a hand trowel and pouring scalding hot water on it, but don't really want to kill the beneficial insects.

I'd leave them alone, but about six feet away, I have a bean trellis, and when inspecting the sprouting seedlings yesterday, I noticed that one of them, not even entirely out of the ground, had half its leaf munched off, and there's a ton of ants near the trellis, too.

I've seen some on the mounds for the three sisters, but I'm making a dent in those with the ant slurry on vertical blinds trick.

but I'd love to hear what others have done.....

Did you try tearing up citrus peel over the nest? I know it sounds weird, but it really does work. The peel has to be fresh, and you must stand over the nest while you tear and drop the pieces into the nest. The oil in the peel is heavier than air and will suffocate fire ants.

From your description of the nest, it seems you do, indeed, have fire ants! I would not try digging with a hand trowel, those little buggers bite like heck!

fire ants, crap! I do know I have the 'piss' ants and then the slightly larger ants that are same color as carpenter ants, but smaller. but now I have to worry about fire ants - just my luck....LOL!

If you do get bitten by fire ants, you will soon know it - the bites look like this:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fire+ant+bite+pictures&view=detail&id=702F95DFCEE669FA520E6150C62F119B3D77B98F&first=0&qpvt=fire+ant+bite+pictures&FORM=IDFRIR

They itch like crazy for several days! I'm soooo glad we don't have them here (yet!)

If you get bitten by a fire ant or another stinging/biting insect apply bleach to it immediately and then rinse it off. Many times the area won't even get inflamed.

I had some field hands tell me to try ice on a fireant bite. It is amazing the itch quits quickly and the bite will never fester.

Now if there were only an equally easy solution to eliminate them.

Same with the fire ants and bleach idpf you get to it quick enough they will never fester. When my kids were young they would sit in the ant beds, and yes, they did it more then once.(definatly their father's side of the family) I'd stick the kid in the sink pour bleach on them and immediately rinse it off worked like a charm. You can also use ammonia BUT NEVER TOGETHER AS THEY WILL CAUSE A TOXIC GAS

Interesting, I know they would choose ice as they always had a water cooler or ice chest handy. I have even just held an ice cold soda can on the bitten area and it helps relieve the misery.

I've been stung and never noticed it until I got into bed and then the darn thing would not stop itching. Really bad between the toes.
Anyway the bleach/ammonia destroys the amino acid (protein chain) of the poison. Maybe the cold stops the formation too?
I can still remember the sound of diapers crinkling in the sink as I set my boys in there, they always just watched me totally positive that I could make it all better. Now one is 6' 3" and one is 5'8" and I dont know anything!

There are advantages to not knowing anything ~

I'd threaten to set them in the sink again...

Well they're both setting with me now so I know where they are and what they're doing but they dont think I know a thing about life. They won't fit in the sink I've thought about water boarding. LOL

1lisac -

question: does amdro get rid of all the ants in the yard? i have fire ants, and those sugar ants that i can NEVER keep out of the house. there is ALWAYS a trail of them up the outside of my house, then i find a few on the kitchen counter or somewhere i will not tolerate insects of any kind! the fire ants are a nuisance in the garden and the others dont bother the garden, they bother my living space.

My parents have the same problem with the sugar ants in CA. They put out those bait things that are enclosed. It doesn't stop them from getting in the house but it kills them once they get in. My mom kept her house spotless but if anything was left on the counter those ants would find it. As far as I know Andro should kill all ants.

i know what you mean, my mom cant stand dirtiness, but those ants go after almost anything. im planning on trying andro, hopefully it will reduce the ant piles in my yard, and help stop those ants. if i can find the baits then i might try those too. im not a fan of baits, because of dealing with cockroaches in new york -_- but then again roaches are bigger and so much nastier *shiver down my back.

can you use diatamaceous earth in the garden bed? I thought I read a post somewhere to make sure it's 'food grade', but when I went to the feed store, nursery, and also home depot, they all told me that the bag of diatamaceous earth they sold could be used in the vegetable bed.

even tho the one at home depot specifically stated not to use where food was being stored....

...but the one at the feed store was not even marked - it was in a zip-top bag with a simple white label.

hm, i know ive never even seen that product in the local nursery.-- ive heard of sprinkling it over the dirt to stop slugs from attacking plants. apparently the broken fragments of diatoms act like glass and shred the slugs bodies so they are discouraged from the beds. hopefully someone else will know more about it than me. -- thats strange that they would say to use it in the vegetables, even though it said not to.

yeah, I know.....

I always thought there was one type of DE, but I seem to remember recently somewhere here on DG that someone specifically said to 'get the food grade DE' if putting in your veggie bed, and wanted to clarify before going out and spending the money only to find out that I can't use it. :)

@coastalzonepush

Yes amdro works. It works very well. just put a teas spoon or so scattered across the top of each nest in your yard.

A more expensive way would be to mix it with fertilazier in your spreader if you want to cover the whole
lawn yard at once. but im not exactly sure what the mix ratio would be.

probably better to just target each nest.

thanks for the advice Easybake, it should be easier now since the rain made them build the piles up out of the grass. hm i really shouldve fertilized my lawn. im not sure if its too late now.......maybe winterguard or something...?

@coastalzonepush

not a bad idea but amdro is expensive and it takes a small amout /nest, spreading it on the whole lawn is over kill unless you have a huge infestation like a nest ever few feet.

oh ok, thanks. yeah my lawn is definitely not that serious lol i would die if it was. - jeez prices these days are such a bother. especially when people are trying to go green. i understand its a good marketing move to go with trends like that, but give us a break sometime right?- eh enough of my rant.

Dont know how "Green" Amdro is, but it does the job.
from what iv learned of it i think its only attractive to ants.So i dont think birds or other animlas will eat it.



This message was edited Oct 30, 2011 1:56 PM

The most effective way to use amdro is to cover the whole yard. You do it in strips and leave a space between where you spread the amdro. Makes it go further and you get a good coverage. If you have road side ditches around you place be sure and poison these. The queen is sitting in a nest somewhere you can't see and the mounds in the yard are where the workers come up to gather food to feed her. Got to kill the queen to control fire ants. I have been using a product called Over and Out for the past two years and have found it to be pretty effective. I put it out spring and fall. It is cheaper than Amdro.

The word from my bug man is never spray to kill sugar ants. Put out the bait where you see them and let them carry it back to there nest to control them. If you can find where they are running out side the home you can bait at that point and stop them from coming into the home. If you know a bug man you can buy the baits from him. They are very inexpensive.

It's not enough that we in the south have to contend with fire ants, we now have a new one to worry with, the hairy rasberry ant.

The best and cheapest bait that works well on Argentine ants or sugar ants is from Terro. http://terro.com/products.php?product=liquid_ant_killer

Diatomaceous Earth will kill earthworms. There are two types, one is for swimming pool filters - you need to buy the other one for the garden. The dust is a lung irritant. Once DE is wet, it is ineffective.

Boric Acid will kill ants and roaches, but must be kept away from children and pets as it is poisonous. It, too, is ineffective when wet.

When I lived in South Florida, I used something called Roach Prufe that was very effective at killing ants and roaches in the house. Doing a Google search for Roach Prufe (this is the correct spelling) will bring up several links.

if it gets wet, it's ineffective? DANGIT! the packaging said nothing of that.....

I just spread some DE and was about to go water the young plants with some seaweed/water mixture....

....and I also put it in some REALLY wet soil as well.......

but thanks, HoneyBee - your input always appreciated!

SFC - I don't think DE was ever meant to be used in the garden. My package says it's to control indoor pests such as earwigs, milliipedes, centiipedes, silverfish, cockroaches, fleas, carpet beetles and ants. Outdoor use: ants, cockroaches, earwigs and other crawling insects.

All the directions indicate using in dry areas. My bag is "Concern" and says it is effective and long lasting when kept dry. Insects cannot become immune to its actiion. Insects come in contact or ingest this powder and die with 48 hours.

I used to grow African Violets, and I purchased this bag to kill thrips that attacked the flowers.

"Diatomaceous Earth will kill earthworms. There are two types, one is for swimming pool filters - you need to buy the other one for the garden. The dust is a lung irritant. Once DE is wet, it is ineffective."

Honeybee, I beg to differ.

DE does not kill earthworms. As a matter of fact earthworm farmers use DE to kill parasites in their worm beds. Earthworms and actually eat DE, pass it thru their system and it will still in turn kills parasites in the worm beds. I think you might be thinking of intestinal worms that are found in livestock, as DE is often put in animal food for that reason, killing intestinal worms.

As for it being no good when wet...DE is often mixed in a spray tank with water and applied; it's actually more effective when applied with a sprayer as it will more easily cover and stick to leaf surfaces.

Back to ants, I tend to irritate them with wood ash, they hate it! Flooding them out a couple times with a water hose makes them pack up and move, too. However, I don't have fireants here on the farm so have not (yet---knock on wood) dealt with them. They're here in my area, just not on my place. But doing research a year or two ago on them Amdro came highly recommended, applied to the nest, so more'n likely that would be a route I'd choose.

Shoe...back out to enjoy a nice sunny fall day! Yay!

Horseshoe, after reading your post, I did some research and found the info I have (which goes back several years) is indeed incorrect regarding DE.

I'm delighted to find that DE is harmless to earthworms because I have always avoided using it in the garden. Now I feel I have a safe pesticide to deter or kill sow bugs that plague my garden by the thousands.

Thank you for your clarification :)

well, I'm trying to go as organic as possible because I'm hypersensitive to chemicals, and also because chemicals on food is YUCKIE!

so i'm glad to hear that I can use DE CAN be used in the veggie garden - hate to waste my money.

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