Ants invading your home or garden can be quite
frustrating. In the vegetable garden,
they feed on nectar-filled flowers, sweet tasting vegetables and fruits and in
the home they get into anything and everything they can. No doubt, ants can prove to be beneficial to
the gardener by feeding on destructive garden pests such as caterpillars,
spiders and small insects, but some species of ants like black garden ants live
together with the aphids for their honeydew.
In your vegetable garden ants sometimes even “farm” aphids, moving them
onto better plants. Ants collect the sweet honeydew that aphids secrete after
sucking plant sap. In this case, the
ants are actually inviting a notorious pest to come and live in the garden. Then, if that’s not enough, ants make tunnels
and nests in your soil and undermine roots. The most annoying thing about ants is they
bite you when you step on them accidentally; in fact, you won't get a chance to
wipe away the ants, as they live in groups and swarm you before you know what’s
happening.
Studying ants is an amazing lesson in survival. If ants encounter a substance that kills them
or forms a barrier, they set to work and pile up enough of each other, dead or
alive, to make a bridge to cross. Ants
are some of the more intelligent and cunning insects that man has to deal
with. Now having said all this, there
are over 14,000 ant species worldwide. Some
are useful as biological control in farming, many have painful bites and some
eat crops.
Controlling these pint sized monsters in the home and garden
is the focus here, so no matter which type of ants you have, most of them
continually scout around searching for food and if you see one, it's probably
left a scent trail and the rest of them will be on their way.
There are several methods for killing ants and I have
listed some of the most effective methods that I have found for you to try.
1-The method of drowning the garden ants with boiling
water is practical for small ant colonies. For one ant mound, you will need about 3
gallons of boiling water. Pour boiling
water in the ant hills and kill them you will.
2-Collect citrus peelings (orange, lemon, etc.) and grind
them with water and allow to sit for 24 hours. Strain the liquid and spray it over the ant
mound. This method is an effective
natural remedy for getting rid of carpenter ants and other garden ants.
3- Spraying a mixture containing borax is another effective
way to kill garden ants. For this
purpose, combine equal amounts of borax and sugar with water and spray the
mixture randomly in the garden or wherever you see ants. Sugar attracts the
ants to feed on the mixture and the borax kills the ants. Watch your eyes, nose, use gloves and wash
hands afterwards. Borax can also be mixed
with peanut butter or something sweet, such as honey, meaning when the ants eat
it, they take it back to their nest to share with other ants, hopefully
poisoning all in the nest.
4-Grits or hot cereals are a perfect choice for getting
rid of ants in the yard and garden. After
ants feed on this hot cereal, it expands in the stomach and kills them. Ok, to my knowledge this one doesn’t
work. I tried it and sat around waiting
for the ants to explode and it never happened, much to my dismay.
5-Silly as it sounds, I have been told this one
works. You can supposedly control ants
by using scented baby powder. They say any
kind of fragrance is a repelling agent for ants. So, spray baby powder, cinnamon, or pepper mixed
with vinegar to repel garden ants.
6-Diatomaceous earth will kill them and keep them away. I have not tried this remedy yet because of
the cost factor. It is pricy and I am
currently looking for a source that is affordable. This particular remedy does appear to have
the best feedback of all the organic remedies.
You can get it at the feed store and most garden centers. It is completely safe as it is very, very small
seashells. The sharp edges get between
their body joints and they "bleed" to death. They say it works on all bugs that are jointed
- or segmented. Diatomaceous earth
sprinkled on ants' trails supposedly kills ants by dehydration when they're
back in their nest.
In case, these methods do not work, you can use
insecticidal sprays. I know it’s not the
natural way to control ants but, if nothing is working, you can use chemical
insecticides for killing garden ants. Baits and mound treatments are the two best
ways to dispose of ants. Baits are the
more economical of the two and if you have patience you can get them under
control this way. Baits are usually
broadcast over the infested area with a spreader and must be done on a regular
basis, at least once a month. You can
also spot treat the mounds if you have “ants in your pants” and can’t
wait. These chemicals can be used as
sprays and also come in granules. Some
examples are Talstar, Amdro Bait, Advion, Spectracide Once and Done, Come &
Get It Bait, Sevin Concentrate Bug Killer,
Bonide Eight Insect Control, Permethrin (38% concentrate) Hi Yield 38
Plus Ortho Orthene Fire Ant Killer, Bayer Fire Ant Killer, Bengal Ultra Dust
Fire Ant Killer, and Terro Fire Ant Killer.
*Sprinkle dry product on and around mound as directed on
label. Do not disturb mounds before treatment.
*Depending on the size of the mound, it takes 1 to 2
gallons of water-insecticide.
As always please read the labels and follow them to the
letter, remember more is not better.
When spraying chemical of any kind, please wear protective clothing and
eye protection.
If you have any questions or comments, send me an email
at thatgardeninguy@hotmail.com .
Happy Gardenin’ and Keep Diggin’ in the Dirt.
