Hi All,
Some time ago I wrote about my ant problem. I have tried the boric acid
with sugar and water one poster gave me a recipe for. Although it did
attract an ant or two, it didn't do a thing to solve my ant problem. (This
did work for my mother's ant problem's though)
Anyway, I still have ants in my raised beds. They are crawling over all
my vegetables and flowers. I have been keeping a look out for aphids as last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden. It has
started again. I don't have any aphids yet, but I do have lots of ants. I
also seem to have 3 or 4 different kinds of ants. Almost all are black. Some
are so small you can just barely see them, while others look like regular
picnic ants.
I live in TN but also had this same problem in GA. One of the ant
species, seems to live in the roots of my plants, building up a mound around
the stem, especially on my Cosmo's in the cutting bed. When this happened in
GA, I discovered that the ants had made a tunnel into the stem. This same
thing happened to me last year, with some Sun flowers I planted. As you
would guess this eventually kills the plant, makes the stem very stumpy and
large, while the flowers are small and weak.
These ants make little mounds of dirt everywhere, but I can't seem to
find any one source of their nest. I have tried pellet's that say they are
for killing snails, slugs and ants. I have tired the boric solution, I have
tried boiling water. On the cutting garden I have tried systemic poison. I
have tried Seven dust.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can you offer more idea's on how to
rid the garden of the ants? I am at my wits end.
TIA
Oriole

Oriole wrote:

Hi All,
Some time ago I wrote about my ant problem. I have tried the boric acid
with sugar and water one poster gave me a recipe for. Although it did
attract an ant or two, it didn't do a thing to solve my ant problem. (This
did work for my mother's ant problem's though)
Anyway, I still have ants in my raised beds. They are crawling over all
my vegetables and flowers. I have been keeping a look out for aphids as last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden. It has
started again. I don't have any aphids yet, but I do have lots of ants. I
also seem to have 3 or 4 different kinds of ants. Almost all are black. Some
are so small you can just barely see them, while others look like regular
picnic ants.
I live in TN but also had this same problem in GA. One of the ant
species, seems to live in the roots of my plants, building up a mound around
the stem, especially on my Cosmo's in the cutting bed. When this happened in
GA, I discovered that the ants had made a tunnel into the stem. This same
thing happened to me last year, with some Sun flowers I planted. As you
would guess this eventually kills the plant, makes the stem very stumpy and
large, while the flowers are small and weak.
These ants make little mounds of dirt everywhere, but I can't seem to
find any one source of their nest. I have tried pellet's that say they are
for killing snails, slugs and ants. I have tired the boric solution, I have
tried boiling water. On the cutting garden I have tried systemic poison. I
have tried Seven dust.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can you offer more idea's on how to
rid the garden of the ants? I am at my wits end.
TIA
Oriole




You could use Diazinon granules. It is not organic though. I sprinkle a
small band around my house to keep out crickets, earwigs, ants and other
critters. It is toxic to pets and birds until it is washed into the
ground so make sure you follow the directions. I never used it on my
garden, but the bag has directions for putting it around veggies.

Can't guarantee this will work, but it seemed to make my baby ants
disappear. They were like little armies in a line going from my lawn,
across my concrete patio, and under the step into my house and across my
counters. It was very annoying. Ant traps didn't work and you could only
spray with Raid so many times.

I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode. I know
you're probably laughing, but mine disappeared after sprinkling some around
my patio.

You'll never know until you try. Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"Oriole" wrote in message
news
Hi All,
Some time ago I wrote about my ant problem. I have tried the boric
acid
with sugar and water one poster gave me a recipe for. Although it did
attract an ant or two, it didn't do a thing to solve my ant problem. (This
did work for my mother's ant problem's though)
Anyway, I still have ants in my raised beds. They are crawling over
all
my vegetables and flowers. I have been keeping a look out for aphids as
last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden. It has
started again. I don't have any aphids yet, but I do have lots of ants. I
also seem to have 3 or 4 different kinds of ants. Almost all are black.
Some
are so small you can just barely see them, while others look like regular
picnic ants.
I live in TN but also had this same problem in GA. One of the ant
species, seems to live in the roots of my plants, building up a mound
around
the stem, especially on my Cosmo's in the cutting bed. When this happened
in
GA, I discovered that the ants had made a tunnel into the stem. This same
thing happened to me last year, with some Sun flowers I planted. As you
would guess this eventually kills the plant, makes the stem very stumpy
and
large, while the flowers are small and weak.
These ants make little mounds of dirt everywhere, but I can't seem to
find any one source of their nest. I have tried pellet's that say they are
for killing snails, slugs and ants. I have tired the boric solution, I
have
tried boiling water. On the cutting garden I have tried systemic poison. I
have tried Seven dust.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can you offer more idea's on how to
rid the garden of the ants? I am at my wits end.
TIA
Oriole

"Oriole"

I have been keeping a look out for aphids as last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden.

As far the aphids go, I had great success last year using hot pepper wax. I
also had an ant problem, they would eat their way into some of my peppers while
crawling all over my plants. They didn't seem to do a whole lot of damage
though.

Thanks, I never heard of this will give it a try. At least it is something I
can use around the vegetables. O
"Penny Morgan" wrote in message
news
Can't guarantee this will work, but it seemed to make my baby ants
disappear. They were like little armies in a line going from my lawn,
across my concrete patio, and under the step into my house and across my
counters. It was very annoying. Ant traps didn't work and you could only
spray with Raid so many times.

I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode. I know
you're probably laughing, but mine disappeared after sprinkling some
around
my patio.

You'll never know until you try. Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"Oriole" wrote in message
news
Hi All,
Some time ago I wrote about my ant problem. I have tried the boric
acid
with sugar and water one poster gave me a recipe for. Although it did
attract an ant or two, it didn't do a thing to solve my ant problem.
(This
did work for my mother's ant problem's though)
Anyway, I still have ants in my raised beds. They are crawling over
all
my vegetables and flowers. I have been keeping a look out for aphids as
last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden. It has
started again. I don't have any aphids yet, but I do have lots of ants.
I
also seem to have 3 or 4 different kinds of ants. Almost all are black.
Some
are so small you can just barely see them, while others look like
regular
picnic ants.
I live in TN but also had this same problem in GA. One of the ant
species, seems to live in the roots of my plants, building up a mound
around
the stem, especially on my Cosmo's in the cutting bed. When this
happened
in
GA, I discovered that the ants had made a tunnel into the stem. This
same
thing happened to me last year, with some Sun flowers I planted. As you
would guess this eventually kills the plant, makes the stem very stumpy
and
large, while the flowers are small and weak.
These ants make little mounds of dirt everywhere, but I can't seem
to
find any one source of their nest. I have tried pellet's that say they
are
for killing snails, slugs and ants. I have tired the boric solution, I
have
tried boiling water. On the cutting garden I have tried systemic poison.
I
have tried Seven dust.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can you offer more idea's on how
to
rid the garden of the ants? I am at my wits end.
TIA
Oriole

I don't have aphids without the ants. Right now I just have the ants, but I
know they will so be farming aphids on my stuff. I would like to stop the
ants before they bring on the aphids, but if I can't I will give this a try.
Thanks O
"KK from NJ" wrote in message
...
"Oriole"

I have been keeping a look out for aphids as last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden.

As far the aphids go, I had great success last year using hot pepper wax.
I
also had an ant problem, they would eat their way into some of my peppers
while
crawling all over my plants. They didn't seem to do a whole lot of damage
though.

Penny Morgan wrote:

snip
I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode. I know
you're probably laughing, but mine disappeared after sprinkling some around
my patio.

I always knew those nasty things (grits) had to be useful for somethingG.
Exploding ants, too funny!
--
John S. DeBoo

KK from NJ wrote:

"Oriole"

I have been keeping a look out for aphids as last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden.

As far the aphids go, I had great success last year using hot pepper wax. I
also had an ant problem, they would eat their way into some of my peppers while
crawling all over my plants. They didn't seem to do a whole lot of damage
though.

What is "hot pepper wax' please? The aphids have had a feast on our rose bushes.
I can deal with the ants but the aphids have got my dander up. And soon to follow
will be those lovely little squash bugsgrrrrrrrrrr. I know we'll fight a daily
battle and they will win againdouble grrrrrrrrr!

--
John S. DeBoo

I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode.

Actually there are commercial ant poisons that are granulated and meant to be
taken down below by the ants as "food"; the queen takes a bite or two, and
bingo...no more colony. Usually takes a day or two to work in my experience.

http://www.biconet.com/botanicals/hpw.html

"Oriole" wrote in message
news
Has anyone else had this problem? Can you offer more idea's on how to
rid the garden of the ants? I am at my wits end.
TIA
Oriole

We have a couple of raised beds. We covered them last fall to help keep out
the weed seeds. When we took the plastic off this spring one of the beds
had ants. I had an Enforcer ant bait left and took it out there and just
set it in the bed. The next day all the ants were gone.

I get the Enforcer ant bait at an Ace Hardware store. It says on the
package that both grease eating and sweet eating ants will eat it. So far I
haven't had any ants that didn't eat it. And they have never come back!

Kathy

I heard to try grits too and I did. I don't remember if it worked. I
moved back to California since then and haven't tried it out here yet.
Ant baits worked pretty good. Wish I could remember what kind I
bought because the ones I got this last time haven't worked. It
wasn't Raid's brand. Those don't attract nothing not even flies.

Oh and for flying insects I do recommend yellow sticky traps and fly
paper. I have it all over my garden and I have to put in new ones
every week since they work so well.

I also use powdered milk in my hose-end sprayer to keep veggie wilts
and fungus at bay on the soil and the plants. Works pretty good
because usually by now my squash are shriveled and dying from a fungus
or disease. And I have more baby fruit on this one plant than I've
ever seen on any of my past plants. Try it out! Doesn't work on ants
though. Too bad!

Carla Goodloe


"Penny Morgan" wrote in message . com...
Can't guarantee this will work, but it seemed to make my baby ants
disappear. They were like little armies in a line going from my lawn,
across my concrete patio, and under the step into my house and across my
counters. It was very annoying. Ant traps didn't work and you could only
spray with Raid so many times.

I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode. I know
you're probably laughing, but mine disappeared after sprinkling some around
my patio.

You'll never know until you try. Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"Oriole" wrote in message
news
Hi All,
Some time ago I wrote about my ant problem. I have tried the boric
acid
with sugar and water one poster gave me a recipe for. Although it did
attract an ant or two, it didn't do a thing to solve my ant problem. (This
did work for my mother's ant problem's though)
Anyway, I still have ants in my raised beds. They are crawling over
all
my vegetables and flowers. I have been keeping a look out for aphids as
last
year that seemed to be their main purpose for being in my garden. It has
started again. I don't have any aphids yet, but I do have lots of ants. I
also seem to have 3 or 4 different kinds of ants. Almost all are black.
Some
are so small you can just barely see them, while others look like regular
picnic ants.
I live in TN but also had this same problem in GA. One of the ant
species, seems to live in the roots of my plants, building up a mound
around
the stem, especially on my Cosmo's in the cutting bed. When this happened
in
GA, I discovered that the ants had made a tunnel into the stem. This same
thing happened to me last year, with some Sun flowers I planted. As you
would guess this eventually kills the plant, makes the stem very stumpy
and
large, while the flowers are small and weak.
These ants make little mounds of dirt everywhere, but I can't seem to
find any one source of their nest. I have tried pellet's that say they are
for killing snails, slugs and ants. I have tired the boric solution, I
have
tried boiling water. On the cutting garden I have tried systemic poison. I
have tried Seven dust.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can you offer more idea's on how to
rid the garden of the ants? I am at my wits end.
TIA
Oriole

Problem I have with this is that you can put out all that granule
stuff on every single ant hill and there are 5 others that show up a
few days later to take over the area. This happens alot in the south.
I made some ant hills move out of my Alabama yard by sticking a water
hose down into the middle of the hill. Needless to say, you cackle
with glee to see all those eggs and larva laying on top of the ground
dying from the hot sunlight. Did I mention to do this at noon? The
remaining ants move to a newer spot usually away from the house.

I had one hill where I was watching out the window and the grass
seemed to be walking. Well turns out the ants were climbing up the
grass and jumping into the wind to get a good flight pattern going.
They were doing some type of mating thing. Then they'd go off and
become queens in another hills. If you catch ants doing this, spray
the area with hot soapy water before they can send too many off into
the air. They weren't fire ants though so that's a good thing but
highly annoying to watch.

Carla


(Anonymo421) wrote in message ...
I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode.

Actually there are commercial ant poisons that are granulated and meant to be
taken down below by the ants as "food"; the queen takes a bite or two, and
bingo...no more colony. Usually takes a day or two to work in my experience.

Problem I have with this is that you can put out all that granule
stuff on every single ant hill and there are 5 others that show up a
few days later to take over the area. This happens alot in the south.
I made some ant hills move out of my Alabama yard by sticking a water
hose down into the middle of the hill. Needless to say, you cackle
with glee to see all those eggs and larva laying on top of the ground
dying from the hot sunlight. Did I mention to do this at noon? The
remaining ants move to a newer spot usually away from the house.

I had one hill where I was watching out the window and the grass
seemed to be walking. Well turns out the ants were climbing up the
grass and jumping into the wind to get a good flight pattern going.
They were doing some type of mating thing. Then they'd go off and
become queens in another hills. If you catch ants doing this, spray
the area with hot soapy water before they can send too many off into
the air. They weren't fire ants though so that's a good thing but
highly annoying to watch.

Carla


(Anonymo421) wrote in message ...
I read an article that said to put down or sprinkle uncooked grits on the
soil where they were crossing. They take the food back to their homes and
eat it. Once ingested, it puffs up and makes the ants explode.

Actually there are commercial ant poisons that are granulated and meant to be
taken down below by the ants as "food"; the queen takes a bite or two, and
bingo...no more colony. Usually takes a day or two to work in my experience.

Carla wrote:

snip top posted stuff

I don't know if it works because we don't have ants (knock on wood).
But a friend of mine swears that if you sprinkle cinnamon down, the
ants don't want to cross it and leave. Dunno personally though.

--
Steve