Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?

Thanks

Fish

in article , Fish at
wrote on 6/1/03 12:35 PM:

Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?

Thanks

Fish
Ant lions and ant eaters. How organic do you want.

Bill

On Sun, 1 Jun 2003 15:35:34 -0400, Fish wrote:

Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?
-----
What kind of ants and what are you trying to grow?

Many ants are beneficial when it comes to biological control. Plus
they do a good job of aerating soils -- important if you don't have
many earthworms.

Being in sw VA, I doubt you get either Texas leafcutters or Texas fire
ants. Both of those are bad news and tough to eliminate or reduce.

I've heard folks use a solution of boric acid and sugar mixed in water
to get rid of some nuisance ants -- like in the house. You can buy a
premixed product called "Terro". The boric acid is the active agent
that does the nasty work when they take it back to the nest. Probably
not a true "organic" solution or product though.


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Fish wrote:

Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?

Thanks

Fish

Would you consider orange oil?
http://www.orangeguard.com/

We have had good results in Texas with this.


--
Bob Mounger

in article , The Tucson Bender at
wrote on 6/1/03 10:47 PM:

Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?

Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.

Bill

Repeating Decimal wrote:

in article , The Tucson Bender at
wrote on 6/1/03 10:47 PM:



Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?



Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.


What makes you say that ?


Bill

On Mon, 02 Jun 2003 21:24:42 -0400, Brian wrote:



Repeating Decimal wrote:

in article , The Tucson Bender
at wrote on 6/1/03 10:47 PM:



Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring
boiling water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any
natural predators of ants that could survive in a south-western
Virginia climate?



Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.


What makes you say that ?


Bill





There is no carbon in water, i.e. it's inorganic.

In article , "B. Joshua
Rosen" wrote:

On Mon, 02 Jun 2003 21:24:42 -0400, Brian wrote:



Repeating Decimal wrote:

in article , The Tucson Bender
at wrote on 6/1/03 10:47 PM:



Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring
boiling water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any
natural predators of ants that could survive in a south-western
Virginia climate?



Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.


What makes you say that ?


Bill





There is no carbon in water, i.e. it's inorganic.

Good catch. I'll bet it would work though.

Jan Flora wrote:

In article , "B. Joshua
Rosen" wrote:



On Mon, 02 Jun 2003 21:24:42 -0400, Brian wrote:





Repeating Decimal wrote:



in article , The Tucson Bender
at wrote on 6/1/03 10:47 PM:





Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring
boiling water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any
natural predators of ants that could survive in a south-western
Virginia climate?





Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.




What makes you say that ?




Bill






There is no carbon in water, i.e. it's inorganic.



Good catch. I'll bet it would work though.

Ok, you got me there. I was looking at it from the organic gardener and
using poison.

"B. Joshua Rosen" wrote:

Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring
boiling water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any
natural predators of ants that could survive in a south-western
Virginia climate?



Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.


What makes you say that ?


Bill



There is no carbon in water, i.e. it's inorganic.

So use carbonated water.

On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 06:29:55 -0400, Brian wrote:



Jan Flora wrote:

In article , "B. Joshua
Rosen" wrote:



On Mon, 02 Jun 2003 21:24:42 -0400, Brian wrote:





Repeating Decimal wrote:



in article , The Tucson
Bender at wrote on 6/1/03 10:47
PM:





Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring
boiling water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there
any natural predators of ants that could survive in a south-western
Virginia climate?





Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.




What makes you say that ?




Bill






There is no carbon in water, i.e. it's inorganic.



Good catch. I'll bet it would work though.

Ok, you got me there. I was looking at it from the organic gardener and
using poison.





Have you tried the Safer pesticides?, they use fatty acids (organic by both
definitions).

I've never tried this, but think it's a great idea. Mix sugar and yeast, let
ants eat. When moisture inside ants causes yeast to grow, ants explode.
This may only work indoors since the yeast sugar mix would need to be kept
dry. Sounds like your trouble is outside, but I thought I would toss out the
idea anyway.
Good luck,
Eileen

Fish wrote:

Is there any way to kill ants organically? We have tried pouring boiling
water on the colony, but it is just too large. Are there any natural
predators of ants that could survive in a south-western Virginia climate?

Thanks

Fish

in article , Brian at wrote on
6/2/03 6:24 PM:

Hot water sounds about as inorganic as you can go.


What makes you say that ?

Where is the carbon in H2O. If H2O is organic, why not H2S which is often
generated organically? How about organic compounds such as HCN? Because of
HCN, do not eat a lot of apple seeds at any one time.

The nuts have taken over chemistry as applied to food.

I grow great veggies hydroponicly. My plant nutrients do not see any carbon
or other products derived from living entities. They eat the stuff
gratefully and seem to be happy.

Bill

in article , Brian at wrote on
6/3/03 3:29 AM:

Good catch. I'll bet it would work though.

Ok, you got me there. I was looking at it from the organic gardener and
using poison.
If that is the case say so. Ricin is organic. So are a host of other plant
toxins ranging from those derived from amanitas or oxalic acid from rhubarb.

Bill

in article , B. Joshua Rosen
at wrote on 6/3/03 8:43 AM:

Have you tried the Safer pesticides?, they use fatty acids (organic by both
definitions).

The active ingredient in almost all Safer products is potassium soap.
Potassium soap used to be about all you could get when wood ash was the
principle alkali available. What bugs be is the high price charged for
potassium soap even though it is not a high demand product.

Bill